All music fans thirsty for live music these days, so why not log on for Weird Church’s monthly concert series Weird Café for some musical hydration!
Every month, Weird Church hosts a curated, open-mic style concert that allows for musicians to play and listeners to hear, while also featuring a visual artist whose work is displayed on the walls of the church, and highlighting a Comox Valley charity or non-profit. Weird Café is free to watch – a celebration of visual and performing arts – and the hosts hope that any in attendance will make a donation to the featured charity for the month.
This month’s featured performing artist is Helen Austin, who will be joined on stage by Gregor Schoenberg, Jenna Spowart, Linda Safford and internationally recognized 10-year-old artist Evangeline Durupt, with Sage Bennett as the showcased visual artist.
Weird Church is in the process of creating a home and hub for local artists, and ensuring that the iconic United Church building at 2688 Penrith Ave. in Cumberland remains a place for community gathering for years to come. In order to do so, this month kicks off the “Raise the Roof” campaign, where monies collected will go towards an overdue roof replacement, along with some newer energy-efficient windows (all donations are tax-deductible). Log in for the show on YouTube, live Saturday, May 29 at 7:30 p.m. on the Weird Church Cumberland YouTube channel – details at www.weirdchurchcumberland.com/events
Previous Weird Café performers have included Luke Blu Guthrie, Anela Kahiamoe, Wendy Nixon, Johanna Finch, and Kevin Flesher (to name a few) and local charities have included the Cumberland Community School Society and Cumberland Forest Society.
Due to COVID restrictions, these concerts have been live-streamed online only but organizers hope to have in-person spectators soon.
Weird Café is hosted by Weird Church (led by the Rev. Ingrid Brown) and curated by Gregor Schoenberg. “Founded in 2018, Weird Church is a group of people in the Comox Valley who believe that all people are created in the image of God and are bound together in love,” said Brown, in a press release.
Brown emphasizes that there are no barriers to full participation in Weird Church (including sexual orientation, gender identity, race, marital status, religious affiliation, political beliefs, socio-ecomonic status etc.)
We’re here to bump into the sacred with you,” she said. “God is everywhere, but sometimes we need a reminder. And so, we gather in community. There is no ‘us and them,’ only ever the here and the now.”
For more information please visit www.weirdchurchcumberland.com