An innovative recording studio program is coming to a local Queens high school.
Creative Hope Studios has partnered with Martin Van Buren High School, located at 230-17 Hillside Ave. in Queens Village, to transform an old classroom into a podcast station and state-of-the-art recording studio.
The program will allow students to explore the realms of music production, graphic design, video editing, and podcasting in their school environment.
TJ Griffin,45, co-founder of Creative Hope Studios, said he is excited to bring the program to the birthplace of hip-hop. “Since day one, we’ve had a goal to get to New York City with our studio programs because it’s the foundation of hip-hop music and culture,” Griffin said.
As a further homage to New York City’s hip-hop influence, Creative Hope Studios partnered with BG183, a founding member of the legendary Bronx graffiti crew TATS Cru, to embellish the space with colorful graffiti artwork. “We already do graffiti in all our spaces, but we knew that when we were going to New York City, we need to have somebody from the city that’s doing a lot of artwork,” he said. TATS Cru will continue to work with Creative Hope Studios as the program expands to other New York City schools.
Griffin and co-founder Jose ‘Flx’ Rios will train the Martin Van Buren High School educators to use the equipment beginning next week. After the training, students will begin creating their own unique creative content. Griffin said it’s up to the schools to implement the program however they see fit. In some schools, the studio is used as an afterschool program; in others, it is used for an elective class or club.
Griffin’s and Rios’ backgrounds in the music industry aid them in training teachers and staff members. “My partner is a professional music producer… I was a recording artist manager for a few years for Fat Joe’s Terror Squad,” he said. “We knew that we could not go into schools or juvenile facilities and turn staff members into producers. “[Flx] designed a program training where, if you can put an attachment in an email, you can run the studio,” he said. Additionally, Rios created multiple video tutorials for students and teachers to reference as they use the equipment to edit audio and videos.
Griffin explained that he and Rios started the program in 2021 to work with juvenile detention centers in turning cells into recording studios and creative spaces for art and career opportunities.
The duo founded the program in Pennsylvania, and their first creative studio launched in Florida. As their program gained traction in other states, they expanded to schools per the request of local school officials. So far, Creative Hope Studios has reached 16 states, with over 57 recording studios running in juvenile facilities and schools. Currently, 95% of the studios are in juvenile correctional facilities.
Much of the motivation for creating the program centered around Griffins’ own experience with the juvenile detention system. “I was a kid in the system, I was in juvenile detention centers, I was in placement programs. I ran from the programs, and the reason why I got caught up within the system and got in trouble in the streets was because I could not stay in school,” he said.
Griffin believes the program is a lifeline for young people going through similar experiences.
“There are a lot of kids like myself that’s within the systems that are failing out of school.. by 6th or 7th grade, we can’t sit still, we can’t pay attention, the school’s just not interesting to us, we’re looking out the window, and then everybody’s telling us that we need to have a higher education to be successful in America,” he said. “But kids like me that can’t get out of 6th or 7th grade saying, well, I can’t even finish this, how am I supposed to go to college?” he said.
Griffin said many kids with trouble focusing in the classroom are often creative outside of it. “Those kids are fantastic at creating and drawing and making music and designing. When you can have an outlet for the kids that the typical classroom is not where they can grow, they excel in a space like this,” he said.
Additionally, the program creates a strong incentive for troubled students to stay in school.
“This is really designed for all students, but more importantly, our harder-to-reach students, our kids that are… not buying into the, you know, to the traditional classroom. This captures them, and this is an opportunity for us to build hope in them and find out what they’re into,” he said.
Griffin said he is grateful for the support he’s received from artists within the music industry, including rappers Ice T and Jelly Roll. He hopes to implement the program in even more schools across the country to provide youngsters with an opportunity to express themselves creatively.
“Our mission, in the beginning, was to be in juvenile facilities all over the country, to give kids the opportunity to explore this art form and culture. Now our goal is to get into every inner city school that is trusted to provide education, safety, security, and care for inner city youth, and to have an opportunity for Creative Hope Studios for the kids to participate,” he said.
