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CONFERENCE DAY

Saturday, May 22 | 10AM-8PM EST

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A day-long event featuring presentations and workshops from Hip Hop artists, educators, and scholars making moves in financial literacy, film and visual media, sustainability, educational innovation, and global advancement of Hip Hop culture.

WELCOME

10:00-10:25

Opening remarks & check-in with HipHopEX Director, Aysha Upchurch

COMMUNITY ART-MAKING

10:30-11:00

Start the day MOVING TOGETHER with facilitate art-making

BREAKOUT SESSION #1

11:15 AM - 12:30PM EST

HARNESSING THE HUSTLE: HOW TO MAKE ENTREPRENEURIAL MOVES

Tia Gadson
Yvonne Jones

This session features two women who took a page out of Hip Hop's book and turned their hobbies into full-blown hustles. 
[Money Moves]

MOOD BOARD WORKSHOP: 
BUILD WORLDS WITH IMAGES

April Dobbins

Come explore the role of place in videos and films and learn how to use visual elements to craft stories and narratives.

[Moving Pictures]

DIRTY SOUTH TWERKOUT

Dani Criss, The Artist

A high energy workout takin ya straight to da Dirty South! Exploring culture, communicative & liberative movement styles of the US Southern states whilst uplifting experiences & histories of da people.

[Sustainable Moves]

SOCIALLY DISTANT: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION OF THE ROLE OF HIP HOP CULTURE AS A WAY OF KNOWING IN A 21ST CENTURY CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE ARTS FRAMEWORK

Dr. Durell Cooper

This research is an examination of the phenomena of Hip Hop education as an abolitionist tool using an arts-based research approach.

[Next Moves]

INVOLVE, BUILD, AND EVOLVE!: 
COMMUNITY BUILDING AROUND HIP HOP CULTURE IN MONTENEGRO

Snežana Nikčević

Story about the spread of socio-cultural aspects of Hip Hop in Montenegro through youth work, education, and new digital interactive format for discussing various aspects of Hip Hop.

[Global Moves]

BREAKOUT SESSION #2

12:45-2:15 PM EST

GETTING FINANCIALLY LIT!

Sabrina A. Correia
Joseph W. Lewis
Briana B. Franklin

This panel features financial experts to break down why and how getting (financially) literate is important, dropping knowledge on how to level up how your money moves.

[Money Moves]

THE POWER OF HIP HOP IN FILM

Jose Navas

My latest film Beat Lingo deals with a prodigy beatboxer who was born a mute. My presentation will study the power of hip hop in film.

[Moving Pictures]

HIP HOP THERAPY: A STUDIO APPROACH TO 
COLLECTIVE HEALING

J.C. Hall, LMSW

This session will explore Hip Hop therapy as a culturally sustaining framework in mental health treatment and evaluate its effectiveness in an educational setting through a studio-based approach.

[Sustainable Moves]

SOUNDS OF THE REVOLUTION: EXAMINING SOCIAL CULTURAL MOVEMENTS AND THE POWER OF STORYTELLING AS VEHICLES FOR EXPRESSION AND LIBERATION

Vincent Deas & Jason Acosta

This workshop will provide the space for the development of socio-emotional and pedagogical supports that teach and inform educators how to position hip hop as a tool for learning.

[Next Moves]

THE POWER OF COUNTER-
STORYTELLING THROUGH HIP HOP

James An & Tiger JK

James An and Tiger JK will be sharing their stories and discussing the power of the youth in creating our own space for self-empowerment and counter-storytelling through hip hop.

[Global Moves]

BREAKOUT SESSION #3

2:30-4:00 PM EST

SCHOOLING MONEY: FINANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAMS FOR THE YOUTH

Cole Mattox & Dylan Ingerman
Dr. Marlon Fuller
Vereaux Reynolds

Hear from leaders of financial literacy programs about how they are ensuring young people understand what money and wealth are.

[Money Moves]

DOCUMENTING HIP HOP

Dorian Emerson  

Dami Rock

Directors Dorian Emerson and Dami Rock will discuss their paths to filmmaking and their focus on telling stories that highlight black life and hip hop culture.

[Moving Pictures]

CRITIQUE. 
CREATE.
CURATE.

Timothy D Jones &

Dr. Tyra Good

The "Critique/Create/Curate" process will be introduced using "Juicy" by Notorious BIG and participants will have an opportunity to try out the process.

[Sustainable Moves]

COMPUTER SCIENCE IS HIP HOP

Felix Alberto

Algorithmic bias exists. The only way that we can change these conditions is to get more POC engaged. This presentation will use the creation of hip-hop & cultivate a sense of belonging for POC in computer science.

[Next Movements]

HIP HOP PRODUCTION FOR REMOTE EDUCATION (A REAL-TIME INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE)

Edu Svart

Learn how this educator conducted Hip Hop beat-making with incarcerated youth during the pandemic.  Participants will get to  experience an interactive online educational hip-hop process, using Zoom and WhatsApp (voice messages) as helpful resources for remote hip-hop education.

[Global Moves]

BREAKOUT SESSION #4

4:15-5:30PM EST

YOUR HIP-HOP STARTUP: THE ECONOMICS OF TEACHING ARTISTRY FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

Miles “Irie Givens” Iton &

Don Brown

Our session will be a comparative, post-pandemic analysis of startup costs, opportunities and long-term prospects for hip-hop creatives in the fields of education, pop music and teaching artistry.

[Money Moves]

PATHWAYS: HOW HIP HOP INFLUENCED MY FILM CAREER

Richard Jackson

Celeste Li

Filmmakers Celeste Li and Richard Jackson both got their start in the movie business through hip hop connections. Today, they are independent filmmakers forging new paths and sharing insights.

[Moving Pictures]

HEALING THROUGH HIP HOP

b styles.

Experience how Hip Hop is used to spark dialogue and creatively attend around difficult topics -- a way to heal through the words and imagery of Hip Hop.

[Sustainable Moves]

WE DO IT FOR THE CULTURE™: 
SEL THE REMIX

Jamila Sams, MA Ed.

We Do it For the Culture™ SEL the Remix explores the connections between the 5 Competencies of Social Emotional Learning through the lens of the 5 Elements if Hip Hop culture.

[Next Movements]

NEXT LEVEL: HIP HOP DIPLOMACY & COMMUNITY DRIVEN TOOLS FOR PEACEMAKING

Junious L. Brickhouse & 

Toni Blackman

Director Brickhouse and Hip Hop Ambassador Toni Blackman, offer a look into the diplomacy space and share their perspectives on Hip Hop as a tool for transforming conflict and cultural sustainability.

[Global Moves]

KEYNOTE PANEL 
KEEPING IT MOVING: A CYPHER WITH HIP HOP HEADS ON THE POWER OF THE CULTURE

5:45-7:15 PM EST

Hear Sekou Heru, Toni Blackman, and Manny Faces share and cypher on how they have made moves as artists, educators, and journalists to honor Hip Hop culture and foster community and well-being amidst pandemics and social unrest.

 Sekou Heru.jpeg

SEKOU HERU

Dance Ambassador/Cultural Advisor/ Teacher

Dance Ambassador/Cultural Advisor/ Teacher

Toni Blackman Photoshoot - Photographed

TONI BLACKMAN

Hip Hop Ambassador

Rapper/Poet, Director, Producer 

TONI BLACKMAN, the first U.S. Hip Hop Ambassador with the U.S. Department of State, has traveled to 48 countries speaking, teaching, and performing. She is highly respected for her Hip Hop Activism work as the creator of Rhyme like a Girl and the Freestyle Union Cypher Workshop. She is a leading expert on Cypher.

MANNY_FACES - Manny Faces.jpg

MANNY FACES

Founding Director, The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy

Manny Faces is an award-winning journalist, podcast professional, independent scholar and founding director of nonprofit The Center for Hip-Hop Advocacy. His work focuses on promoting the ability of Hip-Hop music and culture to uplift humanity.

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