CREDIT: LLIAM BUCKLEY
Music Industry Arts (MIA) grad and performer A-Fos (Alex Foster) is helping MIA students prepare for the Share the Land (STL) concert on Feb. 7. He's been much help to all those involved with the program and show

Alex Foster, also known by his stage name A-Fos, is a graduate of the Music Industry Arts (MIA) program and is hard at work with the current students of MIA.

He's been making regular trips from the GTA to offer his expertise in performance as they make preparations for the annual Share the Land (STL) charity concert.

A-Fos, graduated the MIA program in 2013 and has since made tremendous strides in the music industry. He's worked both as a performer, performance coach and most recently has been running his own media company Lilac Media, which he co-founded. Lilac Media assists both artists and businesses in growing their digital brand through video and photography.

His current musical endeavours include producing and writing an album of his own music, as well as mixing and mastering music for other artists.

He harbours a strong pride for Fanshawe, especially the MIA program. Every year he travels to London in order to offer his vast knowledge in performance to the students as they get ready for one of the highlights of second year.

Although the show doesn't go on until Feb. 7 Foster was brought in by MIA professor Mike Roth in December to help with the audition processes and get students working with an ambitious attitude from an early stage.

A-Fos performed in this concert himself when he was a student, at which point the show was only in its second annual year of production. He's excited by how much things have grown since their humble beginnings and is amazed with the wealth of talent that the current students body possess. When asked how it compares to past years, Foster had positives to share.

“This year is incredible…Just the amount of talent and good acts that are going through. I feel like everyone knew it was coming and then they prepared all summer…It just seems like there's a lot of people ready and willing to go and it's good to see. So, this is a great crop of musicians and artists to choose from,” Foster said.

Foster said he enjoys the experience of working alongside Mike Roth, who inspired him to grow as a performer when he was enrolled in the program. “In [first year of] MIA I was very quiet,” Foster said. “Mike kind of showed us the way… gave [us] permission to really kill it on stage and it kind of snowballed from there…I took it to the next notch and just really fell in love with making a performance” Roth is equally excited to have Foster involved.

“He really teaches the importance of live production, live arrangement and how important it is,” Roth said.

Once the official line up is locked down, A-Fos will continue to work with the students in one on one sessions, perfecting their performances. His high attention to detail in these matters is an asset in bringing artists songs to the next level and polishing their acts in a way that is extremely professional. “It's crazy just to see how much the artist have grown from just spending two hours with him. There's more confidence in them and their performance is so captivating,” Share the Land (STL) stage manager, Jenna Bjornson, said.

The process of creating an exciting performance and seeing it grow from start to finish is something that A-Fos loves about his work with the MIA students. “I love seeing it click [with artists], where they go from kind of playing their song, and it's good, [but] they don't really know where to take it; and then we take it to a whole other level,” A-Fos shared. “It just gets me so excited when a show…hits hard and moves you in some sort of way.”

Things will continue to grow and be developed in the coming weeks and it is exciting to see how far things will grow from now until Feb. 7, when the acts perform on the stage of the London Music Hall.

Those who wish to find out more about A-Fos and what he does can find him on Facebook at Facebook.com/AfosMusic or visit the website for his media company at LilacMediaGroup.com.

More info on the STL concert can be found on Facebook at Facebook.com/ShareTheLandFanshawe.