Getting the chance to see Ben Folds perform live in Iowa City on Sunday won’t be as simple as shelling out a few bucks for a ticket. This show’s audience has had to work for it.

Piano rocker Ben Folds will bring the University of Iowa’s Memorial Union Main Lounge to life Sunday. Headliner of “The 10,000 Hours Show,” Folds will be putting on a performance to celebrate fans — and volunteers — of Johnson County.

“The 10,000 Hours Show” was created a little over a year ago by The James Gang, a Johnson County nonprofit organization, and the new music festival is a way to reward volunteers who take part in helping organizations in Johnson County.

Instead of buying a ticket to the show, anyone interested was able to register with The 10,000 Hours Organization and provide a minimum of 10 hours of community service. Once the service was completed, the volunteer was able to pick up a free ticket to the Ben Folds concert. All services were completed by April 22. The performance is strictly for those who have done 10 hours of volunteer work with the organization. No tickets are being sold, which makes Sunday night’s show very unique.

Amanda Styron, executive co-director of “The 10,000 Hours Show” and board member of The James Gang, says the demand for live music was key in determining the type of activity used to reward volunteers.

“It just seemed like a natural fit,” Styron says. “People have such a great time seeing live music.”

Styron says the appeal of Ben Folds to the predominantly college-aged crowd was also a natural fit. Folds, noted for his playful, audience-involving shows, is currently on tour in the United States. In April, Folds appeared in both Des Moines and Decorah and will be returning to Iowa City on Sunday to take part in the festivities. Styron says everyone involved is anxiously anticipating Folds’ arrival.

“We’re really excited to have him,” Styron says. “He is known for really interacting with the crowd, and that was something that we really wanted. We also wanted someone that had a really broad appeal, and we think that Ben Folds does. It just worked out really well that he was available when we were ready to have the show.”

Another intriguing aspect of “The 10,000 Hours Show” is how it’s entirely run by volunteers under the age of 25. The James Gang teamed up with University of Iowa organization The Public Project to produce the show.

The groups’ accomplishments included raising $60,000 with the help of a grant from the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. The 10,000 Hours Organization also hosted three volunteer fairs on the university’s campus in which more than 700 students were in attendance, recruited 500 new volunteers, produced an online database of volunteer services that will be maintained as a resource for the community in the future.

Styron says “The 10,000 Hours Show” has proven to be an extreme motivation for the volunteers. She has seen a great response to volunteer work and credits Folds’ concert for the enthusiasm seen in the volunteers.

“My friends tell me they hear people talking about it everywhere they go,” she says. Everybody’s been really encouraging and really excited so I think we’ve had a great response.”

Although the 10,000 Hours Organization is open to all ages, Styron says the main people interested are college students.

“We think the show is a good way to help college students get connected with the community because it makes volunteer opportunity so accessible to them,” Styron says.

Volunteers had more than 50 organizations to choose from just in Johnson County. Services ranged from working with children or the elderly to volunteering at the American Red Cross, the Iowa City Community Theater or the Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation District.

“I always tell people that they can pretty much do whatever they want because there’s an opportunity that fits everybody’s interest, whether it’s art or technology or kids or the elderly,” Styron says. “Everybody needs help. All of the community organizations need help and they all have very different mission statements.”

Styron says the best part of the project, however, is how both the volunteers and the organizations benefit.

“I think the best thing is hearing both sides of the volunteering,”she says. “I’ve heard from other organizations that they’ve had more volunteers than they have ever had before, and that’s really fantastic to me. And the other part of it is talking to the volunteers and hearing that they’ve always wanted to volunteer, but just didn’t know who to call.”

If Sunday’s crowd isn’t already energized, Folds will give them a reason. Always including a couple of crowd favorites such as “Army” and “Not the Same,” Folds often asks his audience to morph into saxophones and trumpets or blend three-part harmonies. The singer/songwriter is expected to play a lively variety of Ben Folds Five tunes along with his solo works, including tracks off his latest EP, “Sunny 16.” Folds may also give the audience a hint of what is to come from his future projects.

Folds will be releasing his third EP, “Super D,” in the near future, followed by his second full-length solo studio album. He has also produced an album for William Shatner which includes appearances by Henry Rollins and Joe Jackson.

Styron says she is very excited for Sunday’s show and is also very grateful for all of the support 10,000 Hours has received.

“We’ve had amazing support from the University of Iowa, the state of Iowa and the local community,” Styron says. “From those three, we’ve had enough to really make the show happen.”

Plans for next year’s “10,000 Hours Show” are already in the works. Styron says involvement next year will only grow larger.

“This is our first year so we had to keep it small in certain ways,” she says. “Next year we’ll try to branch out even farther and make sure it’s not just the university community.”

Who: Ben Folds, Strange Attractor

Where: Iowa Memorial Union Main Lounge, Iowa City

When: 7 p.m., Sunday

Cost: Verifiable volunteer service with a participating organization