metro »
Sarah Clayman
and Kevin Nixon,
her business
partner and
companion
Older Adult Info
Hotline Surging
The One Number call line
makes it easy to get answers.
Courtesy DIME
T
DIME Keeps Rocking
Co-founder Sarah Clayman went from England
to Israel to Downtown Detroit.
Martin Michalek | Special to the Jewish News
E
very day in Capitol Park, rock
‘n’ roll can be heard emanat-
ing from the Detroit Institute
of Music Education (DIME) at 1265
Griswold St. in Downtown Detroit.
DIME is a music college that offers
students a rigorous college experience
with the opportunity to meet other
experienced musicians, develop their
talents, and earn degrees in subjects
such as songwriting and music entre-
preneurship.
Experienced record producer Kevin
Nixon founded the school in 2014 with
his partner, Sarah Clayman, as well as
Bruce Dickinson, who played guitar
in the British rock band Little Angels.
Now, as the school enters its third year,
Clayman says the success in Detroit has
been better than they could ever have
hoped.
“We were looking for a challenge
[when we came to Detroit] and we defi-
nitely got that,” Clayman says. “I hadn’t
considered the lifestyle change because
we were so focused on the business
aspect. Yet the relationships and friend-
ships we’ve built in Detroit are some of
the strongest I’ve had in my lifetime.”
Just as some children take over the
family bakery, Clayman knew from an
early age she wanted to follow in her
father’s footsteps and work in the music
industry. Growing up in Cockfosters,
London, she watched her father work
as a concert promoter for acts like
Michael Jackson, the Carpenters and
Neil Diamond.
Clayman’s father had his reserva-
tions about his daughter working in the
music industry, though; and so, in her
typically spunky fashion, she decided
to move to a kibbutz in Israel at age 16.
(Her other plans were either being a
20 February 18 • 2016
helicopter pilot or a beautician.)
In Israel, Clayman began punctili-
ously studying Hebrew and, by age 17
she was speaking fluently and working
for a medical company in Tel Aviv. But a
dream can only be deferred for so long.
Before turning 18, Clayman returned to
England where she threw herself into
the music business at last.
“I never thought I would be living
in Detroit when I decided to enter the
music industry,” Clayman says, “but
people in Detroit have been so warm,
open and welcoming. It’s quite unbeliev-
able.”
One of Clayman’s earliest ties to
Detroit came from working as an
assistant manager to D-Influence and
the Motown act Zhane. Now, Clayman
has a home in Indian Village with her
companion and business partner, Kevin
Nixon.
“The plan for a music college began
in a pub,” Nixon says. For an entire year,
Clayman, Nixon and Dickinson met over
pints in the U.K. to work on founding
a college in England. Their hard work
culminated in the Brighton Institute of
Modern Music (BIMM). Soon, enroll-
ment exceeded 1,000 students.
“There were moments when I’d stand
on stage at induction week and look
up into a crowd with a thousand faces,”
Clayman says of BIMM’s early days,
“and I couldn’t believe it. It was meant
to be.”
Eventually, the trio sold BIMM and
set their sights on founding a music col-
lege in the United States. They looked
at New York City and Nashville until
a fortuitous meeting with one of their
old friends, Metro Detroiter Charlie
Rothstein. Rothstein is the senior
managing director and co-founder of
Beringea, a venture capital firm with
offices in London and Detroit.
“We met Charlie [Rothstein] seven
years ago,” Clayman says, “because we’d
talked to Beringea for a year about our
previous U.K. business, BIMM.”
Though the two never ended up
working together, things changed
quickly. “Kevin [Nixon] got a call from
American Idol to work with the show,
and we came to Detroit to see if we
wanted to be involved. Charlie was
the first person we called.” As Nixon,
Clayman and Rothstein all sat down to
dinner the decision became obvious.
“We said no to Idol and yes to
Charlie,” Clayman says before quickly
adding, “It’s the best decision we have
made — ever.”
Three years later, DIME is pioneer-
ing music education in the heart of
Downtown Detroit with DIME ONLINE,
an online college curriculum that helps
musicians earn degrees in music-related
subjects.
“In five years, people will look back
on what we’re doing with DIME and
DIME ONLINE and say we were the
first to do something special,” Clayman
says. “A student can study anywhere in
the world. It has the potential to create
music collaborations with students from
different countries and cultures.”
DIME’s ambitious plan to revolution-
ize music education is moving forward
in 2016. Presently, DIME is building a
relationship with the Metropolitan State
University of Denver to allow students
(both online and in Detroit) more
access to student loans, more affordable
courses and new online programs.
*
To learn more about DIME, visit www.dime-detroit.
com.
hroughout the day, Tracey
Proghovnick’s phone rings at
Jewish Senior Life (JSL). As
JSL’s director of information and refer-
ral, part of Proghovnick’s responsibilities
is to receive calls to the (248) 661-1836
hotline and assist callers — either by
answering questions or sending them to
the appropriate agency for help.
Staff from the Resource Center at
Jewish Family service also answer this
line and are an integral part of its success.
“The executives of all the Federation
agencies serving older adults meet
regularly to identify unmet needs and
ways we can collaborate to address
those needs,” says Shari-Beth Goldman,
chief program officer of Jewish Family
Service. “This partnership between JSL
and Jewish Family Service emerged from
those meetings and has been an efficient
and effective use of community resources
to support older adults and their fami-
lies.”
A collaborative effort between JSL,
Jewish Family Service, the Jewish
Community Center, JVS and the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, 1836,
or One Number as it’s known, launched
five years ago as a way to support people
through the transitions of aging.
One woman called recently about her
widowed mother who lives indepen-
dently in her own home. She wants to
keep busy, so Proghovnick discussed
JSL’s Club in the Plaza at Fleischman
Residence/Blumberg Plaza, JVS’ Senior
Service Corps, JFS’ Mind University and
the Active Life program at the JCC. She
connected the caller with each agency.
“The caller and her mother are native
Detroiters and did not know about these
programs,” Proghovnick says. “She was
thrilled that we have so much to offer her
mother.
“The feedback we get from callers is
so often an initial feeling of relief that
they only have to call One Number to
obtain answers to their questions and
find resources,” she adds. “Sometimes
they have no idea where to begin; they
just know that One Number is the place
to call.”
The purpose of One Number is to
make it easy to find information for older
adults. Proghovnick says the priority is
“to listen, assess, address and refer.”
Anyone may call (248) 661-1836 and
receive information to help the older
adults in their life.
*