As I walk past the cheery mural that greets visitors to the St. Alban’s Boys & Girls Club, I feel like I’ve gone back to school. Inside the squat building on tree-lined Palmerston Avenue, just south of Dupont, there’s a familiar kindergarten-ish smell. Big-eyed kids scurry past me, clutching their moms’ hands as they chatter. But head upstairs and you’ll discover a different old-school aura. Off a room cluttered with couches, two dudes are cached away in a booth, fiddling with equipment. Suddenly, a loping beat surges out of the speakers, followed by the sweet sound of a soaring female vocal.

“That’s Jen!” exclaims arts coordinator Serena Nudel, beaming. “She has the most beautiful voice. I can’t wait for you to talk to her.”

Jen Alvarado claims she’s been singing since she could talk. A student at Ryerson, where she’s studying child and youth care, the 19-year-old counsellor at St. Alban’s is preparing to release an album this summer. She’s just one of the members of the centre’s youth community who’s been drawn to their latest initiative: a free sound studio, staffed by experienced engineers and producers (the day I visit, emerging T.O. R&B singer-producer Obie — a.k.a. Mohanza Kelly — is on hand; femcee Masia One runs Wednesday night workshops specifically aimed at young girls), open every night of the week. The studio, funded through an arts grant from the Trillium Foundation, has been running for several months, and though it’s still a fairly bare-bones set-up, it’s nevertheless a project you can imagine making real-life 8 Mile dreams come true.

“Music is engaging and creative and it helps the youth,” explains Nudel, who’s served as the centre’s arts coordinator since February, and has a background in expressive arts. “They’re able to work together because of it. It instills a real sense of pride and gives them faith that what they have on their minds is worth expressing.”

Nudel, who’s played a major role in the development of the St. Alban’s studio, says kids from all over the city come to take advantage of the facilities at the centre: “It attracts people from so many different backgrounds, which really adds to the community.”

Though she readily admits she had no experience running a studio, the energetic arts coordinator teamed up with local drum ‘n’ bass DJ Dave “Nemesis” Whalen, who helped choose equipment and brought other industry cats into the fold. Nudel also notes that she was partly inspired by the model of The Remix Project (www.theremixproject.blogspot.com), a partially government-funded youth program that provides mentorship, training and resources to applicants who hope to work in the “urban arts sector,” from clothing design to music production.

Obie is a Remix graduate; his experience on the other side of mentorship programs made him a perfect fit for St. Alban’s.

“It’s a natural thing. Growing up, I really needed someone who would encourage me, especially someone who had a knowledge of music and stuff, and so mentoring youth is a personal goal of mine. It’s something I look forward to doing in the future, too.” Obie may be a recording artist, but he insists that “music is just a tool to get youth to the same place I’m at, it’s showing them that they can do anything they can put their minds to.”

Alexx Thomas, a co-op student from Central Tech who, at 18, has been coming to St. Alban’s for a decade, echoes Obie’s sentiments.

“Hip-hop culture has always been a part of me,” he says. “I used to make beats with my friends, but they were really amateurish. Working with the people at St. Alban’s… it’s given me guidance. I started looking up courses, teaching myself stuff. I’m going to Seneca-York next year for music production… hopefully I end up being near the top of my class.”

As Nudel suggests, the aim of a program like this — which uses the cool cachet of hip-hop culture to encourage positive self-expression — is to prevent youth from turning to more dicey distractions. I ask Taylor whether he thinks St. Alban’s has helped him avoid going off the rails.

“It is kinda true... It’s given me the inspiration not to go out and get into trouble. I know I have the access to do what I need to do. If it wasn’t there, I might just be hanging out with the other kids in my neighbourhood and smoking weed and doing bad stuff,” he laughs.

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