MUSIC & ARTS PROGRAM
The new home and face of the Soul Tigers is under the special care of its new Director Kenyatte Hughes. The band has a 30-year history, and Hughes was a Soul Tiger as a third-grader. But when he got out of the Marines five years ago, he found that his childhood band had disappeared, and he set out to revive them.
As a Soul Tiger's Alumni, Hughes has spent the last couple of years reinventing and recreating what promises to be the next big thing. The Soul Tigers are based out of Intermediate School I.S. 292 in the East New York section of Brooklyn.
"I decided that the kids needed something more than what was offered after school," says Hughes. "Music education in New York in the urban areas is pretty much nonexistent. There are very few music programs, so that's why I started in East New York."
Over eight years, the new Soul Tigers have garnered a wide fan base, performing five to six times a week, even at the Apollo Theatre for Mariah Carey, Jesica Simpson and Gloria Estefan.
The Mission continues to create an outlet for community youth to develop sensitivty and a passion for the arts and to foster self-esteem through musical creativity.
Kenyatte Hughes has also borrowed a chapter from his Marine background in adding to the curriculum militant study habits. He has cordinated in-house professional teachers that tutor, mandatory homework time, guidance on mastering time management and discipline and connecting the arts through core classes with a focus on mathematics.
Kenyatte executes creating a learning and musical experiences through the structure of this program through a sincere and thorough process.
