A Warwickshire business that gives thousands of children across the country the opportunity to enjoy music lessons is celebrating its tenth anniversary by expanding into more office space.
Totally RAD Music was established by session musician Chris Rush in 2013 and has now hit the six permanent staff mark with more than 200 freelance music teachers on its books nationwide.
The business provides free instruments to schools and offers extra-curricular music lessons in guitar, drums, bass, vocals and piano to around 5,000 students.
Such is the demand for Totally RAD Music’s services across the country, it has just moved into more space at 1 Mill Street in Leamington, which is one of the most sought-after locations in the region as it features office space, hot desk facilities, a podcast studio and coffeehouse.
The team initially worked in the shared office space but has now moved into its own area on the second floor of the building.
Chris felt the move came at an exciting time for the company.
He said: “We started the business because music was our passion. We were all musicians and thought there was a gap in the market locally to offer lessons to young people as an extra-curricular activity.
“Initially, it was in the Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth area but then we started to expand into major cities such as Birmingham and London.
“Now, ten years in, we are nationwide, working with hundreds of teachers and thousands of children. It makes us very proud that we can give this opportunity to kids to have music lessons for a fiver and we even provide any instruments needed in order to make it as accessible as possible.”
Josh Hall, Operations Director of Totally RAD Music, has been instrumental in the company’s growth since joining in September 2020.
He said: “We’re now in the process of creating our own bespoke software that will offer virtual, one-to-one teaching for students which we can license to schools. These will be an additional revenue stream and mean more children can access our lessons.
“The expansion within 1 Mill Street is all part of this exciting period for Totally RAD Music and we can’t thank the team here enough for their support.
“It’s a proper community and has played a big part in the growth of the business. We really like the culture and the social aspect here, and it’s great to see so much happening all the time.
“We’re very proud to have hit our ten-year milestone and we’re looking forward to continuing our growth here.”
Cat Callicott, of 1 Mill Street, said: “It’s great to see Totally RAD going from strength to strength and we’re pleased that they have been able to grow here with us.
“There’s such a great atmosphere at 1 Mill Street right now because everyone here sees it as so much more than a co-working space. They are part of a community that is both supportive and brings new opportunities every single day – everyone is stronger for working together and that is something that really shines through here.”
Pictured (left to right): Adrian Rice, James Wallsgrove, Chris Rush, Cat Callicott, Josh Hall, Andy Cartwright.