Recording studios and fencing classes - that's what you'll get at church-turned-performance space 1Kind Studios.
Studio manager Adrian Griego and sound engineer Roman Garcia came up with the name long before the studio opened in June at 1016 Coal Ave. S.W.
"It's one kind of people. It's one kind of music. One kind of vibration. More importantly, we're one kind of animal, no matter the color or style," Griego said. "We're all just one kind of manic monkey."
1Kind Studios is a recording studio, a performance venue and a classroom.
"Our goal is to create a space for artists to collaborate, to create and learn from each other," Garcia said.
The studio records mainstream rock, traditional folk, blues, rap and funk, and is open to all kinds of music. Notably, the studio has recorded Saving Damsels, an American Indian group that has been nominated for a Native American Grammy.
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"That is going to be our first full-length album to come out of this studio, so we are really excited about that," Garcia said.
Also, the studio did the sound work for the movie "Black," which was released last week.
For a while, the studio was a drop-off area for food donations.
"We had wanted to be a community food-distribution point," Griego said. "We didn't have the capacity to handle that work load, though. We've discontinued momentarily."
The studio offers a community rehearsal rate. Also, at times, the studio has been able to donate its recording time for charitable causes.
Previously, the studio has hosted a few rock shows and will be hosting its first live theater performance, "Hurricane Season," on Saturday at 7 p.m.
"It's (about) two women from Brooklyn," Griego said. "I hear it's quite the show."
Griego said his and Garcia's adolescent dream of running an art space came true through the help of friends and family.
"It's been an incredible amount of work," Garcia said. "It's more work than I ever imagined it would be."
Despite the hardship, 1Kind Studios is beginning to blossom into a workspace where artists within the community can collaborate.
"I can't say I'm not grateful for any of it," Griego said. "I'm grateful for it all."
In the future, the studio would like to increase the amount of performers, and it's building a greenroom for actors and finishing the theater lighting.
"In the future," Griego said, "I see helping out artists who might not be able to record their music for prosperity. That's really the goal - to get that music out there in the ears of people who need to hear it."
