From the filed FDD — automated extraction, check the source
2023 FDD · 2+ years old — too old to rate
IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY
Art, music & dance lessons · parent company: not identified
Imagine Arts Academy provides children's visual-arts and creative enrichment classes, often run as after-school programs, camps, and parties. A franchisee operates the program by arranging classes (frequently at schools and community sites), hiring instructors, and managing enrollment.
IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY went from 23 → 20 units over 2021–2023 — too small a starting base for a meaningful percentage per its FDD Item 20.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. Most numbers on this page come from that document; others come from federal SBA loan records and labor and census data, each labelled with its source:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened, transferred and left the system, the main basis for our verdict, which rates how strong the disclosed record is, or says when the system is too new, the filing too old, or the disclosure too thin to judge.
Our rating · opinion
Filing too old to rate
The newest FDD we hold for this brand is from 2023, more than two years old. Franchise systems change a lot in that time, so we don't rate it until we have a current filing.
Exit rate · fiscal 2023
25.0%
vs 2.5% median across 25 comparable systems (education & children)
Cost to open
$128K–$288K
Item 7 total investment range
SBA loan losses
No loan record
no SBA 7(a)/504 loans found for this brand
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Data as of 2026-10-29. Figures come from IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY's public FDD filings (latest: MN 2023, extracted 2026-06-19) and SBA FOIA loan records (through FY2026), extracted by us and possibly containing errors. The rating is our opinion, not investment, legal, or tax advice. Franchisor or owner and see something wrong? Report a correction — we review every request.
What each source says
FDD record · SBA loans · model · auditor
We don't rate on an FDD more than two years old; the loan record and model are shown as context until a current filing arrives.
FDD record · Item 20
Filing too old
Latest FDD we hold is from 2023.
SBA loans · vs same-year loans
No SBA loans found
No 7(a)/504 loans matched to this brand.
Modeled risk
Not scored
Too little evidence for the model.
Auditor opinion · Item 21
Not extracted
We did not extract the audit opinion.
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
latest consecutive years · Item 20 Table 1
terminations + ceased-ops vs. all exits · Table 3
transfers vs. base · Table 3
actual vs. projected openings · Table 5
Item 19 disclosure + completeness · shown, not counted in the verdict
Systemwide units
2021–2023
Survival record
FDD Item 20 · outlet status by year
In fiscal 2023, 6 of 24 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 25.0% (fiscal 2023), vs a 2.5% median across 25 comparable systems (education & children). An exit is not a failure: this counts terminations, non-renewals and "ceased — other reasons" as reported, and excludes transfers to new owners.
Show the outlet tables ↓Hide the evidence ↑
| Status (FTC) | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlets at start | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Opened | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Transfers | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Terminations | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Non-renewals | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased — other reasons | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Outlets at end | 23 | 24 | 20 |
| Net change | +1 | +1 | -4 |
What it costs — and what it drags
FDD Items 5–7 · fees, investment, royalty
Buying in means a $49,000 franchise fee (Item 5) and a total investment of $128K–$288K (Item 7). The franchisor publishes an earnings claim (Item 19) — read its methodology closely.
To open (Item 7)
$128K–$288K
all-in investment range
Franchise fee (Item 5)
$49,000
upfront, one-time
Royalty (Item 6)
8%
of sales, ongoing
Starts at a placeholder of $300K — a round figure for the sector, not from IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY’s filings. Set your own figure and check it against this brand's Item 19 and what owners tell you.
Royalty you'd pay / yr
$24K
8% of sales, before profit
Over a 10-yr term
$240K
royalties alone, excl. ad fund
This estimate is computed by software from the brand's public filings and any inputs you enter. No CPA prepared it for you and no assurance is provided on it. Actual results will differ, and the differences may be material.
This is not profit. It covers what the FDD fixes: what you put in, and the royalty you owe on sales. Your take-home depends on instructor pay, rent, materials, and the months to breakeven, none of which the FDD fixes for your unit (some Item 19s include cost data — read it).
Build a real pro-forma for IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY with a buyer-paid CPAHow the earnings claim is built
FDD ITEM 19 · BASIS · 2023 FDD
This filing makes an Item 19 earnings claim; we have not yet read how it is built. Open Item 19 and check which units it covers, which it leaves out, and whether it shows costs.
Show the basis ↓Hide the evidence ↑
Public records
Bankruptcy, closure & federal court records · coverage is selective · dockets are not scored
We have no verified public-record signals published for IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY. This is not evidence that no events exist. Check PACER, the FDD's Item 3 (litigation) and Item 4 (bankruptcy), and recent news yourself.
9 questions to ask an IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY franchisee
Built from this brand's own disclosures · take it to your validation calls
The franchisor will give you a list of owners to call. Most buyers ask whether they like it. These questions come from what IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY has disclosed. Each one carries the number it came from, so you can check the answer against the record.
- 01
IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY’s own Item 20 shows 6 of 24 franchised outlets left the system in fiscal 2023 — about 25.0%. Do you know any of those owners, and do you know why they left?
A franchisor will call these “transitions.” An owner three doors down usually knows whether they sold at a profit or handed the keys back.
FDD Item 20 · FY2023
- 02
1 units transferred to new owners in fiscal 2023. When you look at those, were they people cashing out a good business — or getting out of a bad one?
Item 20 counts transfers as neutral, but a transfer can be a good sale or a reluctant exit — the filing does not say which.
FDD Item 20 · FY2023
- 03
The system went from 23 units to 20 over 3 disclosed years. What's the explanation you've been given, and do you believe it?
A shrinking system means fewer owners funding the ad fund and support staff you're paying for.
FDD Item 20 · FY2021–FY2023
- 04
You pay 8.0% royalty on gross sales, plus the ad fund, before any of your own costs. On your actual revenue last year, what did you take home as the owner — not revenue, take-home?
Royalty is charged on sales, not profit. This is the number the brochure never shows and the one your life actually runs on.
FDD Item 6
- 05
IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY makes an earnings claim in Item 19. Does your unit look like that number — and do you know which units they included to build it?
Item 19 is legal to build from a flattering subset. Ask whether they excluded new units, closed units, or company stores.
FDD Item 19 · 2023
- 06
How many months did it take to cover your own costs, and how much cash did you burn getting there?
Ramp-to-breakeven working capital is the most underestimated line in any franchise purchase, and the most common reason otherwise-good units fail.
Not disclosed in any FDD — ask an owner
- 07
What does the franchisor charge for that you didn't expect — required tech fees, mandatory remodels, approved-supplier pricing?
Required spending appears across Items 6, 8 and 11 rather than in one place, so buyers routinely miss the total.
FDD Items 6, 8, 11
- 08
If your agreement came up for renewal tomorrow at current terms, would you sign again?
The single most predictive question you can ask. A hesitation is the answer.
Ask every owner you speak to
- 09
Who else should I call — including someone who left?
The franchisor's list is curated by definition. Former franchisees are where the unflattering truth lives, and current owners usually know how to reach them.
Ask every owner you speak to
Want this as a checklist you can take to the calls?
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A broker is usually paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid only by you, never by a franchisor you're considering — and the job is pressure-testing IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY’s numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
This page is what buyers see before they call you for validation. If the record above is wrong — or right in a way the numbers can't show — say so. Franchisors: send corrections with the page reference and we will review them against the filing and update or annotate the page. Corrections are checked against the filings; nothing you write is published with your name unless you agree to it.
IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY franchise questions, answered from the filings
How many IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY franchised outlets left the system last year?
In IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY's latest FDD Item 20 (fiscal 2023), 6 of 24 franchised outlets left the system — an exit rate of 25.0% — compared with a 2.5% median across 25 comparable systems (education & children) tracked here. That counts terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons" as the franchisor reported them; it excludes transfers to new owners. The FDD does not say why each outlet left, and an exit is not the same as a failure.
How much does a IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY franchise cost?
Per IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY's 2023 FDD, buying in requires an initial franchise fee of $49,000 (Item 5) and a total initial investment of $128K–$288K (Item 7).
What royalty does IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY charge?
IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY charges an ongoing royalty of 8.0% of gross sales, per Item 6 of its 2023 FDD.
Does IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY disclose earnings (Item 19)?
Yes — IMAGINE ARTS ACADEMY makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2023 FDD. Read it closely: franchisors choose which units and which metrics to include.