STUDIO SHAKA
Student Powered. Hilo Made.
CREATE • BROADCAST • BUILD • PRODUCE
Studio Shaka is where students turn ideas into something real.
A radio show.
A song.
A podcast.
A business.
A product.
A brand.
A story worth telling.
Located in Downtown Hilo, Studio Shaka is a student-driven creative learning environment where young people explore their interests through real-world projects in broadcasting, entrepreneurship, music, media, technology and production.
Students don't just learn about the real world here.
They create in it.
KNOW IT. OWN IT. LIVE IT.
Studio Shaka connects education with three real-world student experiences.
CONNECTIONS RADIO
Find Your Voice.
Students aren't practicing radio.
They're running a radio station.
Connections Radio gives students hands-on experience in broadcasting, podcasting, interviewing, music programming, audio production and community storytelling.
Students learn how to:
Host radio programs
Produce podcasts
Interview community members
Create station imaging and promotions
Program music
Produce public service announcements
Operate broadcast equipment
Tell the stories of Hilo and Hawaiʻi
Work together as a professional media team
Every microphone becomes an opportunity to develop confidence, communication skills and a stronger connection to community.
Student voices. Local stories. Real radio.
→ LISTEN TO CONNECTIONS RADIO
SHAKA SHACK
Turn an Idea Into a Business.
What happens when students stop studying entrepreneurship and actually become entrepreneurs?
Welcome to Shaka Shack.
Shaka Shack is Studio Shaka's student entrepreneurship laboratory where students develop products, brands and businesses from idea to customer.
Students experience the entire process:
IDEA → DESIGN → MAKE → BRAND → MARKET → SELL → LEARN → REPEAT
Students can explore:
Product development
Graphic design
Laser cutting
Digital fabrication
Jewelry and crafts
Branding
Photography
E-commerce
Marketing
Social media
Customer service
Pricing and budgeting
Sales
Community pop-ups
Most importantly, students learn that entrepreneurship begins with something bigger than making money.
It begins with seeing a problem, recognizing an opportunity and having the confidence to create a solution.
CREATE • EDUCATE • ALOHA
→ VISIT SHAKA SHACK
MUSIC + RECORDING ARTS
From Listener to Creator.
Behind every song is an entire world of creativity, technology, collaboration and business.
Studio Shaka gives students the opportunity to enter that world.
Students work together in professional-style recording environments to explore:
Recording
Audio engineering
Music production
Songwriting
Beat production
Mixing
Podcast production
Live sound
Artist development
Music business
Media production
Studio operations
The studio becomes more than a room filled with equipment.
It becomes a classroom.
Students learn by producing authentic work, solving problems, collaborating with others, meeting deadlines and sharing what they create with the world.
KRESS 1932
A Historic Building. A New Generation of Creators.
Inside Hilo's historic Kress building, a new story is being recorded.
Kress 1932 is Studio Shaka's recording and production space — a place where students, educators, musicians and community partners can meet, collaborate and create.
Here, history and possibility occupy the same room.
Yesterday's Downtown Hilo becomes the launching point for tomorrow's producers, engineers, broadcasters, artists and entrepreneurs.
Hilo has always had stories.
Now our students have the tools to tell them.
LEARNING THROUGH PRODUCTION
What if the project wasn't the end of learning?
What if the project WAS the learning?
Studio Shaka believes young people learn differently when their work matters beyond the classroom.
A student writing a radio script is learning communication.
A student engineering a recording is learning technology, mathematics and problem-solving.
A student launching a product is learning economics, design and entrepreneurship.
A student interviewing a kupuna is learning history.
A student producing a podcast is learning research, storytelling and collaboration.
And when students publish, broadcast, perform or sell something they created, learning becomes real.
MAKE SOMETHING THAT MATTERS.
LEARNING BEYOND HILO
Local Roots. National Connections.
Studio Shaka is building upon years of collaboration and learning with organizations that have demonstrated the power of recording arts and production-centered education.
High Tech Youth Network in New Zealand set the standard for excellence and global collaborations with Microsoft, Adobe and many other tech companies.
Hawai’i After School Alliance has been a partner for over a decade. We continue to explore
Our work connects with 4 Learning and the High School for Recording Arts (HSRA) in Minnesota.
HSRA has pioneered an educational approach that uses students' interests in recording arts, media and creative industries as pathways toward academic achievement and graduation.
4 Learning is helping educators take those ideas even further — exploring how recording studios can become interdisciplinary classrooms where students create authentic projects while developing academic, technical and professional skills.
Studio Shaka brings those ideas home to Hawaiʻi.
We are exploring what studio-driven education can look like when it grows from the culture, community, creativity and aloha of Hilo.
→ EXPLORE 4 LEARNING
→ DISCOVER HSRA
ONE STUDENT. MANY PATHWAYS.
A student might walk into Studio Shaka because they love music.
Then discover audio engineering.
Another might come because they want to make jewelry.
Then discover entrepreneurship.
Someone else might want to be on the radio.
And discover they are a storyteller.
That is the power of Studio Shaka.
We don't expect every student to become a musician, broadcaster or entrepreneur.
We want every student to discover something they didn't know they could become.
THE STUDIO SHAKA WAY
CURIOSITY
Explore something you've always wanted to try.
CREATIVITY
Turn imagination into something people can see, hear or experience.
KULEANA
Take responsibility for your work, your team and your community.
COLLABORATION
Great things rarely happen alone.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Recognize opportunities and turn ideas into action.
ALOHA
Create in ways that strengthen people, place and community.
FROM CONSUMERS TO CREATORS.
Young people live in a world filled with music, videos, podcasts, brands, products and technology.
Studio Shaka asks a different question:
What if students didn't just consume that world?
What if they learned how to create it?
That is the next era of Studio Shaka.
Students behind the microphones.
Students behind the mixing console.
Students behind the camera.
Students designing the products.
Students building the brands.
Students telling the stories.
Students creating what comes next.