Musician's boredom-buster vision
You might expect the founder of a music academy to have such conventional goals as expanding into a national chain or becoming a successful franchise brand, but Jonny Wilson’s long-term objective is much more ambitious than that.
He wants to make a measurable difference to youth crime. Youth crime? Yes, most youth crime – anti-social behaviour such as tagging and binge-drinking –is the result of boredom, he maintains. (“Personally, I haven’t been bored since I left high school 10 years ago!”) As an antidote to that, he wants to provide creative outlets for the region’s youth – places where they can learn music, arts and dance.
For now, he will settle for getting a third music studio in Wellington (supplementing ones in Petone and Silverstream) and expanding his music bus service. To date, 19 principals have allowed the service to provide low-cost tuition during school hours. Within five years, he wants to be in all low-decile primary schools.
“It’s not a wealth plan, but it opens up the possibility of learning music to kids who might not otherwise have the chance, and some will take their passion on to the academy.”
To further help underprivileged kids, the academy runs low-cost tuition ($2 a person) on Saturdays. Interns – students learning to become music teachers – have to help out as part of their training.
The 28-year-old, who received one of the Wellington Kiwibank Local Hero awards earlier this year, graduated from university with a music degree only in 2009. He now has half a dozen full-time staff, several dozen part-time music teachers and half a dozen interns. The academy’s roll is nudging 500.
Students – who range in age from three to 75 – learn about perseverance, people skills (“interacting with anyone in the building, not just cool kids”) and helping others who are less fortunate than them – kids who can’t afford regular music tuition and new musical instruments. But most of all, it’s about having fun and mixing with others in a friendly, inspiring setting.
The academy offer lessons in drums (Jonny’s favourite), piano, guitar, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, ukulele and singing.
In the next school term, he plans to launch a combined music and dance programme for preschoolers.
Asked where he gets all his marketing and organisational ideas from, he replies simply: “I’m a Christian. Every day I ask God to help me come up with cool ideas.”
Let’s hope Jonny keeps asking … because cool ideas keep coming thick and fast.