TalentPlus is a staple of entertainment in the Midwest as a modeling and acting agency, but more recently has become a force in live entertainment booking. Now, with an all-new college division, interactive website and devoted staff specially qualified for college buyers, they are fast becoming a solid choice for your next campus entertainment event.

It was the first SAG/AFTRA agency in the Midwest and the largest talent agency in the region. Mainly focused on actors, voice-over talent and models, it soon grew into a speakers bureau, which eventually spawned its entertainment division. Chris Hansen, co-owner and vice-president of TalentPlus, tells us a little bit about the company. “We now have a staff of about 20 and represent a plethora of models for print and runway and exclusively represent about 40 different live music acts and specialty entertainers. We have been the premier entertainment talent agency here in St. Louis for 30 years.”

The 40 exclusive acts that TalentPlus represents spans the array of appropriate genres, with many original ideas that campus programmers will find especially appealing. “We are really proud of our roster and the diversity of our roster. What sets us apart as a boutique agency is having that type of depth. We try not to fill our line-up with competing acts; we hand select each and every entertainer we work with based on style and price point. We have a great educational component as well with acts like Nuclear Percussion Ensemble, Autumn’s Child and Farshid Etniko, which are all world music groups that have very strong master classes and clinics.”

TalentPlus also specializes in a wide variety of music, much of it being in more culturally diverse content of quality and that is often hard to find in most contemporary music agencies. “We have a vibrant selection in our jazz roster from vocalists to 13 year old drumming prodigy Tito Pascoal. We also have some of the industry’s most smoking-hot dance bands that generally specialize in corporate entertainment but can get a party started anywhere. We have some great Americana singer/songwriter type stuff, which include people like Scott Ryan, who toured the world with Sheryl Crow for five years and wrote a couple of platinum songs.”

The well-rounded roster that Talent Plus represents is a perfect fit for the college market, but this wasn’t the original intention. The agency just realized they were in a perfect position to meet the special needs of college buyers. “We built our roster initially for corporate, private, not-for-profit and educational aspects and in doing so we started to find that we had talent we wanted to expose to the college market. From there we started to cultivate those relationships and as a result we went further out to extend the roster with college appropriate acts and fill in the things we didn’t have. We now represent some really interesting hip-hop and rock fusion acts like the Midwest Avengers and some great comedy like our sketch duo out of Miami, A Pair of Nuts. We have worked hard to expand our college roster without polluting and diluting it just for the sake of having more to offer.

Doug Hall, an agent at Talent Plus and head of the campus activities division there reiterates the focus on quality. “I think the most important thing to keep in mind for us and many of our clients is that we truly do stand behind each and every one of the acts on our roster,” he says. “We want to make sure that every artist is represented in the best possible way and we want to make sure they are the best possible fit for the given client. It really keeps things interesting for us. Just yesterday, within a 30-minute period of time I went from trying to book a live electronica act to working with a Native American flautist to talking to a dance troupe out of San Francisco. That is the key here. We are not just rock-driven or pop-driven. We are not trying to find all of the cookie-cutter acts that are the easiest to book. We are entertainment-driven. When someone comes to us with a particular need, we have an entire gamut of acts that we really believe in and that actually makes our jobs really easy and fun to do.”

TalentPlus brings a lot of experience and a fair amount of clout to the table, so even deals with national touring acts can be mediated by them for the best possible options for their clients.

For true commitment to quality, diversity and education, TalentPlus is as passionate and involved as anyone you could hope to work with. With an unwavering level of dedication to both their artists and their buyers, this is an agency that can bring you something new, exciting and different to your next event and most importantly of all, you can bank on their quality.

BOOK IT! For more information of the exciting array of services TalentPlus can offer your school, contact them at (314) 421-9400 or for a link, log on to our website at campusactivitiesmagazine.com