A British success coming to Detroit this fall will open a new chapter in the city's notable contributions to music.
The new institute will offer degrees or diplomas in creative music performance. Students also can attend part-time or summer classes.
The venture is a music college called the Detroit Institute of Music Education, business columnist Tom Walsh reports in the Free Press.
Backed by a $3-million investment from Beringea of Farmington Hills, DIME is moving into downtown buildings owned by Quicken Loans chairman Dan Gilbert.
The school will offer advanced music students courses in guitar, bass, vocals, drums, songwriting and music entrepreneurship. . . .
Students can choose to pursue a bachelor’s degree or diploma in creative music performance, or sign up for part-time and summer music education programs.
The institute's founders are three U.K. entrepreneurs who last decade created five independent music colleges in Britain and Ireland, which they sold in 2010 "and began exploring how to take the concept to the U.S.," Walsh writes.
They plan to hire 20 to 30 instructors and tutors by August, according to the columnist.
Kevin Nixon, a former artist, songwriter and record producer.who is one of the partners, tells the Free Press why their first American site is here:
"The business really is a perfect fit for Detroit. This movement to bring Detroit back with young people, creative people. . . . When we came last September to visit, the hospitality was stunning.”
The rock-focused institute will start with a pop-up space at 1520 Woodward as an admissions office and performance space temporarily. The permanent home will be in the seven-story Bamlet Building at 1265 Griswold, which Gilbert’s Bedrock Real Estate Services bought last fall. It was built in 1896 and borders Capitol Park.
“It is fitting for the Detroit Institute of Music Education to open in the heart of downtown Detroit, where opportunities to create are endless,” Gilbert tells Walsh. “I can think of nothing more important than locating institutions that attract young talented people to the city.”
Crain's also covers the news in an article by Tom Henderson and Nathan Skid. Their lengthier report adds these details., among others:
There are two types of degree programs: one is accredited through Falmouth University in Cornwall, England, while the other is not. All students must audition.
"This is not for kids who got a guitar for Christmas," [partner Sarah] Clayman said.
The nonaccredited track runs about 12 months, costs $6,500 and requires about 12 hours of class time a week. It is a performance-based education. . . .
The accredited track costs $12,999 a year and takes three years to complete. Nixon said credit hours from this track can be transferred to other American universities.
-- Alan Stamm
