The city of Newark has announced a bold new initiative that will help educate and inspire students using celebrity instructors.

The newly formed iArts Media Institute will offer training and career development to combat the unemployment rate for New Jersey residents. Right now Newark has a 9.6% unemployment rate.  The venture is a partnership with Mayor Ras J. Baraka and iArts Media Institute hopes to attract youth from 16 to 24 years old.

Celebrities instructors include Newark natives JD Williams (“Bodie” from HBO’s The Wire/OZ) (Acting), Lords of the Underground rapper Dupree “Do it All” Kelly (Music Songwriting & Music), and emcee Rah Digga (Music History). Others serving the community this capacity include industry vet Brett Melius (photography), Chuck Creekmur, CEO of AllHipHop.com (Social Media & Media), music industry Briant “Bee high” Biggs (E-Commerce & Technology), Music Industry managers Hillary Weston & Loreal Lemond (Music Business), Platinum & Grammy Award winning producer Bryan Michael Cox (Music Production), Civil Rights Activist Tamika Mallory (Public Speaking), Jarrel Carter from Roc Nation (Music A&R), and many more.

Mayor Baraka sated, “The City of Newark has a 350-year history of creativity, with lustrous names like Stephen Crane, Philip Roth, Sarah Vaughan, Whitney Houston, and John Amos. Today we have a vast wealth of untapped talent who will write new pages in that history, if we give them the opportunity to express their creativity and innovation. I am proud of our administration is uniting with private partners like the iArts Media Institute to break the cycles that have held our citizens back, and empower them with the tools to become the next generation of national and international stars and titans of the entertainment world.”
A press conference will be held Wednesday March 2, 2016 at 205 Spruce St., Newark, NJ at 1:30 p.m.

According to a press release, the institute hopes to “attract students and hone future world visionaries.”

allhiphop.com