Kids learn to be generous through art

AUSTIN (KXAN) - By his own admission, Darden Smith was a weirdo. Growing up in the small town of Brenham, Texas, full of people who were a lot alike, he was different.

"A.D.D. to the max," he recalls.

He felt ostracized. He took refuge in music. It was the one thing he was good at, and he poured his heart into it.

Now, Smith is a successful singer/songwriter who has worked in theatre production, with dance choreographers and with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. He is also a philanthropist. Some 40 times a year, he visits schools around the world with his " Be an Artist" program, teaching children to discover the artist in themselves. He does that for free because he wants to.

So when A Legacy of Giving went looking for ways to help teach children to become philanthropists, Smith was a perfect fit. Affiliated with a national non-profit called The LEAGUE, the Austin group developed an educational program to set kids on the right path. In the 2008/2009 school year alone, more than 3600 children in nine local schools have collected over 32,000 pounds of food and other items to relieve the suffering of the poor and hungry. Later this year, they will work on an effort to clean up and protect the local environment through Keep Austin Beautiful. In between, the singer-songwriter was the perfect vehicle to help the Legacy foster a giving spirit in young people.

At Forest Trail Elementary School in the Eanes Independent School District, Smith cradles his guitar and leans forward. A couple of dozen children gather round.

"Everything you do is art," Smith tells them. "Everything you do, whether or not you're swimming or you are cooking or you are making a video or you're filming people for KXAN or whatever you're doing, you're an artist, okay?"

His theory: Children who believe in their own talent will also be in a position to use that talent to help other people.

"I just think there's a kid sitting in the back of the room who thinks he's a weirdo and who thinks that maybe he doesn't fit in or doesn't have anything to contribute," said Smith. "But he's, you know, he's really that kid who could be a computer game designer or he could be an actor or, you know, or a dancer or a mathematician or a doctor, but no one has said, 'Yes,' to him."

Smith doesn't just say, 'Yes,' to children, he sings it.

"We can write a song about anything we want to write about," he tells the kids. "Who's got an idea?" he asks.

A child shouts, "Dogs."

"Dogs, dogs, yeah," the musician responds. "Who's got another idea?"

Another child suggests, "Food." Smith's excitement grows.

"Food, dog food," he replies, "What do you think about dog food?"

The suggestions keep coming and seven minutes after the process started, the children join Smith in singing the new song they just wrote.

"Dog food, dog food!" they sing. It is an exercise Smith uses to show his little learners the three things he believes lie behind the creation of art: Attention, intention and love. Pay attention to what you're doing, have a goal and do what you love. The result, Smith suggests, is art.

Watching from the wings of the classroom is Lind Brucker, executive director of "A Legacy of Giving."

"The teachers have been teaching the children that they all have gifts," Brucker said, "that every child is a philanthropist, that we all have time and we all have talent."

Smith freely gives away his talent through his " Be an Artist" campaign. Brucker believes the children get the message.

"It goes back to the whole fact that it's all a circle," she said. "You know, as a giver, you get; and as the recipient, you get to give."

Back in the classroom, the song and the excited applause is over. The collective, "Thank you!" is loud and long.

 

 

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