When Youth Find Their Voice!

Songwriter Darden Smith is known for cranking out a song in five minutes in a classroom of 20 to 50 youth in an effort to teach students how to harness their own creativity and encourage them to use their voice. ASCAP member Darden Smith does this on a regular basis in his Be An Artist Program, where he goes into classrooms armed only with his guitar, his laptop and a sense of humor.  Within the 50-minute sessions he approaches the students not as a teacher, performer or an entertainer, but as an enthusiastic artist who loves his craft. Students recognize what they love to do and are encouraged to try things they have never done before like writing a spur-of-the-moment song together. According to Smith “to be an artist” is to be creative, passionate and think big at whatever your pursuit is in life, from playing soccer, choosing a shirt to wear to school, enjoying a slice of pizza, developing an advertising campaign, managing a production line, to starting your own business.

"I don't tell them that they all should be songwriters that's the last thing the world needs!" he says. "But I do try to encourage them to find their passion and follow what they love to do." Smith started the Be An Artist Program in 2003 at local elementary schools in Austin, Texas, where he is based. Since then it has expanded to scores of middle schools and high schools across the United States and Europe. Smith has taught in schools in Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico, and in the suburbs of Atlanta as well as spending extensive time in schools near Glasgow, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Germany and Paris. From California to New York and across the Midwest schools in the United Kingdom, France and Germany also participate. His message is simple if you love to play video games then learn to be a software developer and create them. Love to skateboard? Look at Tony Hawk and how he made a career from it. Love clothes and shopping? You can be a stylist or a personal shopper. Smith started playing the guitar when he was nine years old and continues to uses his own life as an example. "I tell students, 'Look at me now! I'm 48 years old and I still love to play the guitar!'" He is a prime example of what happens “When Youth Find Their Voice!”