Rhino's program teaches students practical skills

The local music club Rhino's features musical talent on the weekends, but during the week, the club serves as a creative outlet and a fun, safe place for Bloomington teenagers to hang out.\nBrad Wilhelm, manager and program director, said Rhino's runs a free youth mural arts and video and radio production program for teens 13-18. \nThe program "offers youth a voice and an artistic outlet," Wilhelm said. It is focused on "negative behavior prevention," he said, noting that the program deters kids from violence and alcohol and tobacco use. \n"We provide an alternative form of expression," he said, noting that the program gives kids that do not participate in normal youth clubs, such as sports teams, bands or religious organizations, an opportunity to belong to a group.\nThe teens produce a weekly radio program that airs from 4 -7 p.m. Saturdays on WFHB, 91.3 AM and 98.1 FM. There are about 30 active participants and 60 total students registered for the radio program, Wilhelm said.\nTeenagers in the video program learn the basics of television production. Small groups of kids each produce their own segment of a television show that airs Friday nights on Community Access channel 13, also known as CATS. A new show will debut 10 p.m. Jan. 25, television program director David Walter said. \n"A lot of them have come a long way really quickly," Walter said. "It's pretty fun."\nThe teenagers have produced skate videos, comedy sketches and man-on-the-street interviews. The group is also developing a video yearbook project for some Bloomington schools. \nThere are about 16 students in the video program, Wilhelm said.\nWalter said video production is a marketable skill that the teenagers can use in the future. \n"They are learning a skill that will be with them from here on out," he said.\nRhino's also started a mural arts program Jan. 2, Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department youth services coordinator Anna Gilmore said. The program currently has five students.\nThe Department provides staffing and registration for the program. Equipment for the program was provided through a grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.\nTeens in the program can participate as much or as little as they want to, Wilhelm said. \n"They get out of it what they want," he said.\nGilmore said it is hard to get teenagers to commit to such programs, but this one has been successful.\n "They feel comfortable going there. It's a safe place to hang out and they have adults to talk to," she said.