Drama Kids International - Franchise

In 1979, Helen O'Grady, a trained drama teacher and actress began after-school drama classes for children in Perth, Australia. Her goal was to provide a developmental program for children through drama. Due to its rapid acceptance, she soon began franchising her program across Australia and then around the world.

As of today her program is offered in over 25 countries. Drama Kids is the exclusive provider of the Helen O’Grady franchise system in the U.S. We have been developing franchises in the United States since 2000, using Helen’s program as its foundation, while carefully customizing the concept for the specific demands of the U.S. market. Today there are over 50,000 students currently enrolled worldwide, with over 10,000 students now enrolled in the United States! This makes Drama Kids the largest after-school drama program in the U.S. and we are excited about the significant growth to come.

We offer you the opportunity to love what you do, enjoy a flexible lifestyle, make a powerful and significant impact on the lives of children, and build a successful business for yourself that you can take pride in.

Research has shown that drama can be effectively used to improve children’s self-esteem, self-confidence, speaking and communication, creative thinking and problem solving skills. The children’s activity industry has been one of the fastest growing segments of the economy in the past decade and it has proven to be highly recession-resistant.

What We Offer

We offer the opportunity for carefully selected franchise owners to build a proven, home-managed business that provides a variety of drama-related educational programs, primarily for children and young adults, ages 4-17, using a progressive curriculum that allows students to have some serious fun, while also enabling them to develop important skills in a wide variety of important areas including:

• Acting
• Public Speaking
• Creative Thinking
• Leadership
• Networking and Social Skills
• Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem
• A Positive Approach to Life

The Drama Kids program helps prepare children for educational and life-long challenges and opportunities, including college interviews and presentations. This is something that no competitors in the children’s after-school program business can offer. We truly develop important skills for college and beyond.

The Drama Kids Difference

Our franchisees love what they do, but, don't be mistaken, Drama Kids offers our franchisees financial freedom and independence within a family-friendly, thriving business model. Drama Kids businesses are managed from a home office with classes taught daily throughout the franchise owner’s exclusive territory in schools, and community locations. Overhead is extremely minimal, and owners can enjoy a great business and a flexible lifestyle with weekends, school holidays, and many summer weeks off.

• Unlike typical drama programs, most of which focus on preparation for a single performance, the Drama Kids “secret sauce” is a fun, fast paced, and developmental curriculum consisting of over 450 unique and detailed lesson plans
• Long term enrollments - unlike most afterschool programs with short class terms, Drama Kids enrolls students for a full school year, and students can attend classes for 13 consecutive years without ever repeating a lesson
• Year-round revenue opportunity - Summer camps are held during the summer using carefully constructed curriculum for six different half-day and full-day summer camps
• No hired employees necessary to start
• Flexible hours
• Very scalable business model – allows for significant revenue growth opportunity. Teachers are hired to teach the majority of classes, freeing up owners to focus on marketing and business development, teacher supervision and other growth-related activities
• Very large and fast growing market with tremendous potential - There are currently 20 million students in the U.S. whose parents would enroll them in in an afterschool program if a suitable one were available
• New children can enroll at any time during the school year, and new classes at new or existing locations can begin any time during the school year. This is a tremendous business advantage of our program versus other child-related businesses.
• Unlike other franchised children’s enrichment providers, the Drama Kids program is all-school-year long (36 weeks of lessons versus 6-8 weeks with most other programs) with open enrollment throughout the year.
• Because of our curriculum breadth and quality, Drama Kids has proven long-term student retention rates relative to other children’s enrichment programs. On average, students stay with our program for over 2 years, and many stay for as long as 10 years!

What You Get For Your Investment

Drama Kids is a low investment concept – unlike other children’s enrichment programs, there are no big equipment or supply expenses required to start. The average initial investment has been under $50,000. The exact investment amount will be determined by your specific market of interest. No other franchise system provides more for less:

• Access to the powerful, unique and extensive Drama Kids curriculum
• Intensive in-person, week-long training program and full ongoing support
• Onsite visit to your market by a corporate representative following our training program.
• Superior and regular ongoing support from our corporate executives
• Additional support, advice and assistance from our experienced network of franchise owners
• A nationally recognized and well-known brand and trademarked logos
• Top-notch, professionally created branding and marketing materials
• An exclusive protected territory that you operate classes in
• Annual franchise owner conference
• A loyal and long term customer base.
• The opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of children and throughout your community while building a successful business for yourself
• And much more!

Honors for Drama Kids International

• Ranked Top 50 Low Investment Franchise Opportunities for 2015 by Entrepreneur Magazine
• Ranked in the Top 50 Franchises by America’s Best Franchises
• Ranked as the 36th best franchise concept in the Franchise Gator Top 100 honors

Franchisee Testimonials

“I really wanted to do something for myself to grow and develop personally. Drama Kids offers me a way to contribute as a teacher and recently, as a trainer of teachers, by using a class schedule that I set up and control. I can still be a great mother and wife, but also enjoy teaching fun drama classes as well.”
– Valeria Marto, Drama Kids of Columbus, GA

"My Drama Kids business has exceeded my expectations in my first semester of ownership! (Fall 2014). I just started my first classes this fall and have been overwhelmed by the positive reception that my Drama Kids business has received by schools. I now have one community class and 12 classes in schools with several more schools wanting me to offer classes in their facilities. I have just hired my first teachers so that I can meet the demand. Drama Kids has taken a lot of commitment and hard work, but so far it has been a wonderful business opportunity for me, and my efforts are paying off much faster than I could have imagined. My kids love it as well!"
– Chris Densmore, Crown Point, Indiana

“ACT” Now!

Now is the perfect time to start a Drama Kids franchise business! If you are looking for a business that will allow you to have fun, help children succeed and enjoy a flexible lifestyle, while also offering great business income potential, then Drama Kids may be right for you. To learn more about what becoming a Drama Kids franchise owner can mean for you, fill out the form on the right and we will call you with more information.