After Phil daRosa began playing shows at The Strand Theatre as part of The Martha’s Vineyard Sound Series a few years ago, it was no surprise to him that a venue designed to screen movies could evolve into a concert hall.

He recalled that the idea to start a concert series began with Steve Capers, who leases The Strand Theatre and runs the Comedy Fest.

“He reached out to me, saying, hey, what do you think about doing a weekly sort of local thing from mid-May to the end of June?” said Mr. daRosa. “So, here we are.”

This year’s shows begin Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. and run weekly on Thursdays thereafter until June 25. Mr. daRosa will perform during the opening show with Darby Paterson, Missis Biskis, Rose Guerin and others.

Unlike many venues across the Island, the theatre has been specifically tuned to provide a clean canvas for musicians to perform.

“There are plenty of bars and scenes that offer people ways to experience live music on the Island. However, they don’t necessarily cater to a lot of the types of music that will be playing at The Strand,” Mr. daRosa said.

MV Sound fest offers a tiered ticket structure with minimum ticket price set at $20. Audience members can pay more to help the musicians.

Next week, on May 21, Big Weather, Brad Tucker, Peter Halperin and Gabi take the stage. The full list of performers can be found at mvsoundfest.com.