Is this thing on? Definitely so, as Teen Empowerment takes to the Arts at the Armory's café stage with its weekly open mic series.

By Max Sullivan

Arts at the Armory is encouraging youths in Somerville and beyond to connect with their creative side as their brand new monthly open mic night at Arts at the Armory’s café continues next Tuesday night.

In collaboration with Books of Hope, Groundwork Somerville and Teen Empowerment, the armory is providing Somerville teens with their own open mic, one that is run by and for local kids. The open mic takes place on the first Tuesday of every month. Marlon Ramdehal, 32, Director of Teen Empowerment’s Somerville program, couldn’t have been happier with the way it worked out at last month’s opener on March 6.

“It was a great vibe,” said Ramdehal, “Knowing that, here, you have a room full of young people, all sorts of ages, all sorts of risk levels – low risk, high risk – that for an evening can sit down and have a really cool, positive environment and have a good time, and not have to worry about any problems or issues they might be facing in their own lives.”

According to Ramdehal, approximately 35 to 40 kids and adults attended, filling the small Armory café. Kids from all backgrounds – black, white, Haitian, Puerto Rican, Brazilian and beyond – and from all over Somerville made it to the event. It was a true cultural blend, he said.

“We (at Teen Empowerment) get the real full mixture of the melting pot that Somerville has to offer,” said Ramdehal, “It’s not just hip hop. It’s not just a particular type of spoken word. It’s not just poetry. It’s really just a fusion, and – particularly our youth – they love to experiment. They love to feed off of each other’s talents. So, we’ve got some people that are rapping to acoustic guitar being played kind of rock and roll style, and they dig that, they dig that a lot.”

Teen Empowerment works in the community to give teens a place to go for positive influence. With music and poetry being such a common passion for teenagers, the new open mic serves as a strong connector for young people.

“It just gives me an opportunity to put my voice out there,” said Iesha Guerrier, 15, who was at the series opener last month. “The voice is the most powerful thing, and Teen Empowerment helps with that.”

“One thing that really gets young people excited is knowing that they have a place like that to call their own,” said Ramdehal, “As more youth in the city are kind of getting older, they’re finding that they don’t have as many things available to them, and so this is a great opportunity for folks…to really come together and continue to pull youth as far west and as far east as possible.”

Teens do more than perform. With supervisors from Teen Empowerment, Books of Hope and Groundwork Somerville present, the kids run the whole event, from promotion to hosting on stage. Guerrier spread the word by passing out flyers at Somerville High School, where she is a freshman.

Guerrier, who shared a poem she wrote entitled Skin about the importance seeing beyond one’s skin color, said Teen Empowerment is doing a great thing for kids in the community with this open mic.

“It’s good for someone who might feel hopeless, or if someone has a great talent and doesn’t have a way to get it out,” said Guerrier. “I just think that [organizations like] Teen Empowerment and Books of Hope should be available [everywhere].”

The teen open mic will be back in session next week at Arts at the Armory’s café, Tuesday, April 3, 6-8 p.m. Remdehal said it is encouraged that all those looking to participate arrive as close to 6 p.m. as possible.