PITTSFIELD, Mass. — BeatNest, an electronic music program, celebrated its grand opening at 163 North St. on Saturday.

 

This new space is about 10 times bigger than its former space, owner Geoffrey Carter said, and being on North Street provides more visibility.

 

"The street visibility has been great because people just walk by and they can see my sign," he said. "I've always been looking for an upgrade to teach bigger groups of classes where I can do group events and expand my offerings."

 

Carter says the number of classes and the number of students have grown, prompting the need to expand his space. 

 

"We've just finished doing a group class of like 10 kids at once and it's great because it's more affordable for them and I get to teach more kids at once and it's good, and I have also gotten more private students," he said.

 

Carter says he loves to teach kids and show them how to work with electronic music, including beatmaking, how to DJ, and music production. 

 

"I've been a musician my whole life and I love to work with kids and I like inspiring the youth to create music," he said. "I think it's important to do so with technology where it's become easier and easier for kids to just sit down and start making music that they are happy with and enjoy making from the first lesson they can make something great."

 

The new space was formerly rented by TheCollab, a collaborative recording studio of which BeatNest was a member and had been holding events and camps. The collaborative offered Carter the space to take over, even leaving a lot of the stuff behind for him to use. 

 

Carter works with other programs, such as Berkshire Music School, and recently added Families Like Ours, a nonprofit supporting children with special needs, to have group classes.

 

"I would love to continue to work with other organizations in the Berkshires and expand my offerings for larger ranges of kids and increase my teen classes and adult classes," he said, adding he is starting adult events.

 

Eleanor Kidder, who has been taking weekly lessons with Carter for more than a year, said she is excited to see him move to the new location. Her mother, Kimberly Kidder, met Carter when they both took the Entrepreneurship for All small-business accelerator.

 

"To go from being a fellow co-hort member to seeing how he has grown from his little space down at the Greylock building to moving into the space so much bigger and just how much he's accomplished in the last two years that I've known him is really cool as well," Kimberly Kidder said.

 

Eleanor said her music talent has grown and that she loves the creativity aspect she gets to play with during her time.

 

"I feel like I have gone from a beginner to a pro. I'm always like 'no!' when it ends," she said.

 

The new space has a main room for performances and events, a private room for private sessions, a vocal booth, and a classroom for group classes. 

 

You can find out more on the website.