FLINT, Michigan — Bryan Leach’s vision is for the Flint’s Civic Park neighborhood to be home to a thriving music industry equipped with artists, music attorneys, technical experts that are leaders on the national scene. 

Leach also pledged during the grand opening of V2xV inside Joy Tabernacle Church to return to Flint to help make it happen.

”I hope it does for some kids what music did for me...When I was doing music I felt happy, I felt safe, I felt creative, I felt that was when i could dream about things and remove myself from the reality of what life does and that’s what I hope it does for some of these kids,” said Leach. “Whether they’re going to become musicians or successful, that’s not everything. Sometimes it's just a safe haven where people can just dream and just be creative.” 

Leach is CEO of Polo Grounds and was honored Saturday, June 8, as the namesake for the Bryan Leach Recording Studio inside V2xV, a state of the art studio operated by the Urban Renaissance Center inside Joy Tabernacle. He is credited with discovering major talents such as Lil Jon, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, Yo Gotti, and Pitbull. 

The studio grand opening also included a showcase of Flint’s local talents. A total of 13 local artists performed a variety of talents including rap, spoken word, gospel, and R&B. Pastor Robert McCathern of Joy Tabernacle Church also awarded members of the Dayton Family and native rapper Jon Connor with Voiceless to Voice studio awards for their musical contributions and representations of Flint locally and beyond.

Pharlon Randel, CEO of Bangtown Productions & Recordings and Founder of Studio on the Go Program, gave a mass invitation for resident attendees to sign their children up for the studio summer boot camp set to start June 20th at Joy Tabernacle. The camp will run for eight weeks on Thursdays and Fridays from 4 pm to 6 pm. To sign up or for more information contact Pharlon Randle by phone at 810-964BANG(2264) or by email at [email protected]

The day’s celebrations also included a food giveaway with national volunteers from People’s Church AME of Syracuse, New York, and the Light House Movement LLC based in New York City.

Pastor Robert McCathern closed the showcase performance concert with a prayer and final statements saying, “Thank you Flint for being Flint. The best is yet to come.”