LAKEWOOD – Infinity Visual and Performing Arts Center is accepting submissions for bands to participate in its newest fundraising effort: Top of the Tier Musical Showdown.

The first event of its kind to support Infinity’s programming, the Top of the Tier Musical Showdown will be held Sunday, Aug. 14, at the Southern Tier Brewing Company from noon to 5 p.m.

The event came about through a partnership between Infinity and the Lakewood craft brewery as a means of assisting the former with its instructional and operational costs from a financial standpoint. It will be presented in a Battle of the Bands format, in which a maximum of 10 local and area bands will perform for approximately 15 minutes and a winner announced at the event’s conclusion.

According to Shane Hawkins, executive director of Infinity, a Battle of the Bands-themed fundraising event is something which has been a longterm goal for Infinity.

“We’ve talked about doing this type of event for years, but could never find out how to make it come together,” Hawkins said. “Heather Conroe and Mike Osgood from Southern Tier approached us, being that they’re both friends of Infinity, and brought up the idea to us and we knew we could make it work with their help.

“We’re hoping to make this an annual event, and we want people to come out to watch and support live, local music,” she added.

Hawkins said the event will be organized and overseen by Infinity’s Board of Directors, as staff and students are busy participating in summer camps and preparing for the organization’s primary annual fundraiser: the Local Music Showcase. She added that Infinity organization is seeking new ways in which it can raise money for its operational expenses, the bulk of which include instructional costs.

“About one-third of our regular expenses are instructor costs, and our instructors are basically the key to making Infinity work,” Hawkins said. “We want to make sure we can pay them like the professionals they are without having to raise prices on our students, so we have to consider other methods of raising money.”

The Top of the Tier Musical Showdown will up to 10 Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Warren county bands, duos and soloists the opportunity to become Top of the Tier champion. Guidelines for the event are as follows: all acts must be from either Chautauqua, Cattaraugus or Warren counties; individual musicians cannot perform in more than one act; each act will have one 15-minute live performance of original, family-friendly music; acts may perform one cover song during their 15 minutes, but may not use background or karaoke tracks; and only 10 acts will be chosen to participate. In the event that more than 10 acts register, the Top of the Tier event committee will choose 10 acts to perform based upon submitted videos.

Those interested in learning more about, or participating in, the event can do so by visiting infinityperformingarts.org/about/donate/top-of-the-tier-musical-showdown/. Musician registration will close on Saturday, July 30.