A Geelong resident is helping young people achieve their dreams with performing arts scholarships despite still being in primary school.
Daniel Lim was supported by his family, including his mum Jo Cook, to help him achieve his goal of allowing other kids to act, dance or sing through a charity-based business.
Daniel is in sixth grade and created Casting Dreams at only 11 years old. He said he wanted to help raise money to help young people get into performing arts.
“I started it by wanting a charity, but then we found that it was really hard to do. A few months passed and I said to Mum, ‘I still want to do this’,” he said.
“I just want to give other kids the opportunity and happiness I get every time I do acting and dancing classes.
“I had a lot of ideas on what I wanted to do with the money. First, I wanted to help kids watch their dream shows.
“Then, I was like, what if I get a scholarship for the all the performing arts things I do, and that was what we stuck with.”
Daniel said he decided to sell water bottles, keyrings and badges on his website and that the designs came from shows he had performed in.
“Some of the drawings took a few days, I think the shortest amount of time it took to draw one is probably about an hour,” he said.
“I thought of the idea to do badges first and then Mum came across the idea of doing keyrings. We got those and then I wanted to sell more things and we looked at water bottles.”
Daniel said he had run into a few problems at the beginning of the business and began by singing on the streets to raise money.
“All of the money that I raised from busking goes to the Casting Dreams scholarships,” he said.
“We found it hard to get a business bank account because people at the bank said, ‘we’ve never done business for an 11-year-old before’.
“Then they gave us the wrong bank details, which took about half a month to fix. We ended up getting the business started at about the end of September.
“I find it quite easier now because I have a website.”
Daniel’s mum Jo said a dentist had already used the original name they had for Daniel’s business, but they eventually found one.
“It was a busy couple of months,” she said.
“We were home badge making and keyring making, and Daniel spent lots of time doing all the designs. It is nice to see it evolve.
“We only started selling all of these in October and have already raised enough by the end of the year to reach out to schools.
“I wear his badges all the time. It’s a really big thing to do, and he was thinking about the different ideas he wanted, and his badges and key rings all relate to musical theatre.
“It’s been really nice to hear him talk about what he loves and we are so incredibly proud of what he is doing. He has such a big heart.”
Daniel said he had received a lot of help from his family, friends, and Geelong performing arts business CentreStage throughout the creation of Casting Dreams.
“I had a lot of help from my family members and friends. My brother Matthew helped me design the logo and I asked my whole family for help with the business name,” he said.
“We had to research quite a lot, and then we found names, but then we found out that other businesses were called that.
“So, we had to keep going, and then we found this one, which we liked.
“CentreStage helped me a lot with my business. They let me sell at their shows, which was fun.
“It was pretty exciting because I get to talk about it wherever I go.”
Mum Jo said Daniel had received requests from other students to help and had already raised close to $3000 for performing arts scholarships.
“He’s been quite thoughtful about the process. He’s given out one confirmed scholarship and one still in the process, with two different schools,” she said.
“We threw out lots of different ideas for names related to performing arts or casting and the happiness of it.
“When he talked about it with the teachers and with me, he said, ‘I’ve got to be careful because what if a student is still in their early years of high school, and what happens the next year?’.
“He’s trying to think about what the program would be and making sure that the scholarship is not just a one-off. He’s thinking a bit further than even we did.
“It’s also inspired others as well. Some other kids have been asking, ‘what can I do or can I help you?’.
“One of the students gave him their own pocket money, that was their savings for the year.”
Daniel said he loved acting and believed the performing arts were important in maintaining positive mental health.
“I think performing arts helps a lot with confidence,” he said.
“If you have issues with your mental health, performing arts is a very good way to stop that because you get to do dancing and singing and help push your mind away from the mental health side.”
Daniel said he would like to make Casting Dreams a nationwide business in the future and felt proud to be supported by his family and help people in need.
“I’m really passionate about that and I know that people don’t get these opportunities like I do,” he said.
“We got a message from the person (scholarship recipient), and they were in tears of happiness because I gave them the opportunity.
“It’s amazing that I’ve made someone’s day by doing that.”
More information about Daniel and Casting Dreams is available online at casting-dreams.square.site or through his Instagram page, casting_dreams_.
