Opening the Recording Studio & Introducing Project Creativity

 

Opening the Recording Studio & Introducing Project Creativity

 

It has been about a month and a half, since our announcement concerning opening our DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) Home Type Recording Studio to the public. Believe me when I say we are working diligently towards this goal.  And in the process we found some new light to help us do this. We are in the process of obtaining a fiscal sponsorship with an artistic non profit organization out of New York City. But nothing is written in stone as of yet.  But we feel confident things will work out and for this reason we are sharing this with you.

 

With a fiscal sponsor we will be able to solicit tax deductible donations and contributions from individuals, corporations, foundations and even the government to some degree, until we get our own 501 c 3.  We know we need the support of our community as well as philanthropists from other cities to fund the program we are introducing.  And we know we must also earn revenue as well, if we are to succeed.  For this reason and because we are a non profit organization, when we do charge people for some of our services it will be below the market price.

 

I am writing this article to open a discussion forum with the public about what will be required to carryout Project Creativity, the problem being addressed, our solution and the benefits we offer to our community. Please feel free to leave us a comment or some suggestions after reading this article.  We want to know how you feel about this program.

 

Project Creativity

 

Name and Contact Information of our Organization:

 

The National Community Network and Coalition of Highlands, INC

923 South A Avenue

Avon Park, FL 33825

(863) 657-2407

E-Mail: NCNCHINC@Comcast.net

Website: WWW.NCNCHINC.Org

 

The NCNCHINC Agenda beginning on October 20th - Fiscal Year 2013-14:

 

Services:

 

1: Sound Recordings Studio

 

2: Creative Writing Studio (Fictional and Non Fictional)

 

3: DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) Recording and Instruction Workshops

 

4: Shows (Live Performances)

 

5: Sound and Video Presentations

 

6: Non profit newspaper and magazine

 

7: Job Search and Job Placement

 

Helping the Disadvantage Young Adults

 

We think the main problem in the United States today is the jobless rate that is causing us to create a generation of hopelessness among our youth and this is amplified in the black community.  When America in general faces a recession the black communities in America already experienced a depression.  Our young blacks, sees Hollywood as an outlet that creates dreams about success, but Hollywood is often an illusion and is not reachable by most of them due to the lack of education and this degrades their moral fiber.  Because they want something that they cannot have.  Too often due to joblessness, they stay home all day and play violent video games, listen to rap music often filled with filthy language and watch fantasy television shows, only to end up turning to the  streets with nothing to do ("an idle mind is the workshop of Satan"), to poison their neighbors and themselves with drugs.  And too often this ends in violence, the loss of young lives and the incarceration of too many.  And we want to curb this!

 

They need to see a way out, today many of them would not and could accept an invitation to a better way of life, because it requires education, something many of them fear to take on the endeavor or simply do not understand the incentive in a tangible way.  Many of these young adults are even afraid to take on the simple task of obtaining a GED, to many of them this is not simple at all, but is a very complex measure.  Many of them are simply afraid to fail!  We have a problem called hopelessness in America today. 

 

The NCNCHINC has an answer that can be of help and it is Project Creativity.  A project to assist young adults at a disadvantage by channeling their artistic abilities in a productive manner, which will give them the incentive to learn needed skills like grammar and computer operations, in order to be competitive in their artistry and in life.  Thereby applying academics to their dreams of being a star and even if they fall short of stardom, they will gain something valuable from this program. 

 

The NCNCHINC Project Creativity is  non commercial artistic program for people 18 years old and above, operated by the National Community Network and Coalition of Highlands, INC., which is an established non profit organization in the State of Florida since 2009, located in the city of Avon Park in the county of Highlands. Though we are still pending our 501 c 3 statuses, we decided to team up with a fiscal sponsor called Fractured Atlas out of New York City who specializes in Artistic programs, to acquire charitable contributions from donors who require these statuses to give freely, in order to move this project along in a timely manner.

 

We own our headquarters location which is two stories tall, without any mortgages and we would like to utilize it in the development of artistic creations by our future clients and by doing so, give people in the community something to do that is constructive, dream realizing and hopefully reduce crime and prevent recidivism in the process, by giving young adults an opportunity and hope by channeling their artistic energy in a productive manner.  Though our focus is on young adults ages 18 to 35, we are open to all who people who desire to channel their creative energies in productive manner.

 

The group we are targeting are 18 to 35 years old and we have an emphasis on assisting  young adults who are chronically unemployed.  We want to give these young adults other options other than joining into a life of crime, by giving them hope and a vision for their future.  As we also attempt to help them develop an interest in the many ways to become a part on the entertainment sector and a part of mainstream society or simply develop productive hobbies they can enjoy while learning to express themselves to others.

 

We want to assist them in becoming gainfully employed.  By helping them in their search for employment, while helping them develop important skills that are imperative to the workforce.  While we conduct creative arts workshops, we want to also help them by offering them ways to apply these skills in a competitive and profitable manner, which will allow them to become self-sufficient.

 

We understand that we will be dealing with many clients accustomed to street knowledge and the ways of the streets, which means they will want to know how these things apply to real life scenarios.  They will want to see how their participation in our program, will help them be able to survive in their daily lives.  So we want to develop our program, like an assembly line or production process, whereby one thing leads to another, which brings them closer to obtaining independence.  Therefore, we feel it is imperative that our program not only develop skills for our clients, but offers them an opportunity to display and put into practice the learning processes and acquired knowledge.

 

So by design, we have workstations that develop skills and talents and creates tangible and intangible assets by our clients.  We teach them about DAW recording studio technology, so that they can record their ideas.  We do this not to put their dreams on the shelf, but so that they can also do live performance to share their works. With the hope that they might be discovered by someone who can take their hopes and dreams to another level. And not only for this reason do we  promote live shows, but it is also an avenue to creating community togetherness and recreational activities for all who participate in and enjoy.  Good recreation is good for community!

 

So by design, we have workstations that develop skills and talents and creates tangible and intangible assets by our clients.  We want to teach them how to write in our creative writing workshop, so that they can write about the things that means something to them. Not just to put their ideas on the shelf, but we want to put out a non profit newspaper as an outlet for them to share how they feel to the community and abroad.  Because we feel our young adults today are among the most misunderstood.  We want to produce articles that can be put into magazine format as well, so that they can share their ideas to the general public and learn how to profit from these skills. 

 

And ultimately, we would love to produce movies and documentaries that will allow them to express themselves in motion picture.  What I am describing here is a production process, whereby one developed skill transcends into another opportunity.  Because what is lacking in our community is opportunity.  And all we are asking is to receive community support to give these disadvantaged young adults a chance at life.

 

Though Project Creativity is open to serve the entire  adult population in Highlands County, our targeted audience is the disadvantaged young adults between the ages of 18 to 35.  When we say disadvantaged young adults, we are describing the young adult population who are chronically unemployed often due to several factors such as the lack of education, criminal records, the lack of networks and connections, residing in redlining districts, hopelessness as well as other personal issues, to include their psyche (mindset) in some cases.

 

What Project Creativity offers to them is hope, by allowing them an opportunity to express themselves through artistry and it also supply's them with communications, such as multimedia.   The idea behind Project Creativity is not only to allow them to communicate to the world they often feel and are truly misunderstood by, but to give them tools to accomplish this.  Though it is an artistic program, it is also educational, because it is our goal to give them instruction on how to properly get their points across to the world outside of the "Blue Building," in a constructive manner, which will hopefully develop into an understanding between them and the people they are attempting to reach.  By developing their computer skills, writing skills and the management skills, this can be accomplished.

 

It is our goal to make this misunderstood population, understood and accepted by those whose doors are shut or closed to them.  We want to be a pathway and a conduit to close  the chasms that prevents these disadvantage young adults from gaining opportunities in furthering their education, employment and even intercommunity social engagements with the rest of the world.  We want to help them become a part of mainstream America and put an end to the repressive behaviorisms that does not allow them to move beyond their neighborhood's invisible gates.  We believe a lot of the problems they face are self induced and a lot of the problems they face are due to not knowing any other way, but also a lot of their problems they face is also due to discrimination be it racial, cultural and otherwise and is often due to a misunderstanding in many cases.

 

We believe our program can reduce crime and prevent recidivism, because we plan to attract the leaders of tomorrow in our community. We understand the posse (gang) mentality of our youth today.  We know that there a very few leaders and a host of followers.  And one of the main problems in poor communities in our country and in Highlands County, where you find a high rate of disenfranchised individuals, is that often the hand full of leaders that attract posses (gangs) do not know any other way, but to join into a life of crime to survive and often have bad habits to support. Project Creativity is billed as a program to show them another way.

 

Once Project Creativity is fully functional, we will act as a product production chain or assembly line of sorts.  By accepting young disadvantage adults into our program, with just an idea of how to express themselves artistically, we will be able to help them develop a plan using our workshops.  And the goal is for these plans to develop into complete sound recording productions, video productions, news articles in our non profit newspaper & magazines as well as live performance, so that their abilities are shared and a sense of achievement is felt by them.  Because achievements are so important in building up someone's self esteem.  And self worth is the beginning of self sustaining independence.  We want to restore hope in our community, which is something many of our potential clients never knew in these tough economic times.

 

If you think this project is worth your while and support, please continue to watch our website and the NCNCHINC wordpress.com blogs for continued updates on our progress and agenda. We will in the future need your support in money contributions, volunteer work and your advise, because we know we do not have all the answers.  So we humble ourselves to the Community of Highlands County.  And we know without the support of the community, this will not work, because we are introducing a community effort, which requires a coalition to come together for this common cause.  Because we must not leave anyone behind if we as a community is to grow.

 

Frank Paul Jones

President of the NCNCHINC