British Music Entrepreneurs Bring Music Education to Detroit: Behind the Scenes at DIME
By: Stevie Soul
@mrsteviesoul
As a Detroit artist, I've always looked for a place to call home: a place to develop my skills, create, rehearse, and perform. There was no single place in the city that offered all of these things until Detroit Institute of Music Education (DIME) opened its doors this spring.
DIME immediately attracted the attention of the local music community. Founded by British music entrepreneurs Kevin Nixon, Sarah Clayman, and Bruce Dickinson, it's currently situated at a pop-up location at 1520 Woodward and will soon move into its permanent building this fall at 1265 Griswold in downtown's Capitol Park neighborhood.
Kevin, Sarah, and Bruce opened DIME in Detroit with a goal to provide local musicians with the information, encouragement, and expertise needed to build successful music careers. Through DIME, musicians have opportunities to play in bands, meet industry professions, hone their technique, promote themselves, and take advantage of other career development activities.
After hearing the buzz around town, I decided to check DIME out for myself. I passed through the doors of the large, open industrial space and was immediately greeted by Kevin and Sarah. I took note of the space's center point: a full stage that was completely lit with every instrument available and ready to play.
I was so excited that I jumped on stage and started beat-boxing on the microphone. Out of nowhere, another musician joined me at the piano. Before I knew it, we were creating a song together. This sort of collaboration and camaraderie is emblematic of what DIME is all about, creating a community space for local musicians.
The DIME founders' solid mission and visible passion for Detroit inspired me to pay the space a second visit with my film team (Joe Talbot and Jon Braue) to capture the DIME story for a mini-documentary.
Upon our arrival, we met Elise McCoy, the leader singer of My Pal Val - a rock band Kevin is currently producing. We had the unique opportunity to see Kevin in action as he coached the band through a rehearsal, which we found to be the perfect scene to film.
DIME is helping shape the music culture of Detroit 2.0, and once their full facility is completely built in Capital Park, they plan to be the industry leader in Detroit music education.
I'm glad to have DIME here in Detroit...excited to see what comes next!
Stevie Soul is a Detroit-area musician with a passion for this city, making music, and capturing moments. Get the latest on Stevie Soul on his website, Facebook, or Twitter pages! Learn more about Stevie in his CW50 Detroit Proud interview HERE.
