BAFTA-winning actor Adeel Akhtar has joined parents across South London who are desperately trying to save a much-loved music school in Kennington, writes Pablo Munoz…
The Music Boutique has been housed in two former shops on Lambeth Walk for nearly 30 years, but debts built up during the COVID pandemic shutdown, means it is set to leave it’s current home tomorrow (March 11) unless a whopping £70,000 can be secured.
The life’s work of founder James Osho this cosy and unique space allows children of all ages to be taught music by specialist tutors and established jazz musicians.
James, who is affectionally known as Osho, is a former Special Needs teacher & furniture designer/maker with an eye for artefacts and curiosities. Over the years at any given afternoon passers by would have seen children playing drums, electric guitar or a grand piano surrounded by an incredible collection of memorabilia, antique furniture, wood carvings, posters and vintage Fisher Price toys.
But it’s immediate closure comes after Osho set up a crowdfunder asking for £70,000 to be secured in donations or loans to pay off arrears accumulated during the COVID pandemic, when it was forced to close its doors but still had to pay the rent.
In a update today (Tuesday March 10th) Osho thanked parents for over £18,000 raised so far and said while it was not enough to prevent it losing it’s current home he would be carrying on the fight to save the school from closing entirely.
He wrote: “To our families, friends and everyone who have shown up for us. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. £18,000 raised by this community is not a small thing. It is an extraordinary thing. You will have heard from our teachers that classes are moving to a temporary location while we navigate what comes next. I want to be straight with you: we are still fighting.”
And added: “The money raised is going toward clearing the debt that has brought us to this point and toward finding The Music Boutique a new permanent home where we can keep doing what we have always done. Thirty years of this. We are not done! With love and gratitude, Osho.”
The campaign included actor Adeel Akhtar urging donors to chip in to save The Music Boutique. He won his first BAFTA for Best Actor in 2017 for his role in the BBC drama Murdered by My Father and his second, for Best Supporting Actor in 2023 for playing Andy Fisher in the BBC series Sherwood.
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A local parent himself Adeel Akhtar said: “The Music Boutique is a total one-off where kids learn to play instruments in a child-led way, surrounded by collections of fascinating objects – among them many artefacts related to music history. Losing this school would be such a loss to the area.”
Seen as a cultural hub for music-related artefacts from countries such as Trinidad, St Lucia, Ghana, Colombia and the Gambia the school focuses on intuitive and bespoke learning experiences, often incorporating puppets and vintage toys to engage young pupils.
The Music Boutique is many children’s first contact with music, like Emmeline, 9, who was accepted to the St Paul’s Cathedral School Choir last year as part of the first group of ten girls accepted to the all-boys choir in 900 years.
Osho said: “I didn’t have a good childhood. I was in foster care and my experience was very violent. I wanted to create a space that was the opposite of that – a safe, kind, welcoming, warm, loving environment.
“This place is handmade, homegrown and well-loved – not just by me and the team, but by the community that has built it for nearly 30 years.”
FOUNDER James Osho and Adeel Akhtar outside of The Music Boutique. Photo by Alexis Burke.
POS-COLONIAL collection of artefacts at The Music Boutique. Photo by Jack Merriman.
The crowdfunding campaign is still live. You can donate by clicking the link bellow.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-music-boutique-fundraiser-you-give-we-give-1
