It’s a busy time of year for Fanshawe’s Music Industry Arts (MIA) students, as preparations for the 10th annual charity concert are underway. With the event usually taking place in February, the concert was able to happen last year just before the pandemic. Making this the first year the show has gone virtual.
While keeping the pandemic in mind, the students and staff have decided to donate all proceeds of the show to London’s Revive Live program. To support the local live music scene, artists, producers, and venues that have been hit hard by the pandemic.
The second-year students have been working hand in hand with Fanshawe’s Broadcasting program since December to prepare an eventful show for April 24th. Creating 27 original music videos of Canadian song covers for the show.
“If we were doing a live show performance, it would be rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, and then perform that night. But this, we’re rehearsing, we’re full producing and engineering tracks, and then shooting music videos” Brendan Sutton, a MIA student performing in the show says.
Sutton is part of the ‘talent’ and has been responsible for recording his cover and music video of “Can’t Feel My Face” by The Weekend. As well as social media work to promote the event. Even with the amount of work it takes for the performers, Sutton says his workload has been on the far end of things.
Brendan Sutton, MIA second year student
“It’s basically four or five months of straight work at it,” he says. “It’s minimal work on my end. But there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes to make sure it’s a smooth show.”
Sutton says tickets for the show immediately started selling as soon as the website launched three weeks ago. He says the three hour show should be close to perfect with all the work the students have put in.
“There’s pros and cons to everything, right? With this, we have a little more space to perfect stuff. Obviously, in the mixing process we can make sure every take is perfect. It’ll be a little bit more polished than an actual live performance” the performer says.
Tickets for the show are available online. More about the artists and behind the scenes can be found on the event’s Instagram and Facebook pages.
