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United Artists for Hope Music and Arts Festival set for May 2 at the Navy Yard at Noisette
April 6, 2009
For more information, please contact Jennifer Cherock at jcherock@trio-solutions.com or call (843) 216-0442.
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Charleston, SC --- What started as the ultimate field trip for a group of inner-city kids from North Charleston has grown into a humanitarian effort to help others less fortunate in a small village in Ghana. During the summer of 2006, the children of the Djole Dance and Drumming Company from the Union Heights neighborhood in North Charleston embarked on a trip to West Africa to learn more about their ancestry roots. After a moving and eye-opening experience, the children returned home with a mission – determined to help the children of Ghana orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Together with the elders in the community and friends from the Medical University of South Carolina, the children began a partnership with a nonprofit in Ghana and Project Okurase (pronounced Oh-krah-say) was born.
The main focus of Project Okurase is to build a multi-purpose, arts-based center that will provide a loving, home environment for orphaned children, as well as education and jobs-skill training to village residents. The name of the center is the Nkabom Centre, meaning 'coming together' in the Ghanaian language of Twi.
Earlier this year, the official ground-breaking for the center took place and village residents are currently making bricks for the construction of the eco-friendly buildings. Students from Clemson University's School of Architecture are developing the design for the Nkabom Centre and on Saturday, May 2, Project Okurase will host one of the Lowcountry's most unique music and arts festivals to raise money for a sustainable, clean water treatment system through a partnership with Water Missions International.
"Water is critical to life, health and development and is essential to creating a strong foundation from which the center can grow," explains Dr. Cindy Swenson, co-founder of Project Okurase and co-director of the Djole Dance and Drumming Company. "Without clean water, this project will not come to fruition and without the support of our community we will not be able raise the necessary funds to build the infrastructure and equipment necessary for the water treatment system. It is our hope that our community will come together during our music festival and learn about Project Okurase, the devastation that is occurring to our fellow brothers and sisters in Ghana and support this project."
The eco-, family-friendly event will take place on the site of the former Food Bank distribution building near the Cosgrove Avenue entrance of the Navy Yard at Noisette in North Charleston. It will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. with an after-party celebration with the popular group The Afromotive, Charleston's own Dub Island Soundsystem, and all the way from Ghana, master drummer and co-founder of Project Okurase, Samual Yeboah, also known as Powerful. Tickets are available through etix.com and are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Children 12 and under are welcome to attend for free.
Other talented performers include The Secrets, singer/songwriter Gareth Asher, acoustic rock performers the Graham Whorley Band, folk singer Jim Hartline from Nashville, Djole Dance and Drumming Company and the Dirty Birds, a drumming troupe from North Charleston's own Academic Magnet High School, and many others.
Highlights also include dance and drumming lessons, a children's area, an African Bazaar, arts and crafts from local artisans, and a variety of food and beverage vendors. This event is open to the public and designed for people of all ages with family-friendly daytime festivities followed by an evening celebration for music enthusiasts and concert-goers. The LEEP biodiesel bus with run from downtown Charleston at the Charleston Museum each hour. This event is presented by Z93 and Magic 107.3. Additional sponsors for the event include the Navy Yard at Noisette, Fisher Recycling, Trio Solutions Inc. and Little Dog Advertising Agency, PDA Green Light and Big Hair Productions, Natural Awakenings, The Bridge 105.5, Lloyd's Promos and Embroidery, Marcinak Construction, John Chilton Photography, Professional Printers and SCIway.net. Volunteer opportunities are available.
