We were lucky to catch up with Grace Hamilton-Mayfield recently and have shared our conversation below.

Grace, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

I started my business in 1981 as a senior in college. I was performing at a community Martin Luther King event and a woman-owned business owner saw me and was so moved by my performance that she approached me following the performance. She gave me her card and told me to come and see her on Monday morning because she wanted to help me get started in business because our community needed arts and culture and she wanted to offer dance classes at her daycare center. We met on Monday morning she offered her facility to hold my first classes and she offered her customers who had their children enrolled at her daycare. We set up a parent meeting and 30 students registered that day and paid for one month’s tuition. Over the last four decades, we have trained over 4,000 students.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Our business is Hamilton Academy of the Arts(HAA). I got into the performing arts industry because growing up during the civil rights movement in the deep south, white owned dance studios would not accept children of color into their program. I loved dance and wanted to study, so my parents, who were both schoolteachers, joined with other educators to find training for little girls in our small rural community. This was always a challenge because trained dancers were never available and therefore we had to travel an hour away or get someone to come to us from an hour away. In the early 1970’s a white dance studio owner began to offer classes to girls of color, but there was a condition; we could not take classes with the white students and our dance recital had to be on a different day. This situation set the groundwork for why I wanted to open my own dance studio to provide services to children of color without conditions.

Today we provide high-quality dance and music education classes to students ages 2-18 both in person and online. We have a graded curriculum that takes the student from the Classroom to world class performance stages. our purpose is to transform the state of black and brown children through the use of the performing arts by producing world class productions and a system for youth development that works.

Some things that make us different:

*Four different modules for training preschool age dancers. Skill Building, Center Movement, Just for Fun, and Showtime. Skill Building,
*We use a Twinkle Bear that matched each child’s class uniform as a teaching tool to help the dancers become comfortable in a new environment
*Monthly themed classes allows the students to apply the skills learned in skill building
*Each class is offered on Zoom which enable a student to never have to miss class due to illness or parent’s work schedule
*We have partnered with CLI studios in Los Angeles to provide additional demand classes online taught by professional dancer.
* We are part of Disney Entertainment and have performed “A Taste of Louisiana” at Disney World
*We belong to the National Honor Society for Dance Arts that requires students to maintain a 3.0GPA in school and provide them with future opportunities, scholarships and exposure to the National dance world.
*We belong to the International Association for Blacks in Dance that provides our students international dance exposure
* The city has proclaimed June 9th as Hamilton Academy of the Arts Day
* I received the Lifetime achievement award for the University of Louisiana College of the Arts as the first female and first person of color

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve had to pivot in my business on two separate occasions. In 1988, my studio burned down on New Year’s Eve and it absolutely divested me. I didn’t know how I could go on. I questioned whether this was a sign that I should close down and return to corporate America. What was so amazing was how the entire community came forward to support me, the Mayor, my city councilwoman, state representatives, church pastors, community organizers. Within less than 30 days, they offered me a building and classes were back on schedule. Money began pouring in from around the country when people heard my story. We were able to come back stronger and with more students than before. My numbers rose from 75 to 150 students. I began doing TV, radio and newspaper interviews. Our students where features on various networks.

The second pivot was COVID-19. Although different was still divesting, the difference was that the world was suffering. I was able to move all my classes online and maintain 75% of my students that year. This online platform allowed me to reach students from around the country and opened up possibilities for a further reach that has never been considered. Today we nearly returned to our pre-covid numbers and we are set us this season to exceed those numbers.
We were able to apply and receive grants that allows us to offer classes to students who couldn’t afford the tuition as well as keep our doors open to survive Covid.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The consistency of our brand, the recognition in our community as well as nationally. Our excellence in curriculum for developing students that have produced amazing results. Word of mouth from successful students. Our social media presents, but most importantly, we have over 41 years of a successful history. We are teaching second generation students. Students come to us annually because they have heard of our program in the community and want to be a part of our success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hamiltonacademyofthearts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamiltonacademyofthearts.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamiltonacademy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-hamilton-mayfield
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rootsthejourney
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnTT63Z7EDyLPzIvEl9Vf4g

Image Credits
Pictures taken by Hamilton Academy of the Arts, Rainbow Photography and Heat Dance Competition