Creating new button in admin to manage homepage content?

Hey all i have a unique situation since i dont use wordpress as a bloging type site but as a social network/community.

The site i am creating is like a purevolume(dot)com site , and the homepage is going to consist of all featured items such as a featured videos section, a featured artists section (sliding images), a featured events sections ( all showing 5+ featured items ). I want to create some sort of new toolbar in my wp admin that says like home features or something and in this have the ability to manage the things that display in all these featured areas.

Can someone point me in the right direction of a couple tutorials that can help me accomplish this?

Thanks a bunch.