Hip Hop Education Summit
This four and a half hour event will feature some of the most important figures in the burgeoning field of hip hop pedagogy including Chris Emdin and Brian Mooney (Teachers College, Columbia University), Toni Blackman (Carnegie Hall), Jeff Chang (Stanford University) and K-12 classroom teachers that will showcase the power and potential of using hip hop methodologies in the classroom and beyond. All of those involved have participated in OMAI’s highly successful Hip Hop in the Heartland Educator’s Institutes that take place annually in the spring and summer. The event will be hosted by the Overture's new Director of Diversity, Ed Holmes and MMSD's Arts Director Laurie Fellenz.
Registration for this event is full - see waitlist information.
Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang has been a hip-hop journalist for more than a decade and has written for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice, Vibe, The Nation, URB, Rap Pages, Spin, and Mother Jones. He was a founding editor of Colorlines Magazine, senior editor at Russell Simmons’s 360hiphop.com, and cofounder of the influential hip-hip label SoleSides, now Quannum Projects. He lives in California.
Chris Emdin
Dr. Christopher Emdin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology at Teachers College, Columbia University; where he also serves as Director of Science Education at the Center for Health Equity and Urban Science Education. He is also the Associate Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is an alumni fellow at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University, and currently serves as Minorities in Energy Ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energy and the STEAM Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Emdin is a social critic, public intellectual and science advocate whose commentary on issues of race, culture, inequality and education have appeared in dozens of influential periodicals including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Dr. Emdin holds a Ph.D in Urban Education with a concentration in Mathematics, Science, and Technology; Masters degrees in both Natural Sciences and Education Administration, and Bachelors degrees in Physical Anthropology, Biology, and Chemistry. He is the creator of the #HipHopEd social media movement, and a much sought-after public speaker on a number of topics that include hip-hop education, STEM education, politics, race, class, diversity, and youth empowerment. He is also an advisor to numerous international organizations, school districts, and schools where he delivers speeches, and holds workshops/ professional development sessions for students, teachers, policy makers, and other education stakeholders within the public and private sector. Dr. Emdin provides regular commentary on Al Jazeera and the Huffington Post; where he writes the Emdin 5 series. He is the author of the award winning book, Urban Science Education for the Hip-hop Generation and For White Folks Who Teach In the Hood and the Rest of Ya’ll Too, which is currently on the New York Times best sellers list.
First Wave Hip Hop Theater Ensemble
The First Wave Hip Hop Theatre Ensemble (FWTE) is a groundbreaking collective of spoken word poets, emcees, dancers, singers, actors, and activists from across the United States. FWTE represents the First Wave Hip Hop & Urban Arts Learning Community at UW-Madison, the world's first and only full tuition scholarship for Hip Hop and urbans arts. They create works that unpack the personal narrative as a route to academic engagement, artistic productivity and community engagement.
They have performed in England, Mexico, Panama, Africa, Australia, and Jamaica as well as across the USA including featured performances on Broadway and annual performance keynote at the Boys & Girl Club Keystone Conference. Touring Members host workshops and performances in local and regional high school and community spaces.
FWTE Members for 2021-22 are Azura Tyabji (Seattle), Jackson Neal (Houston), Marjan Naderi (DC), Sarah Abbas (St. Louis), & Zachary Lesmeister (St. Louis).
Brian Mooney
Brian Mooney is an educator, scholar, and author who explores the intersections of hip hop, spoken word, literacy, and urban education. He is a doctoral student at Teachers College, Columbia University and teaches high school in New Jersey. Brian’s work has been featured by The New York Times, NBC, Rolling Stone, NPR, SiriusXM, MTV, and others. He is the author of Breakbeat Pedagogy: Hip Hop and Spoken Word Beyond the Classroom Walls.
Toni Blackman
Writer and performer Toni Blackman is the first Hip Hop artist invited to work as a Cultural Ambassador with the US Department of State. Toni is creator of Freestyle Union and Rhyme like a Girl and was a 2012 DOVE Real Woman Honoree. She is currently a teaching artist at Carnegie Hall and recently performed for Lincoln Center. This Echoing Green fellow was commissioned by the National Black Arts Festival for her Hip Hop theater piece “Wisdom of the Cypher”, featured in Forbes Magazine, on CENTRIC television and MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry Show, CBS morning news, MTV, VH1 and on the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Toni speaks, teaches workshops, coaches in performance and public speaking and releases her new book Wisdom of the Cypher along with her hip hop meditation album this fall.