In 2001, after working for twelve years in the tourism industry, Alex Foster launched a full service artiste management and booking agency in the second city, Montego Bay. It was a courageous move for the young Jamaican, who, tired of the monotony and poor quality among entertainers, had identified a need for an outfit that could supply the hotel industry with first-rate entertainment acts.

Today that little agency is one of the fastest growing of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Unlike many other agencies which basically are booking centres, ShowJam retains at least 80% of its operations, managing its own acts. Through this method, Foster says, the agency is better able to control the quality and standard of delivery. It is a caring business with the client’s and audience’s satisfaction always in mind, he says.

Whether it is a stage show, cabaret, wedding, corporate function, gala anniversary or birthday, the agency with its more than 50 multi-talented entertainment professionals, is capable of providing suitable acts. This type of business is not “a bed of roses” – weekends, long hours, and working on holidays are all part of the mix – and Foster says that anyone interested in doing it should research and dialogue with an operator like himself to avoid some of the mistakes he naturally made en route to getting Showjam off the ground.

An outgrowth of the agency is entertainment consultancy, and today calls come in from Miami, all across Jamaica and the Caribbean for idea exchanges and general consultancy. ShowJam is counting among its successes the grooming of local western talents such as Khalil, the second-placed winners in Digicel’s Rising Star 2008 talent competition, and TRN which is now at the semi-finals stage in the Tastee Talent Competition. Tammy T who along with her brother performs cabarets, Tamica, who also performs on the northcoast cabaret circuit and Suzanne Perkins, who at age sixteen placed third in the 2006 Rising Stars Competition, is currently under Showjam management. One of its most sought-after groups is Soul 4 Soul, an all-male quartet with powerful stage energy and harmonious delivery.

Showjam also provides modelling talents and fairly recently had girls finishing in the top five in the Miss Jamaica World pageant and in the top ten in the Miss Jamaica Universe Competition. The agency will be launching its Western Model Search competition soon for contestants from Trelawny, St James, Westmoreland, Hanover and St Elizabeth. Foster says there are many talented young models who would like to be trained and prepared for a career, but cannot afford to be in Kingston where the major agencies are.

“I work with a gut feeling, whenever I am making a decision about whether or not to sign an act,” Foster said. He feels the biggest problem with Jamaican entertainment is that our talent is surfacing too late. There is a grooming and development process that is typical to most great performers, for example, Beyoncé was seventeen years of age when she broke out onto the scene. “When you look at Usher, Michael Jackson, Rihanna, etc, you realise that starting early provides an advantage for international success”.

The effects of the economic downturn have impacted operations and as a result bookings have seen a reduction, but this has not dampened the agency’s outlook. Alex Foster’s position is that entertainment is always going to have a place in human life because when we all become stressed and depressed from the economic doom and gloom we have to resort to entertainment for relief.

“As the leading agency in western Jamaica, where we cater to international audiences from all over the world at the various resorts, we are proud to be presenting the best of Jamaica to the World,” he said.