Benefit night will host all female-fronted bands to help Compass Center

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated how long the Compass Center has been active. The center has existed since 1979, but changed its name to the Compass Center four years ago. The center has helped 1,400 people in the last year alone. The article has been updated to reflect these changes. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Local 506 is partnering with the Compass Center for Women and Families in Chapel Hill to host a benefit night Saturday that will feature local, women-fronted bands and female speakers.

The Compass Center provides a broad range of services working to increase opportunities for visibility and self-sufficiency for women, ensure equality for all genders and end domestic violence.

The center provides counseling for women and educates youth on healthy relationships and equality at local middle schools.

The event was coordinated by Compass Center Board of Directors member Julia Vanderput. She said the concert is important for the community and hopes it will raise awareness of the Compass Center’s resources.

“North Carolina ranks 24th in the nation for high rates of domestic violence homicides," Vanderput said. "We are hoping to lower these rates by going to schools and educating youth about these issues to hopefully help prevent this from continuing to happen in the future.”

Vanderput said the benefit was also created to promote visibility for women by supporting local artists and empowering them.

“The majority of everything that is related to this event was created by a woman,” she said. “I identify as a woman and I organized the event, and Shannon Kelly, who created the promo video for the event, also identifies as a woman.”

The women-fronted bands — Solar Halos, GOWN and S.E. WARD — will be the main performances, along with female spoken-word artists.

“Everything about this is supporting the works of women,” Vanderput said.

Nora Rogers, lead-singer and guitarist for the headlining, heavy-psych band Solar Halos, said she was excited to promote women’s equality at the benefit night.

“This show takes a huge part in recognizing women’s rights issues, which we’ve seen is super crucial in this time right now, with all the women’s rights protests and marches around the world,” Rogers said.

“It’s important for our community to support all people of all genders and make sure that every person can live a rich, fulfilling, supported life.”

Rogers said the choice to perform in the benefit was obvious.

“When Julia asked us to perform in this benefit, it was a no-brainer,” she said. “I really stand behind what the Compass Center is doing to help women with a broad range of things — job searches and self-care — all the things that can help a woman become self-sufficient.”

Local 506 General Manager Stephen Mooneyhan said that this will not be their first benefit night for the Compass Center.

“We’ve done a few events in the past with the Compass Center, and we are actually already working on one for the future,” Mooneyhan said.

He said he’s also looking forward to the event because it’s more than just a fundraiser, it’s an awareness raiser.

“I am excited for this one in particular, though, because Julia put a lot of effort into contacting all female-fronted bands,” he said.

Vanderput said she hopes the event will bring women from the community together and continue to bolster visibility.

“Right now, we need plenty of opportunities to connect and talk about how we can support each other as women,” Vanderput said. “I hope people come with an open-mind — this is really about creating a space for female creative expression, and we can’t wait to support them.”

Doors will open at 8 p.m. and the show will start at 9 p.m. for audience members 18 years of age and older.

Tickets cost $10 and a table will be set up to receive cash and credit card donations throughout the show. All ticket sales and donations will directly benefit the Compass Center.

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