Have A Passion For Music? Check Out This Music Lab Designed To Launch Careers

DENVER (CBS4)- Metropolitan State University is collaborating with DIME- The Detroit Institute for Music Education, an innovative music lab to launch careers in Denver. They celebrated the $2 million renovation of a building in the Art District on Santa Fe with an open house, complete with student performances.

"This first song I actually wrote started writing as an assignment and then we kind of all finished it together. It is called oceans," Jake Myers said before performing.

Myers' classroom and his campus are far from your typical university.

"We build our colleges around the music industry so when the students walk in here they are not walking into the education business they are walking into the music industry," Kevin Dixon said.

Dixon and Sarah Clayman started dime after having spent years in the business.

They collaborated with Metro State and now offer degrees in performance, songwriting and music industries studies. The goal is simple. They want to create career opportunities- in a new brand new way.

"Traditionally our students are the musicians because they are creative they maybe haven't engaged with high school maybe sat in the back and they just don't like traditional education," Clayman said.

For Myers it fit the bill.

"I show up to song writing class with an amazing teacher," he said ,"I kind of show him what I've been working on which is pretty amazing that that's our homework."

It was just what he needed to start planning for his future.

"It's my career path, there's nothing else that I'm going to be doing," Myers said.

LINK: DIME-Denver