A fundraising performance featuring literary readings, live music, belly dancing and more on Friday will benefit Hidden Voices, a local organization that specializes in bringing into the light, and onto the stage, the stories of those who usually dwell outside the brightly lit avenues of mainstream society.

The benefit is scheduled for 8 p.m. at The ArtsCenter, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro.

Novelist and musician Clyde Edgerton will play guitar and read from his work. Hillsborough writer Allan Gurganus will share a new original fairy tale, and Chatham County author Nancy Peacock will read from her writing. Poet Jaki Shelton Green will read a new poem. Jazz artist Christen Campbell will perform, and so will belly dancer Sadiya.

The evening will culminate with a work-in-progress glimpse at Hidden Voices' current project, "Speaking Without Tongues."

The project focuses on the survivors of violence against women. It will explore violence and survival in the lives, historical narratives, and traditional folklore of women from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Using personal stories, original music, photography and movement, "Speaking Without Tongues" will seek to uncover and express the truths of these lives against a backdrop of tradition and culture.

At the show Friday night, women from "Speaking Without Tongues" will take the stage to share two short works-in-progress and a song. The women include Kate Brodie, Cecilia Hernaine de Davis, Jennifer Evans, Jeni Smith, Vimala Rajendran, and Kim Stone.

A reception for audience, artists, and women from the project will follow.

Hidden Voices is collaborating on the project with the N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Triangle area women's centers, support groups and campus organizations.

Admission is $30. Call 929-2787 or see www.artscenterlive.org. For information about Hidden Voices, see .