Sam Fotias is Vice President of Operations at Paxahau and Operations Director of the Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit.

Sam began producing underground dance events in Detroit in the early 1990s. Working on these shows, he discovered and developed his talent for pulling elements together to deliver a powerful event experience. He immersed himself in the surging Detroit electronic music scene, working as the in-house promoter for Plus 8 Records and Plastik Produkts, and running Intellinet Record Distribution out of his basement.

In 1998, Sam joined Jason Huvaere and Jason Clark on the Paxahau project that the two had created. Paxahau was a volunteer led organization for many years, during which time Sam split his time between Paxahau and community development work at various Detroit-based community and cultural organizations.

In 2006, Paxahau gained production rights to the annual electronic music festival in Detroit, now called Movement. Sam stepped into a fulltime role to oversee the production of all Paxahau projects, including the Movement festival. His role includes: site and budget planning, city permitting, contractor recruitment, contract negotiation and production management; and is tied into nearly every department of the festival and the company. Sam is also operations director for the Detroit Jazz Festival, the largest free jazz festival in the world and a major tourist attraction for the City of Detroit.

Since Paxahau’s inception of Movement, recognitions include: “Festival of the Month” in May 2016 by Resident Advisor, “16 of Summer’s Best Music Fests” by Jetsetter Magazine, New York Times “50 Essential Summer Festivals” in 2015, “Best Niche Festival” and “Summer 2016’s 30 Must-See Music Festivals” by Rolling Stone Magazine and #2 on THUMP’s “10 North American Festivals That Won 2014”, just to name a few.

In 2014, Rolling Stone Magazine named Sam Fotias and Jason Huvaere as one of the “50 Most Important People in EDM”.