Blues/folk rocker Toshi Reagon and slam poet Staceyann Chin team up to benefit the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen this week. Both artists, who live in Brooklyn, New York, profess to have gained great strength from the women in their families. Reagon's mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, co-founded the musical/activist group Sweet Honey in the Rock; Chin credits her accomplishments to her hard-working grandmothers and the pain of her mother's absence.

Chin appeared in a one-woman show at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe as well as the Broadway production of Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam. Reagon has appeared at a wide range of venues, from Carnegie Hall to rock clubs.

Nov. 15, 8 p.m., $22/advance, $25/door, Institute for Musical Arts Big Barn, 165 Cape St. (Route 112), Goshen, (413) 268-3074, www.ima.org.