By Riley Kaminer
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs may have “been around the world,” but the rapper has decidedly planted a flag in Miami with Sean Combs Capital’s $2 million investment into a Little River creative facility.
The funds will go towards expanding Philadelphia-based startup REC into Miami in the form of a 12,000-square-foot hub for creators. The location will include recording studios, editing bays, dance studios, design studios, an event venue, and co-working spaces. In short, it will equip South Florida’s creatives with all the production equipment and facilities needed to create Combs-worthy content.
“Our goal is to make sure that independent creators have the information, tools, and resources needed to win and level the playing field,” Combs said in a statement. “This partnership is about the future of the creator economy and helping REC expand to serve more creators in cities and countries around the world.”
Founded in 2015, REC is a creative incubator and creative agency ecosystem that aims to help indy creators build their businesses. The community boasts one thousand active members and brand partnerships with major organizations such as Live Nation, Comcast, and T-Mobile.
REC claims to have provided $2 million in revenue to its community through its creative agency, which helps members get hired by national brands.
In an interview with Forbes, Combs Enterprises COO Tarik Brooks underscored the importance of investing in Black creators and creators of color.
“Black creators are the soul of creativity in American culture,” he commented. “We have to acknowledge how systematic racism has impacted our community and then create solutions to counter that.”
“I know Diddy is committed to using his platform and network to help make change and uplift Black creators,” Brooks continued.
For REC co-founder Will Toms, a culture of gatekeepers is holding Black creatives back from getting the exposure they need. “Gatekeepers feel if artists or creators want to get to a large audience, they need to give up ownership and IP.”
“This scenario isn’t a level playing field for Black creatives,” said Toms. “So for us, we needed to create something that gave Black creatives a place to get the resources they need without those gatekeepers.”
Toms’ goal: Turn artists and creators into creative entrepreneurs. That’s of crucial importance in South Florida, where opportunity abounds but is not equally distributed – as research from GoDaddy reveals in its report about Miami’s microbusinesses.
Once it opens in 2023, membership to this new space will likely start at around $599 a year. The one million square foot Little River Miami neighborhood project, co-owned by a local and a Nashville-based developer, is home to handful of tech-focused companies, including fintech YellowPepper and on-demand delivery platform Gopuff.
REC’s co-founder signaled that Miami is just the first of many cities to come, noting in a press release that they are actively looking for global leaders interested in importing this model into their city.
Interested in learning more about REC’s plans for this new space? Join their town hall meeting on October 13th.
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