{"id":377642,"date":"2026-08-21T17:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/377642\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T17:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:10:16","slug":"global-dance-music-gets-a-new-home-in-clearwater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/377642\/","title":{"rendered":"Global dance music gets a new home in Clearwater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new DIY performance venue and community space in Clearwater has opened its doors for young artists and creatives. It\u2019s called Learning.<\/p>\n<p>Founded by partners Vonne Parks of the Tampa Bay-based hip hop group They Hate Change, and DJ\/Producer Zo\u00eb Robinson (stage name Fessi K) in collaboration with fellow musicians AJ Denhoff and Nadya Roman, the music venue is unapologetically do-it-yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow would we define that? Okay, non-corporate,\u201d explained Parks. \u201cSo we\u2019re not Live Nation. We\u2019re not AEG or Access or Golden Voice or any of these other entities that are opening up a venue in a city that they have no attachment to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122274\" class=\"wp-image-122274 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Sector-online-radio-Learning-FM-1024x484.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"350\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-122274\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Sector FM website.<\/p>\n<p>The venue, located at 13757 49th Street N., also hosts shows by DIY musicians like DJNOTURGIRL, Justin Depth, and pali\u2014 these are artists who aren\u2019t carried by major labels, who may have day jobs in addition to their music hustle, or who are booking their own tours rather than being managed by a talent agency.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to removing some of the barriers to entry for artists, Robinson and Parks are also reducing barriers to entry by keeping shows affordable \u2013 all ticket prices are under $10, and all-ages shows are just $5. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/sector.fm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Visit this link<\/a> for show information.<\/p>\n<p>This was an intentional decision made to attract younger audiences, who Parks and Robinson believe are being left out of the music scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want[ed] a place that\u2019s not a bar that is all-ages because that\u2019s a whole demographic that just gets cut out. They can\u2019t go, and these kids know about the shows,\u201d explained Robinson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re coming in droves and they\u2019re all in high school,\u201d added Parks. \u201cBut they know these bands, and they\u2019ve been itching to see them \u2026 We could lose an entire generation of really cool music people to just not being able to come to shows.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In addition to hosting weekly concerts and community events, Learning is also the new home of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/sector.fm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sector.FM<\/a>, the online community radio station broadcasting the \u201cfinest elements of Gulf Coast Sound\u201d\u00a0 live and direct from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The station was established in 2023 by Parks and bandmate Andre Gainey with a roster of 12 resident DJs. \u201cIt was about reintegrating Florida into the conversation of global dance music,\u201d explained Parks.<\/p>\n<p>The music featured on Sector.FM runs the gamut of genres\u2014\u00a0 listeners will hear anything from hip hop to to neosoul to garage rock, as well as lesser-known genres like baile funk, an electronic musical genre that emerged from Brazil\u2019s favelas, and juke, a fast-paced electronic music form that originated in Chicago.\u00a0Similar to the artists featured at Learning, the music is unconventional, certainly not mainstream, and potentially challenging.<\/p>\n<p>Starting in September, Learning will be open to the public during Sector.FM live broadcasts, so community members can drop in and hang out while the DJs play their shows on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is definitely the idea \u2014 for young people to be able to come,\u201d added Parks. \u201cWe have bookshelves, record shelves, things like that. It\u2019s supposed to be a space where you can come and sit\u2014you can see what\u2019s happening in the radio studio. You can also be here and taking in the media that we have there as well, meeting other people in the community, and just kind of getting a hang in, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Listen to Sector online at <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/sector.fm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sector.FM<\/a>. Follow @learning.mp3 for more information about upcoming shows, events and hangs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122275\" class=\"wp-image-122275 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Sector-FM-Learning-radio-2-1024x557.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"403\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-122275\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Debut show for Gulf Coast band pali, featuring Club Miata (Sector Resident DJ group) and Lil Jerry Springer, held at Learning Photo by Rebeka Burden.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                                                <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new DIY performance venue and community space in Clearwater has opened its doors for young artists and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-377642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}