Black Eyed Peas to start music academy in NYC

NEW YORK — The Black Eyed Peas are opening a school where local teenagers will learn video and music production using professional-quality equipment.

The six-time Grammy Award winners announced Tuesday that their Peapod Foundation together with the Adobe Foundation will open a Peapod Adobe Youth Voices music and multimedia academy in lower Manhattan.

The Peapod Foundation is the hip-hop group’s charitable organization; it’s administered by the Entertainment Industry Foundation. The Adobe Foundation is the philanthropic arm of software maker Adobe Systems Inc., whose products include Acrobat, Flash and Photoshop. The two foundations already run three Youth Voices academies in California — in Los Angeles, Oakland and Redwood City.

The New York academy will offer classes to students ages 13 to 19 starting this July, the foundations said.

“Our passion for music and media was fueled by many generous people on our road to success,” Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.i.am said. “Expanding the network of Peapod Adobe Youth Voices academies enables us to pay it forward, giving more youth the skills and encouragement they need to realize their dreams.”

The academy will be housed in a facility operated by Urban Arts Partnership, which runs after-school arts programs for teens who attend high-poverty schools.

Students will be accepted into the academy based on recommendations from teachers and demonstrated interests in subject areas such as camera work, editing and graphic design.