If you watched America's Got Talent over the summer, you might have noticed Syracuse native performer Hughie Stone Fish.

“So crazy, man, watching [my performance] back. I'm like, 'did I really do that?'” Stone Fish said.

The Berkeley alumnus and internet sensation added America's Got Talent to the repertoire of popular appearances that also include a finals bid on NBC’s Bring the Funny.

Stone Fish has found a way to give back to the area from his new-ish home in Los Angeles, California.

“I found early on, when I moved to L.A., that having a platform, having some recognition can, in some way, open certain doors,” he said. “And so as I've progressed through this life and as you know, Lewberger has done more and more, I find that I'm able to channel that back more and more to Syracuse, into other projects that I want to affect tangible change. I want to bring people together, I want us to have 'step over fiddle.'”

It's something Stone Fish has been passionate about for some time. He has been active in supporting the ‘315.’

“There's something about the culture here that is very in-person and less 'email-y,'” said Stone Fish. “So I come here and I meet someone, I'm talking with someone, I go to someone's store and then all of a sudden, I meet this, this and this, but being here, you get so much more done and you get to interact and build those relationships way more than, you know, Zoom-ing.”

Many of the things that he does now helps give back to and highlight the Syracuse Area, in songs like "Welcome to Syracuse" and his Emmy Award-winning rap with Seinfeld star Jason Alexander.

“My big skill sets are music and collaboration, and so trying to find out, how do I use those things to make change?” he said. “What we don't want to do is give these kids an amazing opportunity to learn art for a month, and then have it taken away from them.”

That lifelong commitment is now embodied by the Syracuse Arts Project, founded by Stone Fish, his brother and a close friend.

The impact and support is now aimed at the entirety of the 315 area code and beyond.

“A lot of kids, especially when you're dealing with lack of access to resources, we see that those are arts funding gets cut first, and, and, if only for the fact that kids in the suburbs like myself who go to the other high schools, We get to sing and dance and play and do art, you know,” said Stone Fish. “So, if only for the fact of fairness, we need it in the city of Syracuse, but it's so much more than that."

While Stone Fish continues to tour for concerts and make television appearances, he still believes there's plenty to do to help back home, and that there are plenty of boots on the ground here that can do it.

“There's so much that people can do and I find that, when we were doing the 'Welcome to Syracuse' project, I found that a lot of people wanted to help, and they would say, ‘Oh, I know that there's need in the city, and I see and I've read the statistics about the poverty and I want to get involved, but I don't know how,’” he noted. “It's important that if you are someone who feels like you want to get involved. All you have to do is do it.“