Gareth Thomas, One of the Founder of the Welsh Factor and the principal of GTMP Entertainment Group has been an Entertainment Agent of over 33 years standing. He began his career in the Entertainment Industry as a keyboard player with a background of being classically trained in piano and church pipe organ. After being in the industry for a few years, he decided to open GT Management Promotions entertainment agency. The Agency has experienced management and activity of all aspects of the Entertainment Industry from the placing of solo acts to the promotion of Big Name attractions, from Pub to Theatre, outdoor events to prestige Casinos in Europe and the World, GT Promotions has been there! Currently Gareth Thomas and his Daughter Anna Marie Thomas run the Welsh Factor Talent Competition, developing all the new Talent in Wales.
February 2010 Anna Marie Thomas & Gareth Thomas formed The Welsh Factor Academy alongside the Welsh Factor where they train artistes new to the industry and coach them properly in the art of entertainment. The reason we have embarked on this project is because the Entertainment Industry as we know it is currently working without any kind of structure attached to it. In the past and to date, artistes who wish to make a career in the industry have not really had any sound professional advice or training to enable them to present a competent act at the outset of their careers. They have been thrown in at the deep end as it were and picked up the art as they’ve gone along. Some have done well but others sadly, have not. With the advent of this new project we can give a professional opportunity and proper training to the new comers of the industry enabling us to provide a better professional service to our clients. GTMP Group is the only agency in Wales discovering and developing talent for the Entertainment Industry.
A Company dedicated to generating new ideas that can attract people to events is more or less a mission statement pursued in all aspects of the business. In short, anyone can book an act or show but who books the audience? Gareth Thomas has written a novel entitled “An Entertainment Agency in the South Wales Valleys” documenting his experiences in the Industry when times were good which is spiced with humour and instruction of how the business functions. He has written a musical called “Thou Art The Christ” which is due for a premier in 2012. The future of entertainment is in new ideas and new projects and Gareth Thomas can take you to the future because he is the future!
Anna Marie Thomas Founder of the Welsh Factor and the Principal of the Welsh Factor Academy, Anna Marie Thomas grew up in the entertainment industry from a very young age when her Father Gareth Thomas opened up his Agency when Anna was only 4 years old, always sitting in on meetings and going to showcases with her parents to watch the budding stars of the future perform, Anna could not of wished for a better career to come into, Anna then decided she wanted in come into the entertainment industry herself and began in the Business as a dancer and choreographer working with named DJ's, Record Companies, big outdoor events, music festivals, and Television. But due to knee injury she had to give up her career as a dancer and decided to follow in the same footsteps as her Father Gareth Thomas.
Anna is also the Principal of Artiste Management which has been established for over 14 years, and has gained experience in booking venues such as Holiday Parks, Hotels, Social Club, Private Clubs, Country & Golf Clubs, Casinos and Corporate work, Anna has worked in very successful dance troupes as her time as a dancer with outrageous costumes, lights, props and dance tricks bringing that extra bit of magic to all her shows, since becoming retired as a dancer, Anna had enjoyed putting together ideas of costumes, staging, lighting and programming for shows with some established artistes on the circuit, some of her own shows which she has produced herself have received Awards in 2006, 2008, 2009 & 2010 Anna is currently working on new Visual Production Shows ready for to be launched in 2012 and developing all the Talent from the Welsh factor and Welsh Factor Academy.
Vida Record Label is a new Welsh record Company designed to promote talent based in Wales providing an opportunity to enhance careers for people with exceptional skills. The Label is the brainchild of Anna Marie Thomas who was voted Business person of the Year in March 2011 by Bay Radio Community Awards for all her hard work with the Welsh Factor for her ingenious work and inventory of the Welsh Factor talent Competition. The Welsh Factor is an ongoing and perpetual competition that generates business for business and discovers new talent from the community while at the same time increasing confidence levels in the contestants that enter such competitions.
This new project is directed at promoting Welsh Artistes in Wales such as vocalists, instrumentalists, comedy acts, singer songwriters and people who are creative and inventive in their fields. The ambition of the company is to be one of the leading record labels in the country within the next few years. The label is keen to develop new talent and encourage original ideas to be promoted to the general public and bring to birth the hidden pearls of skills that lie dormant in the heart and soul of the people in the communities of Wales.
It will give would be composers, writers, and talent in general an outlet to express their skills and showcase them to the public through events organised and marketed by the record label. There will be new and unorthodox methods of promotion using different ideas that will help to channel new works where artistes can express their talents to a wide audience. In a new age, new ideas are required to move forward and the label has a saying that “old things are passed away and all things by this label will become new!”
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