Fundraising and ‘friend-raising:’ A Li’l Affair raises $1,200 for local women’s shelters

The Sanctuary Arts Centre in Dartmouth hosted A Li’l Affair in early March with a matinee on March 8 where kids in the front row danced, tears were wiped from smiling cheeks, and at the final bow audience members of all ages leapt to their feet for a standing ovation.  

Event organizer Victoria Howse is president and co-founder of Funk Island Lab, a non-profit offering music camps for professional songwriters, emerging artists, and youth from across Atlantic Canada. The event raises money for both Adsum for Women and Children and Funk Island Lab camps. 

Howse said in an interview with The Signal that the Sunday matinee was aimed to accommodate audience members who could not attend the evening show the night before. 

“We added free admission for youth under 10 and student pricing for Sunday to help bring in more people, but also to have families that wanted to attend not have to worry about a babysitter,” she said. 

Howse recalled last year’s event, with the nearly sold-out show and “quite a few hundred dollars raised” for Adsum. This year, more than $500 was raised in the first night alone. The matinee performance, on March 8, was held on International Women’s Day.  

Many people in Halifax are familiar with Adsum due to the breadth of their work. It started in 1983 with an emergency shelter called Adsum House which is still active today.  

Kathy McNab, fund development officer at Adsum, said in an interview with The Signal that this is the building most people know them by. However, she said they now have nine locations around the city. 

“They’re long-term housing,” she explained. “We have services for women to be able to heal from crises and get stability in their lives for them and their children. And we charge 30 per cent of a person’s income. So, truly, the meaning of affordable.”  

The shows raised $1,242.50, not including ticket revenue. Many items were collected that McNab has listed as items needed on the donations page of their website. 

“We update it every few months on what we need the most. Right now we’re looking at spring and summer. So you’ll see things like suntan lotion and hats to protect people from the heat, etc. and then monetary needs always. We’re housing almost 500 people in our different programs, but there’s 5,000 more out there who are needing housing,” said McNab.  

For McNab, raising awareness is just as important as raising funds because it helps bring women’s issues to the government level where change can be made. She calls this friend-raising. 

Claira Blanchard, a first-year student at Dalhousie University, was one of eight women to take the stage. It was her first time singing with a full band but she says she was “not intimidated at all.” 

“I think one word to describe the crowd would probably be just supportive. So it’s not intimidating in the slightest to walk out onto a stage like that for the first time where I know I could forget my words and it doesn’t matter at all. Like they’re just loving the ambience.”  

Yvette Lorraine, a classically trained soprano singer-songwriter from Corner Brook, N.L., brings her background in theatre to every performance.  

 “There’s something special about an all female-cast. There’s something moving about it. It’s important, the artists that were covering women. It is powerful. There is a certain energy that is different, there’s a closeness, there’s a shared experience,” she said. 

Stephano Andriani manages day-to-day operations for the Sanctuary Arts Centre and was excited to see the space so full of emotion.  

“To see shows that really speak to the community is really exciting,” said Andriani in an interview with The Signal.  

He sees the space’s potential for gathering to make change. 

“The sanctuary is intended as a community space and so that’s not just the promotion of artists, but also the idea that art can be a larger, beneficial thing and can be a place for us to talk about and fundraise for the things that are important.”  

Howse said planning is underway for next year’s A Li’l Affair. 

“I already have the setlist kind of lined up. So picking the songs and reeling it in will definitely be happening between now and next year.”