Laura Merrell
A&E Editor
Last Friday, I attended a vocal concert at the UG with a twist. The $1 cover charge went to charity and all donations went towards To Write Love on Her Arms. Woo Sang Clan, a comparatively new a capella group on campus, hosted and planned the event. The concert featured a performance from them and fellow a capella Merry Kuween, who performed a rousing rendition of “Scotland the Brave.” There were also many student performances of well-known hits such as Arielle Cerini’s ’15 version of “Fix You” by Coldplay. One of my favorite acts of the night was Jo Turner ’14 who performed a song she wrote while playing the ukulele.
There is a wide variety of arts and entertainment to be found on campus and this was a clever way to merge entertainment and enjoyment with a good cause. Charlotte Baxter ’15, the group’s music director, explained that Woo Sang Clan “wanted to raise money for To Write Love on Her Arms, but we also wanted to somehow showcase the students and their talents.”
Baxter said of the benefit concert that it “offered entertainment for people who were coming to support Woo Sang and TWLOHA.”
Woo Sang Clan is a fairly new musical group on campus that started last year at the suggestion of Cerini. The co-ed a capella group developed quickly and as Baxter recalls, “things were set up so quickly that by the next week we were having our first meeting to decide on the group’s name.” One of the core values of the group is to host service events periodically during the semester, which they did last Friday.
Woo Sang Clan had to decide which charity they wanted to plan their event around and as Baxter explains, “We brainstormed where we wanted the proceeds to go, and To Write Love on Her Arms stuck out the most. People seemed to have a personal connection to what the organization stood for. It was easy for us to put energy into raising awareness for the cause.”
The event raised awareness and funds for To Write Love on Her Arms, a non-profit organization that seeks to guide and assist people “struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide,” according to their official mission statement. Jamie Tworkowski started the charity in 2006 after a story she wrote about a friend battling with addiction went viral and people lent their support to her friend’s recovery. Since then, the organization has worked to provide support and treatment for others dealing with similar struggles to Tworkowski’s friend.
While the concert was small and held in a venue that I often associate with cheap beer and loud music, the performances and purpose of the concert made it a thoroughly moving experience. The concept of bringing together student performances, a fun event and a good cause is an excellent one and I look forward to similar events in the future from this group and others. Currently, Woo Sang Clan plans on holding another service event next semester and possibly holding a karaoke night at the UG.