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courtesy OMAI

Marc Bamuthi Joseph on stage.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph

media release: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) welcomes award-winning, internationally acclaimed interdisciplinary artist, educator and cultural worker Marc Bamuthi Joseph to campus on Wednesday, January 31 through Saturday, February 3, 2024 for a series of engagements, panels, workshops and performances on and off campus in partnership with the Division of the Arts and the annual UW-Madison Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium.

Following OMAI’s 2022-23 partnership with the Division of the Arts’ Interdisciplinary Artist Residency Program (IARP), the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement (DDEEA) has continued support for a new initiative in celebration of Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary: the Hip Hop Arts Residency Program (HHARP).

In spring 2006, Bamuthi served as UW-Madison Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence (IARP), a partnership between Division of the Arts and the now-established Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (click here to view archival documentation!). During Bamuthi’s Spring 2006 residency, he originated many initiatives OMAI continues years later, such as the monthly Just Bust! Open Mic, Line Breaks Festival, and Passing the Mic Festival. It is a special honor for Joseph to return to campus on the heels of IARP’s 25th anniversary, and in celebration of Dr. King’s legacy.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a 2017 TED Global Fellow, an inaugural recipient of the Guggenheim Social Practice initiative, and an honoree of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship. He is also the winner of the 2011 Herb Alpert Award in Theatre, and an inaugural recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. In the Spring of 2022, he was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. An internationally renowned cultural strategist, Mr. Joseph has lectured in 25 different countries and his TED talk “You Have The Rite” has been viewed more than five million times.

Bamuthi has most recently completed commissions for Yale University, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, The Minnesota Orchestra, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the Washington National Opera. His new opera libretto, “Watch Night” will premiere in the fall of 2023 in New York under the direction of Bill T. Jones, and his collaboration with NYC Ballet Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is set to premiere in 2024 during his residency at the Meany Center at the University of Washington.      

An emergent onscreen talent, he is among the featured performers in HBO’s screen adaptation of “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehesi Coates. He currently serves as the vice president of social impact and artistic director of cultural strategy at The Kennedy Center. A proud alumnus of Morehouse College, Bamuthi received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the California College of Arts in the Spring of 2022 and was the recipient of a second honorary doctorate from Middlebury College in the spring of 2023. For more information about Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s work, click here.

In addition to Bamuthi’s public appearances listed below, he will be doing a number of engagements on campus with students. Bamuthi will be in a moderated conversation at the UW Graduate School of Business, Bolz Center for Arts Entrepreneurship, hosting an interdisciplinary creative workshop with students of the First Wave Program and the Studio Learning Community, as well as guest lecturing in the Department of Theater and Drama. After the conclusion of his residency, you will be able to watch an in-depth interview with Bamuthi highlighting all of his experiences on and off UW–Madison’s campus. Please make sure to register for her public events below. All public events are free admission and for all ages. Registration will guarantee you a seat in each venue, as well as sign you up for updates about the remaining HHARP residencies taking place 2023-24.

Events:

Wednesday, January 31, 2024, 5:30-7:00p.m., Memorial Union: MLK SymposiumThis particular HHARP residency in 2024 is part of a growing collaboration between the MLK Symposium (co-sponsored by DDDEA and Student Affairs) and partners seeking to honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The purpose of this collaboration is to bring visibility to culturally relevant, transformative, and community building programming to promote positive social dialogue. Ahead of Bamuthi’s residency, join us in honoring MLK with a keynote by the legendary Anna Deavere Smith. Details here: https://diversity.wisc.edu/mlk-symposium/

Friday, February 2, 2024

5:30-7:30p.m., Wisconsin Historical Society: Arts Together | IARP @ 25: The Arts Together series, hosted by the Division of the Arts, is intended to bring faculty, staff, and community together to meet each other, share in collaborative ideas, and explore avenues for supporting creative research. This specific event in the series will be in collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives’ Hip-Hop Artist Residency Program (HHARP). HHARP was modeled after the Division of the Arts’ Interdisciplinary Artist Residency Program (IARP). This event will also be using Baldwin funds to bring in various groups across Wisconsin.

Arts Together | IARP @ 25 will be a panel discussion between past and present IARP artists, moderated by Directors of OMAI/First Wave and the Division of the Arts. Following the discussion, there will be a short performance from Marc Bamuthi Joseph and a reception with food and non-alcoholic beverages. This Arts Together will lead into OMAI/First Wave’s Just Bust event, where guests will be encouraged to stay and participate.

 8-10 p.m.Wisconsin Historical Society: Just Bust! Feature Performance Join us for Madison’s longest-running all-ages open mic, Just Bust! every First Friday, 8 PM-10 PM at the Wisconsin Historical Society. The featured performance this month will be an interdisciplinary production by Hip Hop Artist in Residence, March Bamuthi Joseph, in partnership with UW-Madison’s MLK Symposium.

Interested in performing during the open mic portion of the event? Guarantee a spot with a "Tap-In" Ticket through our Eventbrite, or sign up (in person) starting at 8:00 pm and throughout the night until all slots are filled. Make sure to arrive early to ensure a spot in the lineup!

Saturday, February 3, 2024, 1-3 p.m., Red Gym, 1st floor, On Wisconsin Room AB, 716 Langdon St. Just Bust! Workshop: Join us for our free admission workshop facilitated by Marc Bamuthi Joseph.

HHARP will take place five (5) times per academic year, over the course of 4-10 days. Each residency will feature a professional artist whose work represents Hip Hop and/or urban art culture, with notable accomplishments in their field nationally and internationally. All residencies center Hip Hop and urban arts through academic, campus, and community engagement, providing spaces for interdisciplinary and intergenerational interactions. The residencies will coincide with OMAI’s existing initiatives, such as Just Bust! Open Mic Series, Passing the Mic Intergenerational Hip Hop Theater Festival, Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival, and others. This strategic scheduling will deepen the impact of OMAI’s visiting artists beyond the First Wave Program, offering high impact engagement with campus and local partners.

If you would like to partner with OMAI’s HHARP series, please reach out to omai@cdo.wisc.edu.