BRITISH MUSIC PIONEERS CREATE NEW ONLINE MUSIC DEGREE COURSES

17 July 2014 - Press release

 DETROIT INSTITUTE OF MUSIC EDUCATION: PART OF THE REGENERATION OF DETRIOT AND OPENING UP EDUCATION FOR TALENT GLOBALLY

 

• ·   Tutors are successful working musicians, including established stars
• ·   DIME Online courses to allow affordable education for students
• ·   DIME’s ethos wins praise from Madonna
• ·   New multi-million dollar music college, DIME, opens in Detroit September 2014

 

British music industry veterans Kevin Nixon, Sarah Clayman and Bruce Dickinson announce today that they are taking their music education experience global with the launch of the Detroit Institute of Music Education (DIME) and it’s subsidiary DIME Online - a distance learning programme that will allow students around the world to embark on music degree courses, from this September, accredited by leading specialist arts institution Falmouth University.

In conjunction with Falmouth University, the founders of the award winning BIMM Group which they sold to Private Equity in Jan 2012, Kevin Nixon, Sarah Clayman and Bruce Dickinson have created a unique platform that will allow gifted students, in even the most far-flung places, to undertake a variety of affordable degrees. Leveraging the cost savings that can be achieved by delivering a university curriculum online, students will also benefit from being able to complete their studies in their own time, while enjoying unrivalled access to some stellar course tutors.

Among the courses that will be offered to students via DIME Online are:

• BA Honours Creative Music Performance (Specialising in Guitar, Bass, Drums or Vocals)
• BA Honours Creative Songwriting
• BA Honours Innovation in Artist Management

Those courses will also be offered at the new campus* of the Detroit Institute of Music Education when it opens its doors later this year. In addition to identifying and nurturing the next generation of artists, writers and musicians, DIME will educate tomorrow’s booking agents, promoters, artist managers and all manner of key music business entrepreneurs to ensure that the industry has a sustainable and vibrant future.

Whilst traditional physical campus education has clear benefits and merit, explaining the thinking behind DIME Online, DIME Managing Director Sarah Clayman points to their grasp of the different advantages that using digital technology in the education sector can provide. “When we were planning the launch of our new degree courses, we clearly understood that for some, the ability to work at their own pace and time outside a campus based education is highly attractive. With more and more people spending more and more time online and the increasing affordability of digital devices it makes sense for us to also offer our campus based DIME course online so that even more people can study them, wherever they are in the world, increasing or decreasing their work load to fit their current circumstances.”

She adds, “We’re really excited about DIME Online and in the United States we are seeing that university courses are increasingly involving a mix of campus-based lectures with online tuition - we believe using the internet in this way encourages accessibility to students who may face difficulties in taking up places within full time, campus based education.”          

*DIME Campus courses are awaiting accreditation by Falmouth University

While DIME Online is using the internet to change the music education landscape, the soon-to-open college is already playing a pivotal role in the cultural regeneration of the city of Detroit, with the campus at the heart of the downtown area that is breathing new life into the metropolis and re-establishing its historic roots as a musical heartland.

The historic Bamlett building housing the new DIME campus in downtown’s Capitol Park is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar refurbishment ahead of its grand opening in September, but in the meantime, Kevin, Sarah and Bruce have established a DIME pop-up venue where prospective students and staff have been visiting to register their interest. Indeed, earlier this month, pop superstar Madonna also dropped in to see what is   established at DIME – and she praised the founders, Kevin, Sarah and Bruce, for their long-term investment and commitment to music education.

In a note on her official website, Madonna wrote: “Many people doubt that Detroit can come back and think that the challenges are too overwhelming to overcome. But what I witnessed today is the true story of Detroit – a city of innovation, commitment, perseverance, imagination and opportunity. The entrepreneurs, artists, activists, teachers and children I met today left me incredibly inspired. I appreciate every minute of it and look forward to helping make the future of Detroit brighter.”

However, Madonna is not the only musician to commit herself to making DIME a success, as Kevin, Sarah and Bruce have secured a stellar line-up of working musicians as tutors for the degree and diploma courses they have devised. Those tutors include Adele guitarist Tim Van Der Kuil, Lanar ‘Kern’ Brantley the bass player for Lady Gaga, Skunk Anansie and Feeder drummer Mark Richardson, songwriter Antea Shelton (Beyoncé, Mary J Blige, Jennifer Lopez) among others. Those tutors will also be available to DIME Online students.

“We find that a lot of artists want to give something back to the next generation,” says Sarah. “Apart from securing some great course tutors, we've also had some great gigs at the DIME pop-up. Lady Gaga’s bass player Kern turned up and jumped up on stage and started jamming with the other musicians, so news about the pop-up and DIME is spreading fast.”

DIME President Kevin Nixon reports that the pop-up DIME venue is attracting some amazing local talent including highly qualified musicians looking to complement the existing roster of tutors and the buzz in the city surrounding the opening of the academic institute is building ahead of the first intake of students.

While DIME Online’s intake can be extensive, given its international reach, Kevin reveals that plans for the first year of DIME will limit student numbers at the Detroit campus to about 100 students, building to 1,000 over the next five years. “Unlike others we don’t say yes to everyone who applies to DIME, but do match them up to a course in which they are likely to succeed,” says Kevin. “We like to give students achievable goals, so when a musician sometimes realises they are not they next Pharrell Williams, we show them other career opportunities in every other area of the business from music publishing to road crew, but of course we also do sometimes find stars as we have in the past with Tom Odell, George Ezra and The Kooks.”

Whilst Kevin, Sarah and their staff have planned a steady growth policy to establish DIME, interest in their approach to music education is already attracting enquiries from authorities in other cities around the world about setting up similar schools elsewhere, validating their forward thinking approach to the launch of DIME Online.

 

www.dime-detroit.com