Happy 12th Birthday Perform
12 months. 12 disciples. 12 star signs. 12 years of Perform.
On 8th January 2012, Perform was 12 years old and I, for one, can’t quite believe it. It was January 8th 2000 when I started my first ever Perform class at Primrose Hill Community Centre with just 4 children. And now, 12 years later, we have over 4,000 children attending our classes every week in over 200 venues from London to Brighton, to Winchester to Leighton Buzzard and to Oxford.
I’d started planning Perform in June 1999 and my business partner Will and I had spent hours and hours even before then thinking of how we could create the best ever drama workshops for young children. We’d worked for other drama schools and we wanted to do something better. Something with child’s development at the heart of the workshops instead of vocal technique, dance steps, lines and auditions. An opportunity for young children to have fun with drama, dance and singing, but without the pressure of having to be “talented” or competing with others. Read more »
Thanks to our amazing drama teachers
The last 3 weeks have been extremely busy for me because I’ve been contracting all our teachers for next term. As you can imagine, with over 200 schools and currently 208 teachers working for Perform, this is no easy task. It also demands quite a lot of concentration, so the mince pies and gingerbread lattes have been helping with this too!
Because we now have quite a few schools, many people think that Perform is franchised like most other drama, dance and singing organisations. But we aren’t. Everything is centrally run and we are very specific about the sort of teacher who works for us – specifically, we only pick the fabulous sort. Which is why I actually really enjoy the contracting part of my job, because it means that I get to talk to them all. Read more »
Want to start your own business?
Having set up Perform almost 12 years ago now, I often get asked questions by other Mums who are looking to set up something of their own like “How did you get the idea to set up the business?” and “What was your business background?”
This type of question always makes me blush a bit because, until I started Perform, I had absolutely no business experience whatsoever! I studied drama at university and was a theatre actress performing mainly in musicals in the West End and on tour. In between acting jobs, I would teach drama, dance and singing to young children.
Ridiculously, I didn’t even have an email address when I started Perform never mind anything resembling a business plan. If I’d gone on Dragons’ Den and had been asked questions about gross profit and turnover, I would have been one of those contestants who bow their heads and look embarrassed. Read more »
The P Factor
On January 8th 2000, I opened my first Perform class. Me, a teacher and four children.
It went pretty well – all things considered. But, afterwards, when I was talking to the parents about my plans to eventually open Perform all over London, one of the mums said that my greatest challenge would be finding great people to run the classes. People who would do an amazing job every week whether you are there or not.
11 years,180 teachers and 4,000 children a week later, I agree!
The biggest challenge and the most time-consuming element of my job is recruiting. And that’s simply because it’s not just important – it’s the most important thing. Having fantastic teachers is the only way we can guarantee the standards of our classes.
Perform teachers have to be “triple threats”. For anyone that’s not familiar with the musical theatre term, that means able to act, sing and dance. They must be brilliant with children, totally professional, have staggering energy…and like getting up at 6am on Saturday mornings.
Productivity 101, or Trying to Work Smarter
Since becoming a parent, I’ve been increasingly concerned about the amount of time I spend working. It’s very difficult to shut off when you run your own business (or indeed to shut off from any job that you care about). The thing is – I also really care about being a good parent – and that’s a really important job too, right?
As the amount of work isn’t likely to decrease any time soon – not least because we’ve still got huge plans to grow Perform – I’ve become increasingly preoccupied with efficiency. How can I work smarter?
I’m sure many other parents are in a very similar position to me, as such I thought I’d share some the things that I do – (hopefully you’ll find them useful) – plus of course I’m really keen to hear what you do too!
So, here’s how I’m rolling ‘productivity-wise’ these days:
The Death of the ‘To Do’ List
Yes, yes I know – how do I get anything done? Well, I still keep a ‘to do’ list – but now I do it online. I found I was wasting a huge amount of time virtually every day because I was feeding an endless, hastily scribbled list. At least a couple of times a week I’d sit down and try to re-write the list – popping some sort of priority against it.
But, it never really worked for me.
Teaching the Teachers
Wow – it’s been yet another hectic week! No rest for the wicked, eh?
This week I’ve been working hard with our Regional Partner Simon Fielding on developing a new series of training courses for our Perform teachers.
Simon originally joined us 9 years ago as a Producer - and then soon became an Area Partner, visiting schools, evaluating teachers etc, but last term we decided to set him a brand new challenge. We’re focusing on growth here at Perform, but I’m absolutely passionate about ensuring that standards don’t slip as we grow. You see, unlike all other children’s drama classes, we don’t operate as franchises – instead, all Perform schools are centrally managed and they all run the same curriculum so we can maintain the high quality of our workshops across the board.
Over the years Simon’s been instrumental in helping to evolve the Perform style of teaching that we a call ‘learning through laughter’. He is staggeringly good at his job and such an inspiring trainer.
Summertime… But the Living Ain’t Easy!
If I had a £1 for every person who said “Oh that must be a lovely job – nice long Summer holidays, huh?”, I’d be rich beyond my wildest dreams and sunning myself on my own idyllic island – cocktail in hand. I might also have someone peeling me grapes, not because I have a particular aversion to grape skin, but just because it seems marvellously decadent.
The truth is, whilst the Summer holidays have arrived, sadly I’m far too busy to relax and enjoy them.
Contrary to what you might expect, the Summer is far and away the busiest time for us at all at Perform. In addition to running the holiday courses, we’re all rushed off our feet putting the plans in place for next term’s curriculum. There are producers and writers to commission not to mention the teachers – who of course have to be taught the new songs and routines.
As an example of the sort of work that goes on, check out this video of some of our teachers learning the Fairytale Dance for last term.
10 Tips, 10 Years On…
A little over ten years ago, the very first Perform school opened its doors.
Prior to starting Perform I was working as a musical theatre actress and, like most jobbing actors, while I loved my time on stage, my life in between was inevitably peppered with rounds of hideous temping jobs which I hated.
However, there was a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. I knew I was happiest when working in the arts and so took a job teaching a children’s drama class. I’d love to be able to tell you that my eureka moment happened there and then in my very first class but, sadly, the reality was somewhat different.
I was taken on without so much as an audition and, having been breezily introduced to the children, I was just left to my own devices. I was terrified.
There was no formal training given – it was very much a case of sink or swim… and for a while, I really felt I was sinking. But after a few weeks, things began to change. I can’t pinpoint the precise point, but somewhere along the line I really began to enjoy it.
