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Razzamataz is committed to making performing arts as fun and accessible for children and young people as possible. They provide high-quality training in areas such as dance, singing and drama. Razzamataz's Director and Founder, Denise Hutton-Gosney, answers a selection of their most frequently asked questions for this month's Franchisor Q&A.
Can you give an overview of the performing arts industry in the UK and discuss how it has grown?
When I launched Razzamataz in 2000, the performing arts industry was popular but year on year, it has grown even more, which we have seen with the success of our schools across the UK. Based on figures from the Centre for Economic and Business Research, the GDP of the arts and culture industry in the UK grew by 10.4% to £11.8 billion, in 2015, compared with the 2.2% recorded by the entire UK economy over the same period. In fact, arts and culture in the UK grew by 10% in 2015, which is five times that of the UK economy as a whole. Due to the continuing popularity of programmes like Britain’s Got Talent, X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, our industry has become more accessible. Parents also understand the added benefits of performing arts and many send their children to us to help learn social skills, expand their friendship groups and gain confidence from as young an age as possible. This is why over the years we have offered classes for younger children including Razz Tots for those age two and three and our new product, ‘Tiny Tots’, which encourages children as young as 6 months to explore the creative arts!
What makes Razzamataz unique to other theatre schools across the country?
Our curriculum focuses on covering both musical theatre and commercial, the two main genres in our industry, giving our students an overall insight, especially important for those that want to work professionally. We also have our own charity that all principals, staff, students and families get involved in. This charity, Future Fund, aims to support our students after they’ve left Razzamataz, to offer them grants for their further performing arts training. This is a huge USP for us and one we are very proud of. We are also proud of our many different collaborations we have had over the years. These include industry workshops with professionals such as street dance crew Diversity and musical theatre stars such as Kerry Ellis. We also have a long running partnership with The Stage newspaper and have offered students performing opportunities at the 02 in London, Her Majesty’s Theatre in the West End and Disneyland Paris.
Is there a typical Razzamataz franchisee and if so, what qualities do they have?
There’s not really a ‘typical’ Razzamataz franchisee, however you do need drive, commitment, passion and a ‘can do’ attitude to succeed! Our franchisees come from a wide range of backgrounds and include teachers, parents who want to work flexibly around their children, retired performers and young entrepreneurs.
Do you need experience in the theatre industry to succeed as a Razzamataz franchisee?
Not necessarily because we have a wide range of industry contacts that our franchisees can access and our network of principals really support each other and often share resources. For franchisees who do not want to put on an end of year large-scale show, we have recently developed and launched our ‘Razz Early Years’ franchise, ideal for those without a performing arts background because we provide all the training, know how and ongoing support to ensure you are successful!
How do you help franchisees to achieve a work-life balance?
We run regular training webinars, which you can do in the comfort of your own home, these are also recorded so if you have a busy family life you can watch these when the kids have gone to bed! Or if you’re a working actor, work around your schedule. There’s always someone on the end of a phone, email or our WhatsApp group to answer questions no matter what time or whether it’s a weekday or weekend. Our classes are Term time only so you have every school holiday off! Other than a Saturday morning, you chose your own hours!
What kind of training is offered to franchisees and how long does it last?
Initial training is 6 days long and covers everything you will need to successfully launch your business including; PR and marketing, child protection, employment law, Accounts, GDPR, business management system (fully streamlined data base), social media, operations etc. It’s a very fun but full on week and all sessions are delivered by experts in their field so you get to find out the most recent developments in different areas of the business. We then follow this up with continuous support via your assigned Support Manager weekly, regular webinars and additional mentoring and we follow up with Phase 2 training and Phase 1 refresher training. Also every year we hold regional meetings in the North and South, our prestigious annual conference, Christmas lunches, prosecco and coffee meetings! There’s endless opportunities to meet up and network with fellow franchisees – in business FOR yourself but not BY yourself!
Learn more about a Razzmataz franchise opportunity by clicking here.