Detroit's DIME music school abruptly shutters after partnership with Denver school dissolves

The Detroit Institute of Music Education (DIME) is pulling the plug on its education programs after six years in the Motor City, according to a press release sent Wednesday.

The for-profit college was founded in 2014 by U.K. music industry veterans Sarah Clayman and Kevin Nixon, and expanded to include schools in Denver and online courses.

According to a statement, partner school Metropolitan State University of Denver announced that it was terminating its partnership with DIME in an email sent to all students and faculty on March 16, as the coronavirus crisis took hold in the U.S. In 2015 the two schools entered a partnership that allowed DIME students to be eligible for federal student aid.

"MSU Denver voluntarily breached the partnership agreement by not adhering to the 360-day notice period of termination, that would allow DIME to find another partner or partners, and would enable DIME to continue to recruit and educate students for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021," the statement reads.

The school says it spent the past nine weeks trying to work on a solution to no avail. On June 1, MSU rejected a proposal from DIME to teach-out the remaining students together.

Now, "DIME’s students have been left with uncertainty in both cities on how they will continue with their modern music degrees," the statement reads.

"We have not given up hope that we can reinvent DIME in Detroit, and work with other local organizations to continue music education in the city we have lived in for the past 6 years and have grown to love," Nixon and Clayman said in a statement. "We believe that everyone should have the opportunity and access to an education in music that will allow them successful long-term careers in a profession they love."

The Detroit location is located at 1265 Griswold St. in downtown Detroit. The group also ran a record label, Original 1265 Recordings.

DIME Online and Original 1265 Recordings will continue to operate, the statement says.

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