YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW HIP HOP. THINK AGAIN.
HIP-HOP = ”Love, community, art, sharing, collaboration, peace making, relevant.” -Sofia Snow,
Meet Sofia Snow. Boston child of hard-working parents. At 16, yelling words onto the page. Reading poem #1. Sweaty palms. Shaky whisper. “When I looked up, my teacher was crying.” “I need another poem,” she said. “I don’t have one.” “Go write one.” See her at 24. University of Wisconsin-Madison First Wave and social work graduate. “I write because I know what it feels like to have no voice,” Snow says. Opening doors. Opening minds. Cosmo calls her “Fun Fearless Female.” Boston celebrates Sofia Snow Day. For poet, organizer, advocate. “If you want to think hip hop is misogyny, violent and disgusting, you’re going to think that,” she says, and the fear breaks her heart.
HIP HOP + SPOKEN WORD + UW-MADISON = FIRST WAVE URBAN ARTS AND SPOKEN WORD COMMUNITY In a groundbreaking move, the University of Wisconsin-Madison
First Wave graduate Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) in 2007 established the
OMAI Education Coordinator first university program for talented hip hop artists who are scholars.
Top scholars who are hip hop. The First Wave Urban Arts and Spoken Word Community: A model for multicultural America. Taking brilliant urban poets as serious thought agents. Recruiting them. Finding scholarships for them. Embracing art, academics and community activism with them.
FIRST WAVE = LEADERS, ROLE MODELS, CHANGE AGENTS, HEROES “You can’t outsource creative,” artistic director Chris Walker says. First Wave scholars and graduates ask the not-obvious question. They build community, galvanize people around an idea, collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. They intern and find jobs at the U.S. Embassy, the New York Knicks, Harlem Children’s Zone, Teach For America, Ralph Lauren. “The world is missing people who say they want to do what hasn’t been done yet,” says scholar Zhalarina Sanders, a psychology major from Tampa, Florida.
FIRST WAVE = PASSION, COURAGE, VOICE, DIVERSITY First Wave Scholars are published authors, nationally- and internationally-ranked poets, rappers and dancers. Children of immigrants, business owners, central cities and suburbs, Arizona, Wisconsin, New York City, any place in between. Becoming educators, lawyers, filmmakers, community leaders, entrepreneurs. “My story is a lot of other black women’s story. What drives me is people who look like me who don’t necessarily have the platform to speak,” says scholar Tiahera Nurse, a poet and daughter of Trinidad immigrants from Queens, New York.
FIRST WAVE = SUCCESS For more information: omai.wisc.edu To make an online gift: supportuw.org/giveto/ firstwave For gift opportunities: Willie Ney 608.890.1055 wney@wisc.edu Edwardo Manuel 608.262.5251 edwardo.manuel@ supportuw.org
omai Executive director Willie Ney took a risk when he founded First Wave, embracing hip hop artists as vital members of the UW community. In six years, the program is appreciated across campus and known around the world. With 80 percent from lowincome families, often first-generation college students, often from inner-city schools, First Wave scholars succeed.
97 percent of those who start graduate Their grades are among the best on campus 100 percent have jobs or attend graduate school when they leave
FIRST WAVE + YOU = THE FUTURE People want to be part of this community, Ney says, and you are invited to be one of them. With a gift to First Wave, you become part of a ground-breaking initiative that looses the power of art + academics to change lives and the world. Make a gift now at supportuw.org/giveto/firstwave. September 2013