Footprints Music began in Toronto in 2009 – right in the middle of the worst recession in decades. While businesses were shutting down across the city, Alex Hobcraft and Rachael Shay made a gutsy call: to start a music school that did things differently.

CBC featured our launch, asking what it meant to open a business when the world was telling everyone to hunker down. We had a simple answer: people need music, especially during hard times.

The gamble paid off. Within three years, we’d grown to 200 students in Toronto – proof that families were hungry for a music school that prioritized joy over grades, connection over competition.