DURHAM
Motorco Music Hall was taken over by hordes of children Friday night. On purpose.

The usually hip bar and music venue in Durham’s Central Park district gave itself over to an odd mixture of rock music, screaming babies, local beer, herding parents, jazz-infused hip-hop, tag-playing children and musical prodigies, all for the Central Park School for Children annual “Save our Arts” benefit concert.

A community effort was underway as six Triangle groups played to a crowd of children, parents and local music lovers to raise money for the arts program which itself features a teacher or two from area bands. The wife of banjo/guitarist Phil Cook of Durham folk/rock group Megafaun also teaches at the school.

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“These are the signs of a vibrant community,” said Catherine Edgerton, the spoon and saw-playing guitarist in Durham’s DIY folk group Midtown Dickens, halfway through their set.

She emphasized that the benefit concert was a reminder of what an impact the community can make.

As a tuition-free public charter elementary school with a “child-centered, project-based, integrated-arts curriculum,” the school receives less state and local funding than district public schools, leaving the school’s parents and teachers to engage in additional fundraising efforts.

Central Park School student bands started off the evening, followed by Durham’s pop/punk/anti-folk group The Wigg Report, Midtown Dickens, youth spoken word group The Sacrificial Poets, Durham’s hip-hop/jazz/soul outfit The Beast, Triangle indie pop rock quintet The Old Ceremony, and Megafaun.

Fifth grader Ian Campbell, who performed early on in the evening’s show, recorded his own EP for the benefit. He held his own later in the evening when he retook the stage to accompany Megafuan on one of their more wistful and folk-inspired pieces, “The Fade.”

Megafaun’s Brad Cook joked that Campbell was the highlight of their set — a goofier, more laid-back performance after the band’s two-night stand last week at King’s Barcade in Raleigh.

Brad Cook praised Campbell for having already done a lot more at age 11 than he had done by 16. The audience, of course, misinterpreted his statement just the way he wanted.

The evening ended on a lighthearted note representative of the whole concert when Phil Cook called up audience members with “questionable rhythm” to play various percussion instruments on Megafaun’s last song.

As the audience danced and sang along behind him, Campbell sat on the edge of the stage watching his mother rock a tambourine.