Local musician Jim Hamilton opens Rittenhouse Soundworks, new arts complex in Germantown

Local musician Jim Hamilton toured extensively for 15 years as a percussionist for acts such as Boyz II Men, Gerald Alston, and Ursula Rutker. He has also performed at various award shows including the Grammys, as well as television performances on David Letterman and Jay Leno. Having travelled and seen the entire world, Jim still keeps his roots firmly planted in his hometown of Philadelphia. He and his wife recently opened a multi-media arts and recording complex in Germantown called Rittenhouse Soundworks.

According to a report in the current Chestnut Hill Local, the arts complex includes a photo studio, a commercial video production set-up, a sound mixing room, LP vinyl reference library and the largest open floor plan for recording in the city. This building will also be home to an art gallery and will have a performance stage.

Of the neighborhood and why art is so important to it, Hamilton says:

Painters and dancers are transforming our Germantown community in the most amazing way. Art is an equalizer. It levels the playing field. This is because art is about ideas and concepts. It doesn’t give you a grade or give you a test. Instead it asks who you are as an individual. It’s probably a better idea to not make our children fit into anything other then what they were born to be. Arts and entertainment represent the third largest segment of our local economy. This is not some pie-in-the-sky ‘Let’s save the world’ stuff. We, along with others in this community, are just saying yes to what’s needed right here and right now.

Read the entire story over at Chestnut Hill Local, and keep your eye out for recordings and events happening at Rittenhouse Soundworks.