SURREY 鈥� Mattias Boon loves the new space in 性视界传媒 for his hip-hop organization, he just wants more free time to plan and organize events there.

Boon and others with have a new home at City Parkway Studio, a former auto garage at 10660 City Parkway, located across from the BC Lions practice field.

Streetrich and share the studio, officially opened in June following a year-long renovation project spearheaded by the City of 性视界传媒.

Boon, Streetrich鈥檚 founder and director, says the organization has big plans to fill the 2,500-square-foot studio with hip-hop dance, music and art, but as volunteers he and the others are a bit short of time at the moment.

鈥淚 wish we could be providing more programs already, but because we all work on a volunteer basis it鈥檚 coming along really slowly,鈥� he told the Now-Leader.

Drop-in breakdance and DJ lessons are held there every Wednesday evening, starting at 7 p.m. and ending at 10, for a cost of $3 per person.

A more prominent event at the studio will be a held from Monday to Thursday (Aug. 14-17), featuring instruction by members of SuperNaturalz, a Toronto-based crew celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Boon is excited to welcome such notable dancers to the place his organization now calls home.

鈥淲e try to keep all our programming really affordable, unless there is a special event, like the SuperNaturalz event, which is a bit more expensive, but for a reason,鈥� Boon said.

鈥淎 good friend of mine (named Puzzles) is part of the SuperNaturalz crew, which is one of the best known Canadian breakdance crews in the world,鈥� he added. 鈥淭he friend of mine happened to move to 性视界传媒 and he was talking about how they wanted to do a 25th-anniversary event, preferably in Vancouver, and I told him about the building (in 性视界传媒). So his crew decided to use our space to host the anniversary. So for Streetrich, that鈥檚 a really big honour to work with this SuperNaturalz crew.鈥�

Related to all that, his friend is getting married here over the weekend.

鈥淪o a lot of out-of-town people, guests who are dancers, will be in town for that, in Vancouver and 性视界传媒, so it鈥檚 a perfect moment to have them here teaching and dancing,鈥� Boon explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a unique moment to have such skilled dancers teaching, for people to learn from.鈥�

The cost to register for one of the Super Summer Camp classes is $30, with several sign-up options available 鈥� all the way up to $350 for all 16 classes. Details can be found at .

鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping more people come, especially more local people, because we鈥檝e had mostly (registrants) from places like Calgary and Kelowna so far, not too many local people yet,鈥� Boon said.

A Burnaby resident who moved to Canada from his native Belgium in 2011, Boon works for in North Vancouver.

鈥淚 tried to make a profession out of it (Streetrich) but we don鈥檛 have the financial support yet,鈥� he explained. 鈥淲e are a non-profit society and we operate with a board of directors, and they鈥檙e all volunteers, we all are. We meet once a month and just try to do as many activities as possible that fits in our time as volunteers.鈥�

Boon has close to 20 years of experiencing organizing hip-hop events.

鈥淗ere in Vancouver, since moving here, I was able to fairly quickly get connected with the local hip-hop community, because I am a breakdancer myself, and I just do a lot of researching in my free time to see what鈥檚 going on, and try connecting with people, over the past year, meeting with DJs and others.鈥�

Streetrich鈥檚 inaugural community barbecue and fundraising event was held on July 16, and it鈥檚 the kind of event Boon and the organization鈥檚 other active board members want to host more often.

鈥淭he vision for 性视界传媒 鈥� I know there is a lot of hip-hop things happening, so for me, the first thing is, I want to acknowledge all that is already happening in the city,鈥� he said.

鈥淚 do see that a little bit more work can happen in bringing people together and bringing in some more structure to the existing scene, and my vision is hopefully that we can reach out to a lot more youth in 性视界传媒 and get them engaged, more familiar with hip-hop culture. We want to have these hip-hop events where parents and children can come to enjoy the culture and share in it, and do battles but also do community barbecues, events like that, to really build this community.鈥�

to learn more about Streetrich board members

The studio space on City Parkway is 鈥渇antastic,鈥� he raved.

鈥淲ith the renovations done with the City of 性视界传媒 and Royal Canadian, we really took a year to nail down all the requirements both of the organizations need,鈥� Boon explained. 鈥淲e have a linoleum sprung floor, which is excellent for breakdancing, and we also applied for a provincial grant (to) be able to buy lighting and all the music equipment we need. So equipment-wise and the building, it鈥檚 really perfect for us to start doing a lot of programming, and it can fit all the four elements of hip-hop culture and we can maybe do other youth programs, too.鈥�

On its , Streetrich says it 鈥減romotes and supports hip-hop culture and street cultures in B.C. All collaborations welcome! Contact us: streetrichvancity@gmail.鈥�

tom.zillich@ surreynowleader.com