*This charitable initiative is now closed and no longer accepts partnerships or donations.
We are so grateful to be collaborating with a woman as incredible as Ms. Jolie Carpenter-Berry. Her mission and vision align with ours, which goes to create a match made in heaven. Jolie, thank you for your continuous support.
Friends of Cancer Below The Belt, make sure to follow Jolie on Instagram at @joliecarpenterberry to stay up to date with her incredible projects and endeavours. We will meet you there!
KGA and CBTB were featured as covers in the 2020 Social Book. The Interior and Exteriors section features a photo layout of the eye of KGA including fabrics, furniture and designs while the CBTB branded pages features the CBTB portrait series and the stunning CBTB pillow cabinet with hand chain stitched silk pillows.
Read more about the Social Book
Cancer Below the Belt and KGA received accolades from the Houstonia Magazines article “The Social Book Toasts to 25 Years with a Stylish Soirée at Neiman Marcus.”
“Interior designer Kelly Gale Amen of KGA’s tableau—complete with Page Parkes Texas models stripped down to their skivvies—was a hot-spot of the evening, designed to raise awareness for a series of lesser-discussed cancers (like cervical, testicular, and ovarian) with the aptly named campaign #CancerBelowtheBelt. Curious guests were invited to learn more and pose with the models for a special souvenir commemorated by photographer Bhavin Misra.”
Renowned interior designer Kelly Gale Amen of KGA created a stunning tableau to raise cancer awareness of the Dirty Dozen, featuring textile art and decorator his v-pillows. His campaign, named #CancerBelowtheBelt, earned guests’ attention. The Booth was staffed by photographer Bhavin Misra and models from Page Parkes Texas offered a souvenir for the fun-lovers.
Click the pictures below for video shorts…
Read more in the CultureMap article here.
We have a winner – Joseph Agrella. Team member Dawn Ewing drew ticket number #119. The Social Book event at Neiman Marcus – Galleria featured an evening of Hors d’oeuvres, libations and a fashion show with Page Parkes models. The Page Parkes models also helped patrons with #getcaughtwithyourpantsdown photo venue to capture the spirit of the Cancer Below the Belt and raise awareness of the Dirty Dozen. #Cancerbelowthebelt #therealsocialbook #PageParkesCorporation #NeimanMarcus #KGA #KGADesign
Cancer Below the Belt teamed up with Baylor College of Medicine to spread awareness through a community outreach at the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church on September 28th 2019 at their Raymond Whitley Jr. Prostate Screening Event.
The event promoted the importance of screening and cancer prevention.
#CBTB #GetCaughtwithYourPantsDown #KGA #CancerBelowtheBelt #KGADesign
KGA appeared on the Radio show Health in Action Live with Annette Blanchard on July 8th 2019.
The show captured the theme and spirit of cancer awareness and over coming our fears of talking about our bodies and cancer.
Click Here for a link to the broadcast.
#CBTB #GetCaughtwithYourPantsDown #KGA #CancerBelowtheBelt #KGADesign #HeathinActionLive #AnnetteBlanchard
KGA and Cancer Below the Belt teamed up with IVBars of Houston Heights to spread awareness through exchanges and partnerships at the HWE Health and Wellness expo on Feburary 24th 2019 at the Houston Hyatt Regency Downtown.
The event promoted local businesses. While the expo encourage a fun spin on business, lively conversation, and enthusiasm for new ideas and perspectives.
Topics included:
#CBTB #GetCaughtwithYourPantsDown #KGA #CancerBelowtheBelt #KGADesign
The Cancer Below the Belt Portraits are now at their new home at the Baylor College of Medicines Epidemiology and Population Sciences.
Melissa Bondy, Ph.D., professor of medicine-epidemiology and population sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, saw the potential educational benefits of the art early on and arranged for it to be permanently displayed at the College.
The reception was an overwhelming success with attendance from many supporters, students, administrators of BCM and the medical community.
Click here for the Baylor College of Medicine release
Click here for the Texas Medical Center release
Cancer Below the Belt Portraits premier at their new home at the Baylor College of Medicines Epidemiology and Population Sciences Open House on December 7th 2018 from 2pm to 4pm.
Baylor College of Medicine – 1 Baylor Plaza, Suite 600D.
RSVP for the reception to Lucia Hernandez at 713-798-2871
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View the Weird Homes Tour coverage of Kelly Gale Amen’s loft and Cancer Below the Belt.
Houston Weird Homes Tour
October 6, 2018
Dakota Lofts
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For media inquiries, contact Allison Lott
[email protected]
713-269-9691
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
The Third Annual Weird Homes Tour Returns to Houston October 6, 2018
This One-Day-Only Event Showcases Houston’s Most Extraordinary Living Spaces
HOUSTON, Texas— Weird Homes Tour is pleased to announce its return to Houston for its third annual event on Saturday, October 6, 2018 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. This one-of-a-kind journey takes attendees throughout Houston and into some of this city’s most extraordinary homes. Weird Homes Tour returns to Houston after expanding nationwide, with the tour in its original hometown of Austin, plus inaugural tours in New Orleans, Detroit, and Portland.
The Weird Homes Tour is self-paced and self-driving tour of eight of Houston’s most remarkable homes. Take a peek into the lives of Houstonians who have blurred the line between art space and living space and live amongst a breathtaking array of art and unique collections. Tickets are $30 to see all but one of the homes, spread across different neighborhoods in Houston, and $55 to unlock access to the VIP home of Will Breaux, the newly finished McGowen Container House, incorporating 11 shipping containers to create 3 stories of living space. VIP ticket buyers also get a complimentary copy of Weird Homes Tour’s recently released bestselling coffee table book, Weird Homes: The People and Places That Keep Austin Strangely Wonderful. Weird Homes Tour a family friendly event where kids 13 and under can tour for free.
Other new homes on the tour include the High Water House of Drew and Pam Shefman (son and daughter-in-law of Weird Homes Tour veteran, Sue Shefman) and The House of Luminosity, the studio and home of glass artist, Kim Clark Renteria. Located in the flood prone Meyerland neighborhood, High Water House is an ordinary mid-century modern home made extraordinary when the couple decided to lift it 10 feet into the air. This has led to an interesting and unusual use of space under the home. The House of Luminosity is filled with vibrant colors and the mosaic and stained glass work of its owner.
The homes on the tour will be those of artists, collectors of oddities, rare art collectors, and more, and only visitors of the Weird Homes Tour will get a glimpse inside the walls of these truly unique Houston spaces. Returning favorites on the tour include Kelly Gale Amen’s KGA Compound at the Historic Dakota Lofts, which is filled with the juxtaposition of extremes that just seem to fit perfectly together. Amen’s home and his contribution to the lobby of the Dakota Lofts with commissioned paintings to bring awareness to his charity, Cancer Below the Belt, is inspired by the awareness of living with what we love, the awareness of repurposed living spaces and the awareness of finding a path for one’s health and adventure. Also returning this year are Selia Qyinn’s Secret Garden whose backyard oasis is tucked away on three quarters of an acre in Spring Branch; The Artist’s Haven, the art studio/living space of celebrated artist, Sharon Kopriva’s who, for more than thirty years, has combined two- and three-dimensional media often with fusions of papier-mâché and found objects, and is known for creating mummy-like, haunting sculptural pieces; Sue Shefman’s Hippolotofus Home with her collection of over 2000 hippos, including her well-known hippo art car; and The Art House of Bonnie Blue, where the home itself is the canvas for her unique folk creations.
The tour will give back by donating a portion of all ticket sales to local affordable housing charity, New Hope Housing, an organization whose core purpose is to provide life-stabilizing, affordable, permanent housing with support services for people who live on very limited incomes. This will be the second year to partner with this deserving organization. Weird Homes Tour supports their vision to be an enduring institution serving Houston’s most vulnerable citizens. Learn more at www.newhopehousing.com.
The Weird Homes Tour was founded in Austin in 2014 by Chelle and David J. Neff who had a vision to showcase the places that make Austin fun, irreverent, strange and dynamic. After the first successful tours in Austin, the Neffs brought the Weird Homes Tour to Houston in 2016, and it has now expanded nationwide. The coffee table book is available on Amazon for $16.99.
https://www.amazon.com/Weird-Homes-People-Strangely-Wonderful/dp/1510723609/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8
ABOUT WEIRD HOMES TOUR:
We are a social impact start-up, created by a team of event veterans that takes care of our people, our planet and makes a profit. We were founded in 2014 and held our first tour in Austin that same year. We take our profits and put them back into our communities by investing in smart, well-run nonprofits and other social impact businesses. We promise to value what makes Austin and Houston great. We exist to share the story of past, present, and future culture of Houston, as well as preserving and protecting what’s unique in this great city. For more information, visit www.weirdhomestour.com.
Cancer Below The Belt was active until 2020. This website exists in its memory, to honor the contribution our partners have made to patients worldwide.