People come to concerts to hear musicians perform, and they come to fundraisers to raise money for a cause. But what happens when the two are combined?

The Habitat for Humanity club holds an annual benefit concert called Habfest to raise money for the organization. This year, it was run by the two senior co-presidents, Max Sternlicht and Ella King. The event requires a balance between fundraising and music, and the importance placed on each aspect varies.

“The music aspect is really a primary goal of the night because we want people to have fun,” Sternlicht said. “If you play something off as too much of a charity, kids are going to be a little bit turned off by it.”

According to King, the two aspects of the event are closely intertwined, but the fundraising takes precedence.

“I think the idea of the concert is more about the fundraising than it is about putting together a work of art, but we want it to be an enjoyable concert,” King said.

King also said that Habfest needs to be a good concert in order to raise the maximum amount of money.

Preparation for the event centers around finding the bands and reserving the auditorium for the event, which was April 4 this year. All of the proceeds benefited Habitat for Humanity, an organization that works toward providing housing to everyone.

Habfest is the biggest fundraiser for the club, which meets every other X-block in room UA33. In between the concert performances, the co-presidents spoke about Habitat for Humanity’s mission.

Junior Arielle Knight, a member of the club who helped organize the event this year, said that people attend the event because they want to partake in the fundraising.

“I think they know that it’s for a good cause and they’re doing it because they want to help Habitat for Humanity,” Knight said.

Some performers became involved in the concert through an announcement to audition in the BHS Daily Bulletin, and the others were picked from open mics and asked to perform, according to Sternlicht.

Sternlicht acknowledged that one of his goals for the event this year was to make the performers more aware of the idea behind the concert.

“It’s basically a fundraising effort,” King said. “But it’s also to get the school involved in the work that we’re doing.”

Sam Klein can be contacted at [email protected].