OMAI

Young, Gifted and Hyped

lauren — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:18:47 +0000

We wrote a few weeks ago about the amazing experience several First Wavers had in New York in early October at the Hip Hop Theater Festival. Thanks to the wonderful folks at HHTF, we now have the photos to prove it! Check out tons of great shots from the post-show talkback in the Image Gallery in our site’s Multimedia section. All photos were shot by, and are courtesy of, Michael Premo. A sampling are featured below!

Urban Word NYC's Thaihera Nurse and First Wave's Camea Osborn look on as First Wave performer Karl Iglesias fields a question from the audience.

The audience listens to the evening's performers discuss their art.

First Wavers Camea, Gabriel De Los Reyes, and Karl talk to HHTF's Executive Director Clyde Valentín after their second show.

Gabriel, Karl and Camea pose with HHTF's Artistic Director Kamilah Forbes and Clyde Valentín in front of the famed graffiti wall.

Panel and Performance with Ludacris

lauren — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:35:01 +0000

The day before Halloween was a busy day for the OMAI/First Wave fam, and not because we were trying to put together last-minute costumes. Friday afternoon, OMAI co-hosted a panel discussion with Ludacris, MTV’s Sway, and former editor of The Source Jonathan “Fahiym” Ratcliffe. A large and engaged audience both applauded and challenged the panelists on issues including hip hop, higher education, race, and responsibility. The UW’s own Badger Herald covered the event and gathered a few student reactions, including that of FW’s own Dianna Harris. Check it out, and stay tuned right here for more coverage, including photos.

The same evening, the First Wave Music Ensemble opened the Ludacris show at the Alliant Energy Center. Madison’s own 77Square.com singled out the First Wave performers as standouts of the opening acts! UWHipHop.com has an initial review, and stay tuned there and here for photo, video and more!

First Wave opening for Ludacris!

lauren — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:34:02 +0000

TONIGHT! Members of the First Wave Music Ensemble and our own Creative Director Rafael Casal open for Ludacris at Madison’s Alliant Energy Center in a pre-Freak Fest spectacular. Tickets are still available via Ticketmaster! Stories and photos to come …

OMAI is also co-hosting a panel discussion on campus with Ludacris and Sway TODAY at 1:30pm at the Union Theater. FW artists Cydney Edwards, Andrew Thomas, and Gabriel De Los Reyes are opening that event! UW IDs are required for entry.

Thanks to Monster the Movement and the UW-Madison chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi for being our partners in making these fantastic events happen!

New York

lauren — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:33:23 +0000

Three of our First Wave students notched another “first” for the themselves and the program on October 6 and 7, when they performed at the 2009 Hip Hop Theater Festival in New York during the “Young, Gifted and Hyped” youth performance nights. The two sold-out evenings also featured performers from our friends at Urban Word NYC. HHTF Artistic Director Kamilah Forbes, Executive Director Clyde Valentin, and the entire HHTF crew pulled off a fantastic two nights of groundbreaking youth performance.

Karl Iglesias kicked off the First Wave portion each night with If A Tree Falls, an excerpt from his full-length one-man show, which deals with issues of machismo/misogyny in the Puerto Rican culture. Camea Osborn then delighted the crowd with and excerpt from her one-woman show Langley Street, which is a fusion of spoken word poetry and acting to tell the story of a community’s journey through gentrification. Gabriel De Los Reyes closed out each evening with his show Wheelz, the story of a young Latino boy as he comes to terms with his new found love for hip hop and his complex relationship with his father.

The First Wave students made the most of their week in New York, from catching West Side Story on Broadway and chatting with WSS’s fantastic Anybodys, Tro Shaw, to speaking with students at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts about the First Wave program and filming several spoken word pieces at the Urban Word headquarters with filmmaker Anthony Tedesco, who has filmed countless highly acclaimed poets for such series as Borders’ Open-Door Poetry and Apple’s Learning Interchange. Karl, Gabriel and Camea even ended the week as the sacrificial poets for the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s legendary Friday Night Poetry Slam, hosted by Mahogany Browne.

Congratulations to Camea, Gabriel and Karl on their New York debuts! The HHTF marked just the first of several First Wave appearances in New York this year, so stay tuned for more NYC stories in the coming weeks and months!

Lauren Rutlin Young, Office Manager

lauren — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:27:49 +0000

Lauren is thrilled to be the newest part of the OMAI/First Wave family. A recent graduate of New York University, Lauren created her own concentration in Media, Politics and Social Change while focusing her research and community work on making young people’s voices heard, primarily in politics and media. To OMAI, Lauren brings comprehensive administrative experience and a well-rounded perspective gleaned from diverse professional opportunities, including work at a consulting firm, two universities, a New York City non-profit and a law firm. Most recently, Lauren was a member of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold’s campaign staff. One of her favorite professional experiences was co-hosting a children’s television show, which was her first opportunity to travel, meet and get to know a diverse array of people, and help young people tell their stories. Lauren is a Madison native and a proud Madison East High School alum. In addition to keeping OMAI running smoothly behind the scenes, Lauren is most likely to be found spending time with family and friends (especially locally and in her second home of NYC); checking out the newest Broadway musical; practicing interior or fashion design; or reading, writing, analyzing, and discussing everything political.

Passing the Mic

willie — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:29:09 +0000

From October 8th through 10th, the UW-Madison and Madison communities were treated to three days of dynamic artistic programming courtesy of OMAI’s Fifth Annual Passing the Mic Series that is tied to the Wisconsin Book Festival. Internationally-renowned musical artists Guillermo Anderson (Honduras) and Philip Montalvan (Nicaragua) joined national artists Marty McConnell (Chicago), Tish Jones (Twin Cities), and Greg Landau (Bay Area). Joining these professional artists were teams of youth spoken word and hip hop artists from Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago; Milwaukee; Detroit; the Twin Cities; and Honolulu, Hawaii; as well as the First Wave Music and Hip Hop Theater Ensemble. It was a three-day extravaganza of cutting-edge art.

In the afternoon of Thursday, October 8th, over 1,000 students packed the West High School Auditorium to witness an open mic showcase involving the visiting artists of Passing the Mic and members of the West High School spoken word club that is coordinated by OMAI. The assembly was hosted by Ali Muldrow, one of OMAI’s poet-mentors, while Jarius King served as the DJ. Later that evening at the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium (WHS), OMAI celebrated its recent Governor’s Arts Award with a showcase of Brave New Voices artists drawn from the OMAI’s Wisconsin Teen Slam Finalists, BNV finalists from the different Midwest cities visiting for Passing the Mic, First Wave students who participated in BNV and the Hawai’i team which won BNV in 2008 and 2009. Following the BNV showcase, Philip Montalvan and Guillermo Anderson did short preview sets in anticipation of their Saturday showcase which was followed by the official launch of the new OMAI website designed by our dear friends at Zebradog Studios (particular thanks go to Mark Schmitz, Rasheid Atlas and Amanda Berg for all their amazing help with developing this site).

On Friday morning, October 9th, East High School hosted two emotionally-charged back to back assemblies involving about 1500 students. Hosted by First Wave poet-mentors Cyndney Edwards and Luara Venturi, the assemblies were a testament to how respectful youth audiences can be if offered programming that engages them culturally and intellectually. There was great solidarity in the audience for our visiting poets as well as the poets that participate in East’s spoken word class led by Don Hoaglin. On Friday evening at WHS, First Wave freshman Jasmine Mans opened the evening showcase with her brilliant one-woman show that was enhanced by the great lighting work of Cydney Edwards. Jasmine’s piece was followed by HBO Def Poet veteran Marty Mcconnell who wowed the large crowd with her original work and dynamic on stage presence. The showcase was capped off by a showcase by two-time BNV winners Team Hawai’i (Ittai Wong, Jamaica Osorio, First Wave member Will Giles, and Alaka`i Kotrys) and a guest poem by Hawai’s mentor Lyz Soto. At 9pm the Passing the Mic Annual Open Mic Showcase was presented, hosted by Leslie Thomas and Cydney Edwards, and all of the youth from the visiting teams had an opportunity to do their thing on the mic. It was a truly amazing showcase of raw individual talent and the packed house witnessed one of the cultural highlight events of the year (that is until the next evening).

On Saturday evening, October 10th, another full WHS auditorium bore witness to a magical evening of poetry and music. Hosted by Twin Cities artist Tish Jones, the evening featured a beautiful blend of Central American musical styles, cutting-edge spoken word pieces and powerful hip hop performances presented by members of the First Wave Hip Hop Music Ensemble. Tish Jones’ short spoken word showcase followed two amazing pieces by Kuumba Lynx youth stars and set the tone for the evening. Following Tish’s extraordinary performance, Nicaragua’s Philip Montalvan shared his reggae and soca pieces accompanied by John Doing on drums and Greg Landau on guitar. Philip had the crowd dancing in the aisles. Guillermo Anderson, Honduras’ international ambassador of culture, blew the crowd away with his unique mixture of Afro-Honduran rhythms and ballads. The evening ended with a rousing performance by members of the First Wave Hip Hop Music Ensemble. First up was Dakota Camacho, Marne Bruckner and Will Giles (on vocals). They were followed by Andrew Thomas and James Gavins with DJ support from Illie Holiday (Gabriel De Los Reyes). The combination of Caribbean-infused pieces with pounding hip hop beats electrified the crowd. A tribute to Tico da Costa, a friend of OMAI who recently passed away, was given by Guillermo Anderson. Overall, it was an unforgettable journey for all those involved.

Big ups to Leslie Thomas and Lana Simpson, OMAI’s two student workers who helped put the entire Passing the Mic week together as well as to the entire OMAI staff (Katrina, Lauren, Chris, Dasha and Rafa). Also, thanks to the mentors who accompanied the youth delegations from the different Midwest cities and to the youth leaders who shared their amazing talent with our community. See you next year!

Dear Friends of OMAI/First Wave

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:01:12 +0000

This is the first blog post of the new OMAI website that has been designed by our dear friends at Zebradog (big ups to Mark, Rasheid, Amanda and their crew). Zebradog has provided us with this amazing vehicle to reach out broadly to our growing community of supporters on campus, in the State, in the Nation and across the Planet. In order to be successful as a program, we are counting on our friends and collaboraters to share with us their thoughts and reflections through this blog and we’ll continue to post updates on events of OMAI and First Wave as well as links to videos, articles and other media highlighting our accomplishments.Thanks for joining us on our journey and we look forward to blogging with you soon! Paz, Willie Ney, Founder & Executive Director, OMAI/First Wave

Teacher and Community Educator Institute

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:29:56 +0000

For young people to reach their full academic and artistic potential, they need the support of their teachers and adult mentors. Many adults, however, struggle to make their classes and programs relevant to the changing culture and needs of today’s youth. In order to bridge this educational-generational gap, OMAI teams up with Urban Word NYC to offer the Annual Spoken Word & Hip Hop Educator’s Institute at UW-Madison each July. The institute is co-directed by OMAI Arts-In-Education Director, Katrina Flores and Urban Word NYC Director, Michael Cirelli. It is a multi-tiered program that caters to all levels of previous knowledge by participants from first time attendees to continued attendance by past participants as they delve deeper into Spoken Word & Hip Hop Pedagogies.

University & CEU credit options available for interested individuals.

Participant Applications will be available November 2009.

Please contact Katrina Flores for additional information at 608-890-1006 or kbflores@wisc.edu

Rising Up!

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:29:07 +0000

This course is being offered by Mary Swenson of Madison West High School in Spring 2010. In order to appeal to our socially and culturally diverse student population, we need to offer additional literature courses which directly address issues of class, gender, sexuality, misogyny, hegemony, and individualism. Complimenting English 10, Contemporary Lit, CWW, and Trends, this course will explore the various social movements of the 20^th and 21^st Centuries reflective of common themes such as “rising up” from oppression, and the implications of the individual within and/or versus the larger society. Through reading and studying relevant and diverse authors of interest to teens navigating their place within various groups, and reflecting on the longstanding tradition of social movements of resistance, students will explore the following:

How has literature been used as a tool to bring about social awareness and subsequently, social change?
What motivates social movement?
What place or responsibility exists for the individual within the larger culture or society?
What defines a subculture?
What’s the difference between subculture and mainstream?

Request a Poet-Mentor Workshop

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:27:42 +0000

Our First Wave Pre-Collegiate Poet Mentors are available for 1-time or on-going workshops. We are able to work with school or community based programs to offer tailored workshops that fit the needs of your academic endeavors by using Spoken Word as a tool to engage students in curricular outcomes and community needs. If you are interested in working with our Poet Mentors to design a workshop or series please contact Lauren Rutlin Young at 608-890-1006 or lryoung2@wisc.edu.