DIGITAL RENAISSANCE MUSIC INSTITUTE OPENING IN DUBAI

A new educational institution based in Dubai is opening soon, which aims to develop Music Industry in the MENA region and to provide fundamental and cutting-edge education to train advanced creative specialists, audio engineers and industry professionals.

What's their mission?

To make Dubai one of the world's centres of music industry and become a driver for:

• Developing a full cycle creative economy in Dubai: education — production — export

• Creating value chains within the region

• Increasing the share of the music sector in Dubai's economy

• Increasing the number of new music projects and startups in music industry created by those who educated in Dubai

• Creating conditions for the inflow of talents to the region, and reducing the outflow of talents abroad

What are their goals?

• To prepare world-class specialists in music industry to work in a new and fast-growing sector of the region's economy

• Support and development of local-specific projects that take into account the multicultural nature of the city, country and region, and the creation of conditions for their entry into world markets.

• Support women in music industry.

• To become a platform for cooperation with leading industrial partners and develop a music community in the region by organizing conferences, exhibitions, festivals, master classes, internships and so on.

What is Digital Renaissance?

This is the era we are living in, a period of profound change that has upended traditional creative industries and popular culture and radically increased the amount of cultural objects available to all of humanity at once. More books, songs, TV shows, films, video games, art and design are being produced than ever before. Skeptics predicted that the digital revolution would destroy the creative industries and high culture, but it has led to a digital renaissance. Are there more low-quality works? Yes. But there are also more high-quality ones. The very principles of producing and consuming of creative products have changed. And the entire experience of interacting with contemporary culture has changed. And humanity has yet to figure out what is happening now. This is what we do.

Supporting local creatives is huge for us. There is so much talent around, and we really want people to feel comfortable bringing their own backgrounds and stories to the table.

The idea is that whether you are from the UAE, Lebanon, Egypt, India, the Philippines, or anywhere else, you can learn the international language of popular music and technologies — but still keep your individuality and tell your own story.

What we would love to see is graduates from our school making projects like Saint Levant or Hanumankind. It really feels like the wave of “global” Western culture has already passed. Now it is time for new stories, from cultures the world doesn’t know enough about yet: from the Arab world, modern desi music, Bollywood, and beyond. Part of our mission is to help those stories go global, to create a sort of “strike back” in the world’s cultural landscape.

That is why we work with local talent, people who aren’t afraid to experiment with calligraphy, typography, or music, and put their own culture into what they do. The world should see and value that. We want artists like Saint Levant and Hanumankind to be in demand everywhere — and for new names to pop up, ones we haven’t even heard of yet.

And that is also why we don’t just bring in teachers from the UK or anywhere else to do everything by the book. It is really important for us to build our team here, to create something real and unique, not just another copy of what everyone else is doing.

Want to know more about the programmes and teachers? Stay up-to-date with news, events, and admission at www.digitalrenaissance.education.