www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, May 9, 2012 · 24 Music and laughter to help youths Artscene People can expect plenty of good music and laughter at the upcoming fundraising event for Matty's Wish fund. The second annual Music Memories and Improv Event is taking place at St. Simon's Anglican Church on Saturday. It raises funds for Matty's Wish Fund, named after Matthew Aaron Kloucek who, in 2011, died at age 23 after a long battle with drug addiction. Now, his mother, Mary Louise Clark, hopes to raise money so that no youth without private health insurance is unable to get help at a rehabilitation facility. The evening event will feature plenty of entertainment. On the bill are: Toronto-based Woodshed Orchestra, as well as plenty of Oakville acts, including Disney/pop-star Jasmine Richards, rapper Josh Shua Durand, rock duo Party in the Fortress, Forte Jazz Duo and Carson McCormick. There will be door prizes, raffle draws and a silent auction with prizes donated by local businesses. Coffee and sweets will also be provided. The event begins at 7 p.m. The church is located at 1450 Litchfield Rd. Tickets cost $20. For more information, visit www.mattyswishfund.ca. Jessica Nyznik / special to the beaver making music: Singer/songwriter Gregg Lawless is flanked by singers of the Oakville Children's Choir while they prepare for the Friday concert. Many children's voices sing for one world By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF They perform because they love to sing. But when the Oakville Children's Choir (OCC) hits The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts stage on Friday, the group hopes to inspire its audience members to sponsor a child. The children's choir has partnered for a special collaboration with World Vision for the upcoming concert. At the concert, the children will perform the song What If?, written by Gregg Lawless, who runs the World Vision WorldSong Project. "This is an incredible opportunity for our choristers who are very excited to be working with Gregg with the goal of increasing child sponsorships for World Vision," said Sarah Morrison, OCC artistic director. "We'd really like to see new child sponsorships as a result of our One World, Many Voices concert as well as donations." Lawless has similar hopes. "When you rehearse and perform a song in front of 500 or 600 people and at the end of the night 20 or 30 people decide to sponsor a child, you just really made a pretty palpable difference in the world," he said. "That's something that I think is very important and it's also very rewarding to know you're a part of that process." Bieber fans sing for votes When Ryan Seacrest announced his Bieber-Off competition, it sent the online world abuzz with more than 50,000 entries. When the 50,000 covers of Justin Bieber's Boyfriend song were narrowed down to the top 20, a pair of local performers were selected. Now, they need votes to get them through to the next round. Top 20 voting lasts until Friday when the bottom 10 will be eliminated. The following Friday, another five will be removed. Seacrest will eventually announce the top five winners. The local performers in the competition are Liz Loughrey and Johnny Orlando, who goes by as Johnny O in the contest. To watch the entry videos and to cast your votes, visit www.ryanseacrest.com. "It's about being empathetic to people in other countries and trying to understand what it would be like to be a child in a country who doesn't have all the things we take for granted." Gregg Lawless, musician Lawless has been working with World Vision through the project for about a year and a half now. He was approached by World Vision for it after he was noticed doing song projects at schools throughout Peel and York. Through the World Vision program, Lawless has gone to high schools and worked with students to write songs about third-world issues, and helped the students get ready for performances. Now, he's partnered with the OCC. However, in this case, the children will perform a song he's written previously. "It's about being empathetic to people in other countries and trying to understand what it would be like to be a child in a country who doesn't have all the things we take for granted," he said. The choristers will sing, while Lawless will accompany the group on guitar. He said the concert is more than just about inspiring the audience members to become child sponsors. It's about educating the choristers too. "Before I rehearse with the kids, we're going to talk about why the song was written, what it's about, what are some of the things we take for granted in Canada that kids in thirdworld nations don't have at all or on a regular basis and that could be access to clean water, food and shelter and medicine," he said. "The intention of the song is to be empathetic and to understand other people and to sing it in such a way that it's inspiring, so that when we're performing the song, we're going to move people and ultimately move them to want to sponsor a child in another country to make a difference." The concert starts at 8 p.m. The Centre is located at 130 Navy St. Tickets cost $25 for adults or $15 for seniors and children. For tickets, visit www.oakvillecentre.ca.