By Liz Stalker
Saturday, August 12th, the Columbia Arts Academy will be hosting open houses at all of their locations to celebrate their 20th Anniversary! The open houses will take place that day from 3-6 p.m., and the public is encouraged to stop by any of the three locations spread throughout the Columbia area: the Columbia Arts Academy (Rosewood Dr.), the Lexington School of Music (Barr Rd.), and the Irmo Music Academy (Lake Murray Blvd.). The festivities will include free food, tours, and an “instrument petting zoo” where guests can get a taste of the various instruments the school provides lessons for. As a part of the celebration, the school will also be giving away door prizes, including a grand prize of a year of free music lessons!
Starting in 2003 as a small-scale studio with founder Marty Fort as the only instructor to 30 students, the Columbia Arts Academy has since grown into the largest private music school in the state of South Carolina. The journey has involved plenty of ups and downs. In fact, when Fort first acquired the Rosewood space, he had a lot of work to do to make it habitable for his business. “When I started Rosewood,” he says, “there were rats, there was broken glass, there was no carpet, no wall. It was $60,000 on a Visa and a MasterCard to get Rosewood off the ground.”
But get it off the ground he did, with the school expanding into a second location just a decade later in 2015. This expansion was necessary as the Columbia Arts Academy had hit 500 students and counting, a huge milestone for the company, though it pales in comparison to the over 1700 students the school now serves.
The school offers instruction for an incredibly wide range of instruments–piano, guitar, voice, bass, drums, banjo, ukulele, violin, and even mandolin. Fort himself is well-versed in most, if not all, of these instruments. In the spirit of modesty, he admits that violin would likely be his weakest instrument but notes that, “Once you really lock into music, there’s so much crossover.”
The school also sees an incredibly diverse age range among its students, with the youngest of its pupils being just three and four years old and its oldest musical scholars approaching their eighties and nineties. This broad range of ages reflects the school’s highest purpose: to serve the musical passions of the community at large.
In addition to music lessons, the Columbia Arts Academy has provided opportunities for its students to perform at highly respected and admired venues and performance halls, such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Guest House at Graceland. Most recently, students traveled to New York to perform at the Weill Recital at Carnegie Hall.
Closer to home, the Columbia Arts Academy band, including Fort himself, performed alongside Kirk Hammett, lead guitarist of Metallica, at the Columbia Museum of Art, an opportunity that opened the school up to a massive platform.
Fort is immensely proud of the growth and success his business has seen over the last two decades. He has such an obvious and enthusiastic love for each location he has been able to bring to life, describing them all as “kind of like kids–they all have their own personalities.” Their perpetuity within the community is a testament to not only his robust work ethic and the excellence of his staff, but the surrounding community’s love and appreciation for music.
“You know, most businesses don't make it five years,” he says. “20 years is a long time, I’m just so proud, and now, I think for me, it's a reset. High fives, we've got a great party planned.”
Regarding this party, Fort says he’s most excited just to see the community turn out and show their support. “We love it when people come and check us out,” he says. “We work very hard to keep our places nice, clean, looking awesome, and what I'm looking forward to is people coming and saying ‘hi.’”
For more information visit the Columbia Arts Academy website, or call or text (803)-787-0931.