On 12th September, Stagecoach Performing Arts’ CEO, Sarah Kelly, signed a deal with Chinese business woman, Yang Jiamin, to launch the first Stagecoach Performing Arts Schools in Beijing.
Following tester summer camps in June, students signed up for the first Stagecoach Schools in China, starting after the Chinese national holiday in October.
“Chinese parents have always valued education and as China continues to face outwards to the Western world, there is a growing requirement for current and future generations to be well prepared with creative life skills,” said CEO, Sarah Kelly. “Our business model and educational programme is perfect to integrate into China, to meet parents’ needs for their children’s development.”
Yang Jiamin has been successfully bringing Western musical theatre to China for the past few years through her company, SevenAges. Now she is working in partnership with Stagecoach, launching three Stagecoach Schools in two locations in Beijing. Initially, they will be offering Main Stage classes for 6-12 year olds with plans to expand to include Early Stage classes for 4-6 year olds as early as next term, starting after Chinese New Year in March.
Whilst it is another example of the East adopting Western culture, there are many elements that this established franchise business is likely to adapt to suit both students and their parents. For example, classes in the UK are normally three one-hour lessons, these have been changed to match the Chinese school class system, to three 45-minute lessons.
“We have the depth of product and expertise to provide in-country performing arts educational support and virtual training programmes for teachers. This includes valuable creative content, schemes of work, quality assurance and accreditation of teaching support to ensure the highest quality of education provision in China and other markets. We are working with our partners to best position and communicate our brand in the market, find suitable teachers, venues and make subtle changes to our teaching provision to make sense in the Chinese culture,” said Sarah.
Stagecoach Performing Arts was founded in 1988 as one of the first part-time children’s performing arts schools. It now operates the largest network of part-time performing arts schools in the UK and has over 45,000 students worldwide. With over 300 Principals and 2,500 teachers across the globe, Stagecoach unlocks children’s ‘Creative Courage’ to accomplish on the stage of life through teaching them the skills of singing, dancing and acting. Stagecoach operates 700 schools offering over 1,700 classes in 9 countries worldwide – the UK, Canada, Germany, Malta, Spain, Gibraltar, Australia, South Africa and now China.
Visit www.stagecoachfranchise.com to find out more.
