I’ve heard of a lot of different ideas for targeting at-risk youth – from troubled families, troubled backgrounds, with behavioral problems, etc. – and providing them with a way to get ahead in life. There’s your after-school sports, peer advisor groups, adopt-a-brother type programs, and all of that.

With all due respect to those types of programs, this one is so much cooler.

Introducing Muzik, the first school of music for DJs in Israel, and among the first in the world. Founded in 1997 as the DJ School of Contemporary Music, this Tel Aviv-based program enrolls at-risk youth and other students in a curriculum that teaches them DJ music production and helps them launch a real career in the music industry.

According to their website, “Muzik is the first music school of its kind in the Middle East and among the first of its kind in the world. Muzik programs emphasize the creative applications of music technology and cover a broad range of subjects that are often essential to creating and producing original music today: composition and songwriting; arrangement and programming; recording, mixing, and mastering; sound design; and acoustics. Muzik seeks to develop within its students the creativity, theoretical knowledge, technical skills, working habits, and personal qualities that will enable them to become self-sufficient artists, producers, and professionals who are at the forefront of their chosen field.”

It’s not just that the kids learn how to operate a turntable. The teachers at the school have real expertise and experience in the world of music and in particular DJ-ing, and perhaps more importantly, they have connections throughout the music world in Israel. By the time the kids complete the one-year or three-year programs, they have not only the know-how to DJ but they will have built up a portfolio with which to begin and some connections with which to get their careers off the ground.

Cool.

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