New music studio opening at Carter G. Woodson Library

It’s no surprise that Chance the Rapper is excited about the opening of a new digital media lab — technically the Southside YOUmedia Studios — in the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in the heart of the South Side.

The rapper was tweeting about the grand opening, which is 5 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 18, and is open and available to teens with school IDs. It’s an expansion of an already existing Chicago Public Library program in which kids can borrow laptops, practice using digital media and even play videogames.

“It’s a studio space at the library that’s designed specifically for teens to explore and create with the help of librarians and other mentors,” says Patrick Molloy, CPL director of government and public affairs. “It’s been at our central location [Harold Washington Library, supported by Chance] since 2009 and it’s something we’re expanding out.”

The new digital media labs — which will include vinyl cutters, 3D printers, a recording studio, video cameras, audio recording equipment, web design equipment and the like — will open soon in three additional libraries. Those libraries are Woodson, Sulzer Regional Library on the North Side and Leglar Library on the West Side