Following a successful pilot program in Southern Dallas, DOC CARES’ education and commercial services platform Dreams Experience Academy (DEA) is expanding its program—which trains underserved youth for the music, media, entertainment and tech industries—to St. Philip’s School and two Texans Can Academies, in addition to continuing at For Oak Cliff.

Dallas native and Grammy-winning hip-hop legend Tracy “The D.O.C.” Curry partnered with multi-specialty executive Chris Gannett to found the academy, which was built as part of the parent platform DOC CARES.

DEA is a nonprofit workforce development platform that provides hands-on, industry-driven training to enrolled students in grade 7-12—helping them connect classroom learning directly to real-world creative production, media workflows, and technology career pathways in the $3T media, entertainment and technology sector. The platform focuses training in four “verticals” of industry growth: game design, music, creator economy, and AI software use and development.

“At DEA, we’re not just designing a curriculum, we’re instilling belief,” founder and CEO Curry said in a statement. “And that belief doesn’t come from speeches and inspiration posters. It comes from learning how to operate the tools to research a market, design a video game, produce a song or create a campaign. You can’t expect to win if you don’t even know how the system works. We’re showing our kids how to play…and win.”

‘Talent exists everywhere. Opportunity doesn’t.’

During the program’s pilot with Southern Dallas partners For Oak Cliff and the Moorland Family YMCA, students participated in hands-on video game design, market research, and working prototype production—both individually and in teams—culminating in a final presentation to an expert panel.

The pilot program’s guest contributors and instructors included D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Erykah Badu, as well as executives from companies including Marvel, the Dallas Mavericks, Dude Perfect, GameSquare, FaZe Clan, and Sony.

The pilot showed measurable engagement with students who had previously disconnected from school, DOC CARES said. Among participating students, 100% of previously non-enrolled students reported intent to re-enroll after participating, while the program saw a 27-percentage-point increase in interest in game design careers, an 8.1/10 average impact rating, and a Net Promoter Score of 60.

Along with continuing the program at For Oak Cliff, it has now expanded to St. Philip’s School and Community Center in Dallas and two different Texans Can Academies campuses in North Texas.

“We’ve used our first round of funding to prove the concept. What we’ve found is that DEA is paving a clear path to real opportunities and engaging our host communities,” said Gannett, President of DOC CARES and DEA. “This program isn’t just about dreaming—it’s about preparation, execution and access. Talent exists everywhere. Opportunity doesn’t. Our expansion and future plans will continue to close that gap one gifted kid at a time.”

Key players in Dream Experience Academy

Launched last year, the initiative is the brainchild of hip-hop legend Tracy “The D.O.C.” Curry, The D.O.C., who won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, is an influential, Dallas-reared rapper, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded Death Row Records and wrote material for the likes of Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, and N.W.A.

Curry teamed up with Gannett, a former chief marketing officer for “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance” and founder of Dallas-based Gannett.Partners, to provide leadership coaching, operating advisory services, and strategic capital solutions. 

DEA’s expansion shows a growing commitment from cultural and institutional partners who see the long-term importance of improving access to creative and tech-forward industries, the organization said. Among its partners are the Dallas Regional Chamber, T.D. Jakes Foundation, alongside support from cultural leaders including Erykah Badu, Cynt Marshall (former Dallas Mavericks CEO), and Matt Finick (former ROBLOX CFO), among others.

Curry continues his ongoing presence in classrooms, working directly with students and educators, reinforcing DEA’s core belief that proximity, consistency, and access matter more than branding.

Newsweek: Curry’s ‘second act is about bridging the gap between students, their interests, and their possible future endeavors’

In an article this week titled “Access Is Everything”: How Legendary Rapper D.O.C. Is Reshaping Education,” Newsweek magazine reported on the Dreams Experience Academy success story. 

“Somebody said something to me about building a school, and that idea really resonated,” Curry told Newsweek. “We began to conceptualize this business of trying to give back in that way, and it happened really fast.”

“What’s important to me is success, and I don’t care how I do it,” the rapper added, noting that students want to hear from someone who can speak across the divide between the streets and the suites without losing the room.

Curriculum and what’s next

Designed as an education-to-industry bridge, DEA integrates creative production, digital media, technology, entrepreneurship, and social-emotional development into its curriculum—giving students access to the same tools, standards, and learning environments used across today’s professional music, media, and technology sectors, the organization said. It also incorporates expert insights and contributions from academic leaders at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.

The expansion into St. Philip’s School and Texans Can Academies—in addition to existing cornerstone partner For Oak Cliff—signals the next phase of DEA’s growth, which targets operational execution, institutional adoption, and building a scalable model that can function across the nation in diverse learning environments, the organization said.

As of 2026, DEA also is developing its “student-led” services business, which offers area and national Fortune 1000 brands the benefit of creative and tech solutions designed to reach and resonate with a valuable marketing demographic: mid-to-late teens, because they already influence household purchases and will soon control far more spending themselves.

DEA said it is continuing to grow through philanthropic, corporate, and community partnerships, with additional partners and supporters expected to be announced throughout the year.

David Seeley contributed to this report.

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