Good news for the youth in Goodyear who have a flair for the artistic and the creative—the valley is about to rock a little bit harder. A new installment of Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers, known for offering free art-related activities and classes, is set to land in Goodyear. The upcoming center, which marks the third of its kind, follows successful siblings in Phoenix and Mesa, and is a partnership between the non-profit organization and the city of Goodyear.
While the Valley has been humming with tunes and brushstrokes thanks to Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers, the new Goodyear location expects to start renovations around the early months of next year, as West Valley View reports. The center is anticipated to include a dance studio, a live stage, recording facilities, and spaces for young people to not only develop their artistic talents but also to easily perform at local events.
The centers offer an inclusive range to youngsters aged 12 to 20, providing access to classes in music, dance, photography, and more—all free of charge. Randy Spencer, involved in partnerships and development for the Centers, detailed their ambition to maintain a consistent vibe across locations, ensuring that the Goodyear center will "have the same flair, the same feel, the same look, the same culture," with perhaps a custom mural or two thrown into the mix for good measure.
Recognizing the importance of real-world engagement, the Goodyear Teen Center aims to connect young creatives to their community. Guylene Ozlanski, arts and culture administrator for the city of Goodyear, emphasized the value of such a hub, stating, "We are really looking forward to enhancing those opportunities, getting those teens out into public spaces where they can share what they know and entertain people," according to West Valley View. The emphasis is on providing a springboard for artistic youths to fully explore their potential and possibly transform their hobbies into career pathways.
The expansion of Cooper's philanthropic outreach through these teen centers not only promises to nurture individual talent but also to foster a sense of community among the youth. The Phoenix and Mesa centers collectively serve over a thousand teens annually, a number likely to swell with the addition of the Goodyear location. They even offer instrument loans and professional instruction in a variety of artistic disciplines, as ABC15 highlighted in their coverage of the existing centers' offerings.
