CREDIT: WINSTON HONG
The Beautiful Mess performs at a dress rehearsal on Jan. 25 in preparation for Share the Land's show on Feb. 9.

Share the Land celebrates its fifth anniversary on Feb. 9, as Music Industry Arts (MIA) students at Fanshawe come together to play their own creative covers of Canadian classics.

“The students do all the work, I sort of coach them through it, but they do all the promotions, all the marketing, all the technical [aspects], they are all the performers, it didn't start like that, but it evolved to that,” said Mike Roth, professor of Artist Development and Music Business in MIA and the founder of Share the Land.

It is an event that started five years ago from a simple discussion in Roth's classroom.

“I was talking about how you get fans to come and see you when you are a new band and I suggested to try to do a charity concert,” Roth said. “I asked them ‘if the MIAs were to do a show what would you do'.”

A student, named Adam Barnes, put up his hand and suggested doing a tribute to Jack Richardson. And instead of letting the idea fall to the sidelines, Roth said, “Great idea, you're going to run it.”

“Jack was a former teacher [at Fanshawe] who was the producer of all The Guess Who stuff, he was the first real producer in Canada; he basically started the Canadian music industry.”

Richardson passed away five years ago, which is when the event began.

“Jack had heart issues when he got older, so we thought we would do it as a homage to him for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The first year we raised $400, last year we raised $4,000, so over the four years we have done it, we have raised over $10,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation,” Roth said.

It started out as a smaller show with only 14 acts, but has expanded to 18 acts this year.

The Beautiful Mess is one of the lucky bands that made it through the audition stage and will be performing at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9 at Aeolian Hall located at 795 Dundas St.

“It's a really fun project, it's unbelievable that it is a part of school, it's giving you a real experience and it's obviously within a community of people so you are more comfortable, but it's getting you ready for [the real world],” said Thomas O'Neil who is in the Beautiful Mess and a second-year MIA student.

They are performing “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” because it covers Barenaked Ladies and Bruce Colburn, who are both Canadian.

“I think our [performance] is more of a spectacle than anybody else's because we have 10 people in it, seven singers and a seven part acapella harmony with nothing else… I am just happy that we got it pulled together,” said Colin Anderson who is also part of the Beautiful Mess and is a second-year MIA student.

And according to Roth, this is exactly the kind of experience the students need to be successful in this career path.

“It is a practical hands on experience [for the] kids, it takes them three years in terms of experiences: learning how to work with people, with people in the industry and trying to entertain an audience,” Roth said. “It is the greatest night of their lives.”