A theatre school franchise has been working with The Stage newspapers since 2008 to offer a full year’s scholarship to attend one of their schools across the UK. At the Awards event in London, the founder of Razzamataz saw first-hand how scholarships change lives.
Every school in the Razzamataz network offers a free place, worth circa £30,000 a year and goes towards the impressive total of circa half a million pounds in grants and scholarships raised since the beginning of The Stage partnership.
This year, MD and Founder of Razzamataz, Denise Hutton-Gosney, was invited to attend The Stage Award party and was able to bring two of this year’s scholarship winners: Neve Murphy, age 16, from Razzamataz Brentwood and Katie Francis age 13 from Razzamataz Bristol South.
One of the most surprising parts of the day was bumping into a former student, who is now starring on the West End stage in smash hit musical & Juliet. Danielle Fiamanya attended Razzamataz Glasgow and accompanied Denise and three other children to appear on the famous episode of Dragons’ Den where Denise was offered the full investment from Duncan Bannatyne. After leaving Razzamataz, Danielle went on to study at Guildford School of Acting and has recently received the 2019 Stage Debut Award for Best Actress in a musical.
“Honestly it has been such a mad year but I’m so grateful,” says Danielle. “Razzamataz was the first theatre school I stepped into and I just wouldn’t be here without you and my scholarships at the school. Completely indebted to you.”
Although Danielle didn’t receive The Stage scholarship, Robson Broad from Razzamataz Medway did in 2012 and it went on to also make a huge difference. Robson is currently in global hit Hamilton with another former Razzamataz student Peter Reid.
“Bumping into Danielle at The Stage party and remembering when I was last here with Robson has reminded me of the fantastic legacy that Razzamataz is creating,” says Denise Hutton-Gosney. “The scholarships are literally life changing and exposing thousands of children to the benefits of performing arts. Of course, not all children will want to take their performing to a professional level but they will all gain from the life skills that they are learning at our schools.”
Razzamataz was the first part-time theatre school to work with The Stage to offer national scholarships and it continues to be a very special partnership that Denise is very proud of.
“Children do not need to have any previous performing arts experience because we are looking for a spark of talent that we can nurture at our schools,” adds Denise. “The training that they receive will help them break into this highly competitive industry. By learning all three disciplines of dance, drama and singing and having lots of opportunities to perform, we are giving children an excellent education in the arts. So many now successfully go on to study performing arts at college or university and so many tell us that their inspiration came from attending one of our schools. I’m so proud to be part of the success of students such as Danielle, Robson and Peter and it is exciting to see how many more students will go on to be successful.”
As a multiple-award-winning franchise, celebrating twenty years in business, Razzamataz franchisees come from all walks of life. They don’t need to have experience in performing arts because of the contacts that they can access through the network. All that is required is a passion for the arts, the willingness to work hard and learn and the enthusiasm to run their own business with the help, support and advice of the Head Office team.
If you have the desire needed to run your own theatre school, speak to our friendly Head Office staff and find out how you can transfer your skills. We currently have an offer for interest free finance for exceptional candidates for the main Razzamataz franchise and a 50% offer for the Razzamataz Early Years franchise.
To discover the Razzamataz franchise opportunity, Click Here.