Author Archives: Chelsey Keesy

HollerGirl is a female-forward music festival that focuses on healing from domestic violence.

We were honored to be a part of the new HollerGirl Music Festival last year!  

Our community supports survivors in such unique ways, and we want to share more about this exciting event. 

This year the festival will take place August 11 – 13 at Rockcastle Riverside Campground.  

The lineup includes Senora May, Bee Taylor, and so many other amazing female artists.

Find more information, purchase tickets, or become a vendor by visiting their website here and follow along with them on Facebook here. 

Founder Kristen McClure sat down with us to discuss the festival and how it came to be.  

The Inspiration 

HollerGirl came from the idea of my passion for local music, highlighting women who get overlooked, and bringing in domestic violence is very important to me. 

I fell in love with the whole idea of music festivals and how wonderful they can be. Then I started thinking about all the talented female musicians we have here locally and how little I actually saw them on the bills, especially as headliners. 

The idea of HollerGirl came to me in February last year and I executed the idea in August. 

Women need to be heard. The local musicians we have around here are incredible. 

I wanted to combine the idea of highlighting female musicians with raising awareness for domestic violence survivors. I am a domestic violence survivor myself and my grandmother was also a survivor. 

That’s how GreenHouse17 came to be involved. My other main passion is GreenHouse17. I want to raise awareness. 

Family Friendly 

The festival is family-friendly and there will be kids’ activities. 

It’s super important to me that my children, they’re 8 and 10, are surrounded by this sort of atmosphere where women are empowered. It’s important to me for this festival to encourage kids to be strong and understand their place on this earth and what it means to be a good person. 

And understand the impact of what domestic violence means. That they can heal. I want to inspire them with seeing women on the stage. I want little girls to look up there and go, I can do that, too. 

The Location 

The space is Rockcastle Riverside. The river’s right there. It’s in the heat of August so people can walk down to that little sandy beach and get into the river. People are kayaking and kids are playing in the shallow area. 

Workshops, Art Auction, Local Artisans 

We’re going to have workshops this year.  

Cecilia Blair Wright is playing the festival and is also going to be doing music therapy. We’ll have a community art piece with GreenHouse17 and a writing workshop with Amy Figgs. 

There’s also an art auction and local women artisans. 

Open Mic Sunday 

This is a safe space. The open mic is going to be about release, healing, and inspiration. I think it’s an important part of healing from trauma. 

I had so many people coming up to me after the event and saying how special it was to them. People told me, ‘I don’t tell anybody this, but this happened to me. I’m so glad that you’re saying something.’ 

If they want to get up there and scream, sing a song, read poetry, or just say something, do it. 

We are so lucky to have a generous community that cares about survivors.  

Josh Nadzam, Co-Founder and Board President of On the Move Art Studio, shares his personal connection with intimate partner abuse and how he uses his love of running to support survivors. 

Thank you, Josh!  

The first phone call I ever made was at 5 years old. I called 911 because my father was choking my mother up against a wall. Making a plea to the dispatcher was the most I could do then, but once I became an adult I was determined to do much more.

One way I could do this was by leveraging my ability to run to raise awareness for eradicating domestic violence and raise some funds for survivors along the way. After five years on the Track and Field and Cross Country Team at the University of Kentucky, I had quite a bit of training that prepared me to do just that.

My first attempt at this was in 2014 when I ran from Lexington to Frankfort (25.5 miles) for HB 8, a bill being considered to protect dating violence survivors in Kentucky. On March 6, 2014, “Josh’s Run to Frankfort” took place, running from the Fifth Third Pavilion to the steps of the capitol, raising nearly $5,000 along the way.

The second and third times I leveraged this ability was when I qualified for the Boston Marathon. I decided to dedicate each race to survivors of domestic violence, and created a campaign called Bluegrass to Boston for Survivors. In 2016 and in 2019 I asked friends and family to support me by making donations that would go to GreenHouse17, with the former raising $3,000 and the latter raising $2,215. Each time it was so incredible and moving to see so many people passionate about supporting survivors.   

Each one of us has at least one unique skill we can use to benefit others and help make the world a better place. Some of us can sing or draw, dance, play music, photograph the world, cook, or knit. I’m fortunate to be able to run and have been able to use that ability to try to rally support for survivors. I’m endlessly grateful that GreenHouse17 does the incredible work they do so that one day, no 5-year-old child will ever have to call 911 again to stop one parent from abusing the other. And because of GreenHouse17, I am certain we can accomplish this. 

*Images in front of the GreenHouse17 sign were taken by Ayna Lorenzo of Mothwing Photography

Advocates are always brainstorming ways to connect survivors to the community for healing activities.  

We have a longtime partnership with the Life Adventure Center in Versailles where survivors have taken many trips over the years. The Life Adventure Center uses outdoor adventure to transform lives affected by trauma. They’ve also hosted a lot of our staff retreats.

Advocate Madison Haven recently took a group of residents there for an equine therapy session. 

Passionate about nature and connecting with animals as a form of healing, she was excited to facilitate this experience alongside a group of residents who grew up with horses and missed having that kind of connection with an animal. 

One resident said she had a horse when she was a little girl and riding again made her feel happy and at peace for the first time in a while.

Madison reflected, “It was an incredible experience to be able to observe the horses’ behaviors. To be present while brushing them, get to ride them, and work as a team to corral the horses while respecting them. It was a good lesson of patience and persistence while remaining gentle and understanding of the horse and its own free will and boundaries similar to our own.”