Introducing "Club Freestyle"

Club Freestyle will be designed to meet teens where they are, providing them with positive alternatives to street life. It will work to divert teens from negative activities while providing them with positive/creative activities that they can enjoy and learn from. Club Freestyle will focus on engaging teens by using popular contemporary art forms by exposing teens to technology and training in dance, music, and video.

Club Freestyle will launch a teen center to give young people somewhere safe and fun to go Monday-Saturday from 3pm-10pm on week nights, and until midnight on weekends.

Club Freestyle will be a dance club with extra teen activities. We will have a full snack bar and outstanding video, lighting, and sound system. Dances will be DJed by some of the best DJs around. We will also offer special events. Concerts, back to school bash, talent shows, car shows, valentines dance, teen splash nights, Thanksgiving dinner & dance, Winter Holiday ball, campus invasion, homework mania, and fashion shows. Such events will attract area youth.

The goal of the center is to give young people aged 13-19 a safe place to be and positive adults to be with during a time of the week when the potential to either be the perpetrator or the victim of negative behavior is at a premium. The purpose of the center will be to create a positive environment and to run programs to which teens are naturally drawn. To make the center as attractive as possible, we will offer activities such as a peer group, mentors, tutoring as well as special workshops that may change from week to week. These workshops will include activities such as rap contest, dance/stomp classes, drill team classes, cosmetology demonstrations, karate, DJ lessons, and dance competitions. Club Freestyle will run five main programs: DJ training, music production, video production, open mic/poetry, and dance.

Club Freestyle will offer a DJ training class to local teens. Not only is turn tabling a growing hobby among young people, but a burgeoning industry as well. DJs can earn hundreds of dollars for their work. The youth will also create their own music to showcase at the club.

Music production classes teach youth how to harness their creative instincts and utilize modern technology to create a product that can reach and appeal to large audiences. Through an ongoing learning process, teens will learn computer skills and knowledge of the music industry, and technical production. This allows teens to produce their own music while learning valuable knowledge and technical skills.

Video production classes teach youth how to create their own short films and tv shows using high tech video and audio equipment as well as access to a local television station. Teens with no experience can become experts in an art and technical trade, while having the opportunity to make their voices heard in the community that they live in.

The Open mic/peotry workshop will be a special part of the club where teens can share the issues that affect their lives with peers by using artistic expression. The intimacy of this program allows teens to shine with their talent and learn from their peers who work together to make words come alive.

Center attendees will also have access to the clubs technology lab where they will be able to safely surf the net, and utilize the computer in a supervised, supportive environment.

Club Freestyle will have a youth advisory board in order to give teens a chance to take on leadership roles to help decide what events and activities to provide at the center. Teens will have an active role in providing positive alternatives for themselves and their peers. The board will be involved with other teen organizations.