Editor’s notes: The Sopris Stars Youth News Bureau returned to the office this week, and will be producing a monthly paper within the pages of The Sun every final Thursday of the month, beginning with its Halloween issue on Oct. 29. Here’s but a taste of what’s to come. On another note, Vivienne is the daughter of Meagan Londy Shapiro.
On Aug. 22, a set of individuals with seemingly little relation to one another gathered in the Crystal Theatre on Main Street in Carbondale: a gaggle of Glenwood Springs High School students, speaking in hushed tones and laughter; a few volunteers standing behind the counter serving buttery popcorn and sharing stories; two dancers, adorned in dark, flowy pants, itching to pull back on their legwarmers, regardless of the summer heat.
Why were they there? Caden Smith, a junior at Glenwood High, spent his Saturday afternoon conducting a live taping of his podcast, “The Ripple Effect,” along with a live audience.
Andy Zanca Youth Empowerment Program (AZYEP) helped Smith orchestrate the event. Smith is an intern with the youth radio program based at KDNK Community Access Radio, and was the designated interviewer for this special event. The topic was art education, and included interviewees from throughout the Roaring Fork Valley with various tie-ins with the arts scene.
Sean Hamilton was the first to share his wisdom. A junior at Glenwood High, a close friend of Smith and an aspiring songwriter, Hamilton noted that his passion did not derive from instruction.
“Nothing was actually handed to me [in life] other than the instrument I’ll be playing,” said Hamilton. “It all started from my own curiosity.”
Hamilton went on to play an original song for the radio following the interview. While he has yet to utilize the music opportunities available at Glenwood High, he believes our valley has played a crucial role in his upbringing.
“I’m very lucky to have been raised in a community that very much encourages musicality,” he shared.
Hamilton’s music is available on all streaming platforms under the name Cadence Rhapsody.
Director, choreographer and dancer Emily Fifer is one of the people in our community who strives to be part of the support system for young artists.
“There always [have] been, and there will again be, youth that comes over and says, ‘Hey, I’m really serious about this,’” she said during the on-stage interview following Hamilton’s, “and then conversations can happen around what they want to get out of the experience.”
Meagan Shapiro, a fellow director, choreographer and dancer who works alongside Fifer, made sure to tell listeners that the arts should not be contained within the walls of a high school.
“The valley is so small, but the arts community is so vast,” she said, particularly reflecting on her experiences as a cast member, choreographer and as the freshly appointed co-director of the Carbondale Fashion Show, alongside Fifer.
“Everyone in that cast is being asked to stretch themselves,” she said.
Shapiro believes that the importance of the arts com-
munity stretches beyond the content produced.
“It’s important to try things, to be vulnerable,” Shapiro said, “even if you don’t share the thing with anyone else.”
T he two-part episode is scheduled to air on KDNK on Sept30 at 4:30pm and Oct. 7 at 4pm. Check out Smith’s “The Ripple Effect” podcast archives at kdnk.org/podcast/the-ripple-effect-an-azyep-podcast And don’t miss the Andy Zanca Youth Empowerment Program 24-Hour Takeover of the KDNK airwaves, from 2pm Oct. 10 to 4pm Oct. 11. For details, visit azyep.org