Line Breaks Hip-Hop Theater Festival

×

Expand

Jaclyn Rivas

A close-up of Eve L. Ewing.

Eve L. Ewing

media release: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of the Arts and the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) welcome writer, sociologist, poet and professor Dr. Eve L. Ewing as Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence and featured performer for the 2023 Line Breaks Festival.

An academic year-long partnership between the Division of the Arts and OMAI, the collaboration presents a series of short-term residencies with interdisciplinary artists who represent the three pillars of OMAI: academics, arts and activism. The residency series has brought Jay Adana and Zeniba Now, Jasmine Mans and Porsha Olayiwola to UW–Madison.

The fourth and last in the academic year-long series, Ewing’s residency will be from March 30–April 1, 2023 and will include a public conversation with poet and UW–Madison faculty Paul Tran on Thursday, March 30 (register here), and feature and headline performances at the annual Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1.

Friday, March 31

Pre-Show Reception 4:30–5:30 p.m., Sunset Lounge, Memorial Union (800 Langdon Street): Join the Division of the Arts and the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) in celebrating the opening of the 2023 Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival!

Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival Showcase 6:00–8:00 p.m., Shannon Hall, Wisconsin Union Theater, Memorial Union (800 Langdon Street): Join the Division of the Arts and the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) for the 2023 Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival! This Friday night Showcase features performances by First Wave artist-scholars in the 15th Cohort; Diya Abbas (14th Cohort) and Azura Tyabji (13th Cohort); Jackson Neal (12th Cohort); and featured performances by guests of Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence Eve L. Ewing including Jamila Woods and Nate Marshall. The Showcase will conclude with a talkback with the featured performers and Eve L. Ewing, moderated by Amanda Torres. Register here! This event is all ages, free and open to the public. Masks are encouraged. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 1

Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival Showcase 6:00–8:00 p.m., Shannon Hall, Wisconsin Union Theater  (800 Langdon Street): Join the Division of the Arts and the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) for the 2023 Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival! This Saturday night Showcase features performances by First Wave artist-scholars in the 15th Cohort; First Wave alumna, Shasparay Irvin; the First Wave Touring Ensemble; and headlining performance by Interdisciplinary Artist-in-Residence Eve L. Ewing. The Showcase will conclude with a talkback with select performers and OMAI Artistic Director Mark H. Register here! This event is all ages, free and open to the public. Masks are encouraged. A post-show reception will take place 8–9:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Sunset Lounge.

Post-Show Reception 8:00–9:30 p.m., Sunset Lounge, Memorial Union (800 Langdon Street): Join the Division of the Arts and the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) to close out the 2023 Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival!

OMAI’s Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival consists of performances, lectures and discussions by First Wave artist-scholars and invited professional artists engaging with the Madison community, on and off campus. Inaugurated through OMAI’s sponsored Interdisciplinary Arts Residency with Marc Bamuthi Joseph in the spring of 2007, the Line Breaks project culminated in a final performance of student work called “Just Bust!.” Now running for 15 years, “Just Bust!” has evolved into an open mic. Line Breaks brings the top new aesthetics in contemporary hip hop and interdisciplinary performance art to the UW–Madison campus and the surrounding community. It has evolved into a space for the investigation of contemporary American culture through the lens of hip hop performance. Line Breaks is now one of the largest hip hop-centered performance festivals in the Midwest and continues to be a space for the cultivation and presentation of independent and collaborative work by First Wave artist-scholars. Here, unique responses to common human experiences are explored. The narratives, myths and legends, specific to these diverse communities, are unearthed, distilled and presented in an environment that encourages discussion and continued investigation.

About the Artist

Dr. Eve L. Ewing is a sociologist of education and a writer from Chicago. She is the author of a book for young readers, “Maya and the Robot,” the poetry collection “1919” and the nonfiction work, “Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side.” Her first book, the poetry collection “Electric Arches,” received awards from the American Library Association and the Poetry Society of America, and was named one of the year's best books by NPR and the “Chicago Tribune.” She is the co-author (with Nate Marshall) of the play “No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks.” She also currently writes the “Champions” series for Marvel Comics, and previously wrote the acclaimed “Ironheart” series, as well as other projects. Ewing is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Her work has been published in “The New Yorker,” “The Atlantic,” “The New York Times,” and many other venues. Currently she is working on her next book, “Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism,” which will be published by One World.

About the Presenters

The Division of the Arts’ Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program (IARP), originated through the Cluster Hiring Initiative of the Office of the Provost, brings innovative, world-class artists to the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. Since 1999, the program has hosted over 40 residencies involving more than 100 guest artists from 20 different countries, engaging over 60 university units and community organizations.

All residencies center interdisciplinary arts, recognizing that interdisciplinarity can break down barriers and silos, advance intellectual artistic diversity and give opportunities to people who do not fit into the traditional modes of inquiry and practice (see the Division of the Arts’ guiding principle of The Arts for Everyone, Everywhere). The program often brings together artists, faculty, staff and students from various disciplines across the arts, sciences and humanities. Integrated with curricular activities, all arts residencies in this program are proposed by academic departments or officially recognized interdepartmental programs, centers or institutes at UW–Madison.

While in residence, artists teach interdisciplinary workshops and participate in public programming with campus and Madison communities. The program provides students with extended learning experiences with a working artist, including options to earn course credit; increases diversity of teaching staff on campus; and strengthens programmatic ties among individual departments, programs and other campus and community arts entities.

The Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) within the Division of Diversity, Equity, & Educational Achievement provides culturally relevant and transformative arts programming to promote positive social dialogue and to give cultural art forms a legitimate academic forum. By harnessing the broad cultural influence of spoken word, hip hop and emerging as well as traditional art forms, OMAI’s events and programming create learning environments that directly affect UW–Madison’s campus climate, improving retention and graduation success, preparing future leaders to reinvest in their communities. By continually refreshing this paradigm that integrates traditional academics and cutting edge arts activism, OMAI empowers transnational leaders with new tools for inclusive community building.

One of OMAI’s most prominent initiatives is the First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Learning Community, a cutting-edge multicultural artistic program for incoming students which offers a four-year full tuition scholarship to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Bringing together young artists and leaders from across the United States and beyond, the First Wave Learning Community offers students the opportunity to live, study and create together in a close-knit, dynamic campus community. First Wave is the first university program in the country centered on urban arts, spoken word and hip-hop culture