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When Syracuse University senior Caprice Hibbler first joined The Arts Project Syracuse as a coordinator, she didn’t expect she’d make lifelong connections with some of its students.

While volunteering at TAPS’ East Fayette Street location, she met Ali — a local 8-year-old girl. The pair became close through two years of art projects and sharing snacks. Hibbler was even invited to Ali’s birthday party.

“I’ve built relationships with all the kids, but Ali holds a really special place in my heart,” Hibbler said. “Every time I see her, my heart just melts.”

TAPS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing after-school programming for under-resourced students to pursue the arts, according to its website. The program also provides hands-on training for artists and art teachers to best serve their students.

Through TAPS, students can take free dance, drawing, painting and singing lessons at Boy’s and Girl’s Club locations throughout Syracuse. TAPS’ mission statement also includes hiring teachers that reflect the diversity of the community it serves.

TAPS was co-founded by three Syracuse natives who wanted to use their passion for art as a way to build community, co-founder Hughie Stone Fish said. TAPS is almost entirely funded through contributions from outside organizations, including CNY Arts, the Carden Family Foundation and the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation.

“(TAPS) is about supporting under-resourced youth in our hometown, and we do that through the power of art and through the power of music,” Stone Fish said.

Hibbler, a senior communication and rhetorical studies major at SU, first joined TAPS’ team three years ago. She typically volunteers at the Van Buren location.

In her role, Hibbler hires local artists and works with them to create lesson plans for the program. When there aren’t any volunteers, she takes on the role of art teacher, which she said has become her favorite part of the job. She’s taught classes in public speaking, painting, drawing and dance.

“It has been amazing to be able to go in and do art with the kids, it heals the inner child in me and they’re super happy about creating this art,” Hibbler said.

This year, Stone Fish and his brother, Avery, are spearheading the program’s largest project yet to celebrate three years since opening. They plan to launch “Sounds of Unity,” an album featuring local musicians and students from the program.

Stone Fish is an Emmy Award-winning musician and member of “Lewberger” — a comedy band featuring The Try Guys’ Keith Habersberger and actor Alex Lewis. He said he’s used his connections to the music industry to help produce the album.

The Stone Fish brothers said they reached out to Cody Blackbird and Ed Koban, two Native American flautists, and award-winning fiddler Joe Davoli to play music on the album and give students the opportunity to work with established musicians.

Students from the Henninger High School and Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler High School choirs will also appear on the album, along with younger students from the Boy’s and Girl’s Club.

Avery said he’s watched students transform and break out of their shells through their time in the program. He said he remembered how one of his students, Jaquis, joined TAPS as a shy 5-year-old holding a microphone only pretending to sing. He is now a proud singer on the album, Stone Fish said.

“It’s very natural for us to make an album in celebration of the students – our whole purpose is to allow them to lead rich lives in fine arts,” Avery said. “Putting these kids on an album with these world-class musicians shows them … that they truly can be a part of anything.”

Hibbler said when schools face budget cuts, arts are typically the first to go. The New York State Council on the Arts budget, an essential source of funding for art programs in New York state, declined almost 40% between 2008 and 2023, according to a Center for an Urban Future report.

In May 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $82 million in grant funding for NYSCA in the fiscal year 2025 budget, advocating for the arts as a critical part of New York culture and student inspiration across the state.

Avery said watching the kids as they grow up and thrive in the arts is the best part about the program.

“Our motto at (TAP) is, ‘I am an artist, that means I can be anything.’ And that’s a message for the kids,” Avery said. “Some of these kids will grow up to be professional artists and that’s a beautiful thing and some of them won’t be, but their lives will be enriched by art.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article listed The Try Guys as a donor to The Arts Project Syracuse. The group has contributed to TAPS in the past but is not an active donor. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on September 26, 2024 at 12:40 am

Contact Delia: dsrangel@syr.edu