Celebrating 10 years of BIMM Berlin ✨🇩🇪

It’s hard to believe 10 years have passed.

From our humble beginnings on Warschauer Straße, to rehearsal rooms in shipping containers, and our recent expansion into film and acting. Come and take a look at our journey over the past decade. 

Since opening our doors on 7 October 2015, BIMM University Berlin has quickly established itself as a leading destination for creatives across the music, acting, and screen industries in Europe. 

Many of those who’ve joined us over the past decade as emerging musicians, actors, directors, producers, performers or business professionals have since forged professional careers in the creative industry of their choice, helping inspire our current students that aim to follow in their footsteps. 

Much like Berlin itself, we have gone through many transformations since 2015. Our identity, physical premises, and community have all continued to evolve day after day, with no signs of slowing down. We believe that our ability to quickly adapt and evolve to the industry around us is the secret ingredient to our success. 

Let’s take a look at the numbers. 

Since 2015, BIMM University Berlin celebrated some huge numbers, including: 

• Welcoming over 2,000 students since 2015 

• Bringing together students from 80+ countries 

• Facilitating over 350 events 

• Hosting 324 exclusive masterclasses by industry professionals (220 music, 104 film/acting) 

It is important to remember that our educational services extend beyond our current students. We have also invested time developing training programmes for established professionals across the creative industries. As we continue to diversify our educational offering, we are excited to see these numbers grow. 

Our exclusive masterclasses: Who has paid us a visit?

Since 2015, we’ve welcomed some huge names through our doors, delivering unique masterclasses and workshops exclusively for our students. These have included:

• Mark Williams (Actor, Harry Potter)
• Peaches (Electronic Artist and Producer)
• Divinity Roxx (Bass Player and Songwriter, Beyonce)
• Gordon Raphael (Producer, The Strokes)
• The Kooks 
• Tim Pope (Music Video Director, David Bowie / The Cure / The Darkness)

Big chapters from the past 10 years 

2015 – Our humble beginnings on Warschauer Straße. 

BIMM Berlin started its journey into the German music industry in a typical Berlin ‘backyard building’. With the permission of our partners noisy Rooms, we set up our first campus in a former carpentry workshop, a location with the perfect design and infrastructure for music studios and rehearsal spaces. 

Classes began in October 2015, and quickly we realised that Germany was bursting at the seems with passionate musicians looking for a home to perfect their craft. Thanks to noisy Rooms, we were given a soft landing into Berlin’s creative scene, as they became the foundation of our first student community, allowing us to share their facilities alongside Music Pool Berlin in a unique Tri-lateral partnership on Warschauer Straße. 

As we started to grow, it was clear we were just getting started. During this time, noisy Rooms already had a plan to establish a purpose-built hub for musicians, but the building had not yet been selected. 

2017  – Our first big move

In 2017 we out-grew our first premises, and began our migration to the second. Many Berliners will recognize our 2017 campus as the current Urban Spree building, now a popular industrial complex home to art galleries, dance clubs, food stands, and a beer garden. 

Due to some unfortunate delays with documentation and administration from the local Senate, our facilities weren’t fully ready in time for the start of the academic year. But we didn’t let that stop us. Instead, we came up with the radical idea of hiring shipping containers and turning them into rehearsal spaces. Not your typical campus setup, but pretty cool, right? 

Once again, after two years, it was time for us to grow. Only this time it was final. 

2019  – The House of Music

After four years of procedures and negotiations we, together with our partners noisy Rooms, relocated one last time to the widely recognisable House of Music on Revaler Str. 99, just a stone’s throw from our previous campus in RAW-Gelände. The House of Music stands proudly as Berlin’s oldest existing industry building, dating back to the 1860s. 

The pictures above show what House of Music looked like in 2016, prior to its €12 million refurbishment by RAW-Gelände. The building was fully revived, returned to its former glory, and is now where we are currently located. A dedicated home for creativity known not just throughout Berlin’s music scene, but across Germany. 

With industrial-inspired design, it’s more than just an educational centre and rehearsal space. The building also houses a stage with pro sound and lighting to set the scene for conferences, concerts and showcases. The ‘crohn chandelier’ and R.A.W. designs create a cosy vibe for 150+ guests. 

Despite only being open since 2019, the House of Music has become a household name in Berlin’s music scene. It has transformed into the perfect microcosm of the creative industry, housing artists, agencies, music management, and our students under the same roof. 

Currently sharing the offices at House of Music alongside BIMM University is prominent industry names like Yamaha, Music Pool Berlin, Cassiopeia, Meder, 343 Labs and the Triangle Agency.

Thanks to the efforts of BIMM University, RAW-Gelände, and noisy Rooms, our campus now sits in an area surrounded by creativity and expression. 

2024 – Our expansion into film with MetFilm School

On 1 February 2024, BIMM University set its sights on the screen industries with the acquisition of MetFilm School. The move brought a new creative community to the university, alongside a wealth of experienced film and acting staff and Molecule Studios, the Berlin home of MetFilm School Berlin. 

MetFilm School’s staff and students quickly became an integral part of our wider community, opening up new opportunities for collaboration between filmmakers, composers, editors, actors, and creatives across more disciplines then ever before. Over the past two years, we have also seen the facilities at Molecule Studios continue to grow and evolve, with plans now underway to secure additional acting and movement spaces across Berlin.

This expansion will help meet the growing demand for its increasingly popular acting programmes.

Our partnership with noisy Rooms 

Crucial to the success of our Berlin campus is the symbiotic relationship we have been lucky to foster with noisy Rooms, who have been operating in Berlin since 2001. 

As we have grown together our partnership has continued to blossom, with our students able to rent equipment and rehearsal rooms at a discounted rate. It’s also not uncommon for our students to find part-time work at noisy Rooms when they aren’t studying hard. 

What’s next for BIMM Berlin? 

With our graduates taking over the Spotify charts, festival slots, and our TV screens, it’s hard not to feel proud. Their success is our success, and we are always proud to watch them become inspiration for current students embarking on their new creative lives. 

But we’re just getting started. As we speak, we are adapting and expanding our facilities and premises across Berlin to keep up with student demands. Our courses are also evolving, to ensure students are receiving relevant, up– to– date education. 

As Europe’s creative industries continue to evolve at an incredible pace, we’re excited to spread our wings and see what new opportunities will come our way soon. 

But for now, the new academic year is quickly approaching, and those timetables don’t organise themselves. 

Vielen Dank, und auf Wiedersehen ✨ 🇩🇪