the people of Zanzibar and the “Dhow Region”, i.e. Oriental-Arabic music. Though specializing in the traditional Arabic and African music styles of the region, DCMA also gives the opportunity to students to learn instruments used in Western music traditions. Music learning at DCMA includes: Instrumental and vocal instruction through private and class lessons. These lessons focus on performance skills on various instruments including, but not limited to the violin, oud, qanun, guitar, bass, piano, keyboard, Arabic, African and Western drums, accordion and flute. Certificate and diploma level courses in performance studies that also include courses in Western, Arabic and African music cultural traditions and ways of researching such traditions. Whilst the central aim of DCMA is to preserve and promote the musical heritage of Zanzibar and the "Dhow region", in more recent years it has introduced music-in-culture courses and special master classes, concerts and workshops with sound engineers, festival organizers from all over the world and professional musicians, i.e. Cleveland Watkiss, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ricardo Garcia, Blitz the Ambassador, Moussa Diallo, Harald Lassen, Florian Ross, Grzegorz Niemczuk, Leon Michael King, Piotr Damasiewicz, Derek Gripper, Makadem, and others. Additionally, DCMA provides special seminars, exchange visits and networking activities throughout the year, e.g., the conference “Memory, Power and Knowledge in African Music and Beyond” in June 2015, presented in cooperation with the Universities of Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa and University of Mainz and University of Hildesheim in Germany. Education for children DCMA is providing free music lessons for more than 100 kids in 6 primary schools in Zanzibar. Learning music has many benefits for children. It fosters their academic, social, and emotional growth. It develops language skills. Studies have shown that those who undergo music education have better results in standardized tests than the norm. They also achieve higher grades in high school. Music education develops skills that are necessary in the workplace. DCMA is also helping children with various disabilities. Since 2012 DCMA is teaching in Kisiwadui Primary School a group of children with physical disabilities i.e. blindness, hearing problems or wheelchaired. This year the Academy started to work with a local NGO Kahesa Zanzibar and is providing free music education to children with Down syndrome and autism. Outreach educational activities In addition to its activities in Stone Town, Zanzibar, DCMA started a rural outreach program to respond to requests of rural communities to bring music education and music performance