Tiny Candle concert hits fifth year 

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Triple Threat Mentoring has partnered with Back Third Audio for their annual Christmas concert, Tiny Candle. This year students including 8-year-old Yhajaire Sanchez of Aurora, will design the front cover artwork for a CD. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Updated: April 19, 2011 5:20AM

AURORA — Five years ago, Benjie Hughes decided to hold an intimate Christmas concert at his downtown studio, Back Third Audio. Three performers, one concert, close friends and family only.

Flash forward to 2010, and Tiny Candle has become an annual tradition. The roster of performers has expanded to a half-dozen (and sometimes more), the number of shows has tripled and tickets routinely sell out. It’s grown larger and more popular than Hughes ever expected.

So now, on the fifth anniversary of Tiny Candle, Hughes is looking to get the Aurora community more involved, and do some good while he’s at it.

Those attending this year’s shows, slated for Dec. 10, 11 and 17, can pick up a newly minted CD of performances from the first four years. They’ll be able to choose from five different covers, each one drawn by a student in one of Triple Threat Mentoring’s art classes. And all proceeds from the sale will go to benefit Triple Threat, a non-profit organization that has worked with children in Aurora for three years.

The idea to create the CD as a fundraiser, Hughes said, came from a roundtable discussion with the Tiny Candle performers, a roster which includes Aurorans Ben Thomas, Zach Goforth, Andrea Dawn and Hughes’ sister Mandy.

“We decided we’d like to do something involved with social justice and community,” Hughes said. “All of us thought of Triple Threat.”

Last week, five students from Waldo Middle School and Bardwell Elementary School created their covers, each one working to a specific theme: light, peace and collaboration. They worked under the guidance of artists from Medallion Media, who teach art classes through Triple Threat.

Caleb Luper, Triple Threat’s executive director, said it was an amazing thing to watch.

“What surprised me was their ability to describe what their feelings and what their ideas were,” he said. “I’m used to hearing that from adult artists, but their ability to do that just blew me away.”

Luper said it was the idea of students drawing the covers and then seeing others value their work and pay for it that sold him on the deal. The organization works with about 3,000 students each year, he said, and has never held a fundraiser before.

But that’s not the only way Hughes has chosen to involve the community. Those who pay extra for the Dec. 11 show will get a meal catered by downtown restaurant Chef Amaury’s. Owned by Amaury Rosado, the eatery is part of Restaurant Row on New York Street.

Rosado, Hughes said, creates food the way artists and musicians craft their art. He described it as “maybe the best food I’ve had,” and said involving him was a way to share ownership of Tiny Candle and make it an event downtown Aurora can be proud of.

No matter how much it grows, though, Hughes said he would like to see Tiny Candle remain at Back Third’s admittedly small performance space, which can seat about 50. Part of the magic of the event, he said, is the intimacy of the room and the ability of the musicians to connect with the audience.

But in other ways Hughes isn’t afraid to change up the show. He said he has no idea what 2011’s Tiny Candle will be like yet, but if the new features introduced this year work out, he may repeat them.

“This is the fifth year, and we tried to make it more or less the show you’re familiar with, but bigger,” he said. “I can see next year reinventing it.”

Tickets for Tiny Candle and the Five Candles CD are on sale now at www.tinycandle.com. The two Friday shows are $25 each, the Saturday show (including a meal from Chef Amaury’s) are $74.