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Music festivals are a 
staple of the summer season.

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Spending time outside, 
listening to bands you love,

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and maybe discovering

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some new artists

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you've never heard.

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And a new festival on 
the block aims to do all that

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while also doing some 
good along the way.

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The HollerGirl Music Festival 
provides a showcase for

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Appalachian female 
musicians, all while

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supporting a good cause.

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[music playing]

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HollerGirl is a 
three-day music festival.

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We focus on women's 
empowerment by having a

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lineup of three full days of 
music that is completely all

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female. And then within the 
festival perimeters, we focus

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on healing, we create a 
safe space, and we focus on

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raising awareness for 
two domestic violence

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organizations, which are 
GreenHouse17 and Oasis Farms.

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I'm a survivor of domestic 
violence a couple of times

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over, unfortunately.

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My grandmother was a 
survivor, so that's really

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what this is about, 
focusing on healing.

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What's more 
healing than music?

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So, it all kind of comes 
together that way.

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GreenHouse17's primary 
mission is working with

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survivors and their families 
who've experienced intimate

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partner violence.

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And our programming really 
is whatever that family might

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need to move from a place of 
crisis to self-sufficiency.

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So, we serve 17 counties.

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That's the name 
of GreenHouse17.

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We're in central Kentucky, 
so we're all the way down to

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like Danville and Harrisburg 
area and all the way up to

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Nicholas and 
Harrison County.

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So, actually, it

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was HollerGirl that

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reached out to us.

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I think this was a critical 
piece for Kristen when she

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was kind of 
devising HollerGirl.

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I think she has some 
experience herself with

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intimate partner violence 
and sadly so many women in

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Kentucky have had 
experience either firsthand

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or a family or friend.

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And so, we would say probably 
one in three or one in four

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women experience 
intimate partner violence.

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I think what we loved about 
HollerGirl, and I think what

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is similar to GreenHouse17, 
is that she really wanted to

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focus on the resiliency of 
women, the artistry of women,

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and the powerful voices of 
women, and I think that was

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really critical to 
us at GreenHouse.

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Our first name was Bluegrass 
Domestic Violence Program.

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We really wanted 
to shift that attitude of

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victimization and a low 
self-esteem and lack of

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empowerment and go, 
these women are strong.

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They are survivors.

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They have lived through 
things, and people can come

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through that in lots of 
different ways, and music is

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a really critical 
piece to that.

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I think any time that 
there is an opportunity to

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celebrate women while also 
empowering women, you know,

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I'm on board for that 
all day, every day.

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And it's such a special thing 
to be a part of where women

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are coming together and 
they're being celebrated for

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their experiences, for their 
stories, and what they have

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to offer, and then at the 
same time they're helping

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women who are in situations 
that aren't great, that

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they're trying to better 
themselves, and, you know,

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anything that I can do, 
anything that any of us can

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do to help with that, I'm 
gonna be on board with that.

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[girl singing] ♪ I'm just a 
poor girl ♪ Nobody loves me

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So, HollerGirl 
is two years old.

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Year one, I saw their flyers 
online, and I had wanted to

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be involved in what 
GreenHouse17 was doing

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anyway, just in my own 
personal life, and so I saw a

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music festival led by women 
partnering with GreenHouse17,

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and I was like, "Oh, those 
are my people." And I went

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year one and just bonded with 
so many of the women who are

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involved immediately, and one 
of our board members, Sarah

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Blue, saw my Facebook videos 
after the festival of me

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singing and told Kristen 
we just have to have her next

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year, and so they asked 
me to play, and it was just a

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privilege. You know, it felt 
like being seen by people

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that I really admired in a 
way that I don't think I had

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felt seen before.

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When you go to these 
other shows, you see a lot of

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incredibly talented men.

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I have so many male musician 
friends that I think are just

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stellar, but I wanna see 
those women up there too

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because they are incredible.

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They're equal, you know, 
and we just don't get to see

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that. And I think bringing 
that to the forefront and

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saying, "Yeah, I've got 
three full days of these of

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women." That's three 
full days of music that's all

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women, mainly within 
this Appalachian area.

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That's incredible, you know, 
and I had to turn down some

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women. So, next year 
we're gonna keep building.

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We're gonna keep bringing new 
people to the forefront and

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bringing in other, you know, 
bigger artists that are more

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interested and, you know, 
we're just gonna keep going

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with this and fighting it.

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There is a community of men 
and women that really wanna

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support this issue, and 
it doesn't have to be just

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because I've experienced 
it, and it doesn't need to be

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private and it doesn't have 
to be, "Oh, that's just, you

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know, sort of between you and 
your friends or family," but

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we are all in this together.

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And if someone has 
experienced abuse or violence

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and not living to their full 
potential, this matters to

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everyone, and artists are 
just wonderful at magnifying

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that and kind of putting 
a spotlight on that, and it

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just helps, I think, the 
rest of the people that are

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attending and showing 
up and being present

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at a beautiful venue.

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We tend to get a bad rap that 
we're all petty and catty

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and it's all competition, 
but it's really not.

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When you get in these 
settings where there's this

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common mission of bringing 
women together, it's magical

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and it's powerful.

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And I truly believe that it 
has the ability to change the

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world and change lives.

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[music playing]