Two local organizations have decided to team up for an entertaining fundraising opportunity.
Irregular Acts of Kindness: Sunday Matinees for Community and Cause Prince Albert is a new all-ages concert series is cranking up the volume for community care.
The event is organized by local musicians and promoters alongside Threadbare Productions and the P.A. Seniors Heritage Centre. Irregular Acts of Kindness is a recurring Sunday matinee that blends punk ethos with grassroots fundraising.
Hosted at the Prince Albert Seniors Heritage Centre, the series builds on the same do it yourself (DIY) spirit that has fuelled Threadbare’s past events — loud, heartfelt, and genre-defying. Each show supports a cause, with proceeds going to mutual aid efforts and local initiatives.
Organizer Clay Cottingham of Threadbare Production said that the event is about what prairie people do, show up for one another.
Cottingham said Evan Swalm and Barry Brezden from the Heritage Centre approached him about doing a regular series on Sunday.
“That sort of fit with what I was trying to do with the regular, which was to have earlier shows on Sundays when touring bands came through town,” Cottingham said.
He said that with touring bands the acts do not often end up in Prince Albert on a Friday or Saturday.
” I was trying to make the problem into a solution and they approached me about it because they knew I was doing some shows on that,” he explained. “They said ‘how can we make this a permanent series of things.’”
After the meeting, Cottingham was scrolling social media and noticed how fundraisers are a great connector in the city. He went back to the Heritage Centre with the idea to tie fundraisers and music together each month.
“Starting in September my focus is going to be on doing local originals, no matter what the genre is, that would support fundraisers, right. That’s the idea in a nutshell,” Cottingham said.
The first fundraiser is scheduled for Sept. 28 for Two Miles for Mary, the longstanding fundraiser for the Community Services Centre and senior’s transportation.
He said they will not sell advanced tickets. Instead, admission will be by donation.
He said that everything is not complete but depending on what comes from sponsors.
“If people are sponsoring with inventory, then we can do silent auctions. Because it’s going to be a series, it should make it easy for both us and for sponsors to get involved on whichever one they want or multiple ones,” he said.
Cottingham said that he has not finalized the acts for the Sept. 28 fundraiser and was still working out some final details on the performers.
“I think the main thing is just that we want to do these things like on the regular and be able to spread both the promotion of the charities but also of the local bands,” Cottingham said. He said that in October they plan on fundraising for The Nest, A drop-in centre for persons coping with long-term mental illnesses.
“It’s great to see people fundraising for that because it’s a service that’s used by a lot of people in the city,” Cottingham said.
“We’ll be able to hopefully provide some funding for some charities that are sort of overlooked sometimes,” he explained.
He explained that the people at the Heritage Centre want to do it once a month for the whole year, possibly taking a break in July or August.
Irregular Acts of Kindness turns the typical concert model on its head.
Entry is donation-based, performers cross genres, and volunteers are welcomed at every level — whether it’s helping with setup, suggesting causes, or donating prizes.
He said that the first four fundraisers will be chosen by organizers but he wants to create online polls in the future to curate the best fits for each month.
” I think it would be cool if we could get to some of the outreach programs and stuff like that as well,”
The series runs every fourth Sunday, staying slightly irregular. It’s a gathering point for artists, advocates, and community members to rally around what matters according to a release. For more information contact Threadbare Productions at bookings@threadbare-productions.com
