Now in its fifth year, the business brains from Dragons’ Den have not forgotten past entrepreneurs as Duncan Bannatyne proved with his recent trip to Razzamataz Theatre School.
Founder and director of Razzamataz in Carlisle, Denise Hutton-Gosney, first appeared on the show in 2007 and after her dynamic pitch, caught the attention of Bannatyne who went on to offer her the full investment.
Since the Den, Hutton-Gosney has been busy building up the Razzamataz brand. There are now almost 40 schools up and down the country and Razzmataz has established a further collaboration with Bannatyne with the launch of Razz Xpress within the Bannatyne’s health clubs.
Nurturing young talent, be it in a theatre school environment or new entrepreneurs, is high on Bannatyne’s agenda and during his recent visit to meet the students, he was incredibly impressed with their commitment and enthusiasm.
Hutton-Gosney said: “Building up a child’s confidence and self-esteem is a big part of what we do at Razzamataz. Very early on we decided that the best ways to nurture young talent is by bringing in top professionals in their field to work with our students and inspire them to be the very best they can be.”
Over the last few months, Razzamataz children up and down the country have enjoyed workshops led by Tim Noble, choreographer to Kylie Minogue.
“We all know the benefits of keeping fit but staying motivated is the hard part,” said Hutton-Gosney. “By working with performers such as Tim Noble, Razzamataz students are getting the positive benefits of exercise but having lots of fun in the process.
“Theatre schools need to keep their students motivated, it is far too easy these days for youngsters to become distracted with television or computers and with our country’s growing obesity problem and it is up to theatre schools such as Razzamataz to help solve the problem.”
As well as improving health and fitness, participation in theatre arts has been shown to benefit children in many different areas as they acquire life and performance skills. Theatre trained individuals are identified as having transferable skills such as good interviewing technique – massively important for older children in the job market which additionally teaches self-discipline and the ability to work as a team.
“Working with Duncan Bannatyne and appearing on Dragons’ Den has been an incredible opportunity,” said Hutton-Gosney. “I’ve really appreciated the chance I have had and I’m delighted to say that Razzamataz is now able to invest in today’s youth with the launch of our Future Fund, which will sponsor the career training of a young performer.”
Many talented artists leave school or college with no means of taking their performance skills to a professional level because of lack of funding. Razzamataz students in their final year of school looking to progress their performing ambitions will be able to apply and audition for the funding.
“It is an incredible opportunity for our students and shows our commitment to facilitating them to continue training after they leave Razzamataz,” said Lynn Brownridge, a Razzamataz principal who was the inspiration behind the Future Fund. “It is a privilege to be able to give a young talented performer this opportunity and help them to fulfil their dreams.”
Future Fund will be officially launched on Sunday 28th November 2010 at Her Majesty’s, the West End theatre that is home to the phenomenally successful musical Phantom of the Opera. On the night, Razzamataz students will perform a special one-off performance.
Students from Razzamataz Theatre Schools all over the country will come together to perform at the West End theatre during a special tribute show to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Razzamataz.
