When local singer-songwriters gather at Hodgin Valley Farm on Sunday, they'll be doing more than just making music together. They will be raising money to benefit those whose lives have been affected by cancer.
The Sunday at the Farm Concert is a benefit for the Hirsch Wellness Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a community for cancer patients and survivors and their families and friends.
The organization was founded by Louise Grape, a fiber artist working in the furniture industry, and her husband, string musician Scott Manring.
Grape lost her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother to breast cancer and is a two-time cancer survivor herself.
"I just have this long legacy of this cancer, and I'm the first person to survive and to do well and to thrive," Grape said.
The healing power of the arts is an integral part of the Hirsch Network. The organization started about two years ago. Grape was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 34 and again at 43. She said everything changed after she survived the second time, surpassing her expectations based on her family history.
"Having an illness really causes you to consider what you do every day," Grape said.
She quit her job at an ad agency, pursued her passion for fiber art and decided to start the Hirsch Network. For inspiration, Grape met with people from The Creative Center in New York City, which has offered art programs to cancer patients for 15 years.
To run the organization, Grape works with five other board members who all have full-time jobs outside of Hirsch. One of the board members is Manring, who said he fell in love with Grape when she gave him a ride to the beach.
"It's a great feeling to be able to collaborate and work on something outside of our own relationship," Manring said.
Hirsch also works closely with Moses Cone Hospital and offers classes and workshops to cancer patients and their families. The classes range from journaling to photography to knitting.
"We're just trying to offer people something that helps them live in the moment and gives them a sense of healing through a creative endeavor," Grape said.
When brainstorming ideas for a Hirsch Network fundraiser, Grape and Manring decided Manring's network of musicians could be the key to a great benefit.
"We were looking for ways to fund what Hirsch wanted to do in terms of providing artists to come in and do workshops and different things in the community, and we just had this great resource of musical friends and decided to take advantage of that and put it together in a concert format," Manring said.
All of the musicians involved in the concert are friends of Grape and Manring who know about their struggles with cancer.
"A lot of the musicians themselves have been affected by cancer in one way or another, by losing a spouse or a sibling," Grape said. "It's kind of a universal thing."
Grape and Manring initially thought of the concert more than a year ago, but it fell through. When they came back to the idea, they considered having the concert at their house until Manring remembered Hodgin Valley Farm. Manring has performed at the venue in the past and thought it would make a great outdoor location for the concert.
The farm's owner is donating the space for free. A barn on the property seats 200 people, and if the weather is nice the concert will be held outside and additional tickets will be sold. Attendees can enjoy the sounds of local musicians like Manring, Molly McGinn, Martha Bassett and Laurelyn Dossett, who took guitar lessons with Manring.
"We have a really great community of musicians that supports each other, and I think that community speaks to how the arts are healing," Dossett said.
While Manring's music doesn't necessarily reflect his work with the Hirsch Network or Grape's own struggles with cancer, he said he hopes the emotion behind it and other artists' music at the concert can further the organization's message in some way.
"It's a very good feeling to be able to do what I do and use that as a way to promote what we are trying to do," Manring said.
Contact Alexa Milan at amilan87@gmail.com.
