Grant Recipient: Class of 2010Major: African American Studies
Organization: Hip Hop Theater Festival
Location: Brooklyn, NY
I never felt that my life could change in one summer. However, this summer, unlike any other summer of my life, I feel myself becoming myself. More importantly, I am closely approaching and nearly touching dreams that I was afraid were impossible. This summer I had the great opportunity to reach three goals so far. For one, I was able to intern as a networking agent for the Hip Hop Theater Festival organization for a month. I had the opportunity to meet various upcoming artists on new theater projects they were working on for the fall semester such as Big Boi from Outkast. Additionally, the Hip Hop theater Festival became greatly interested in a piece I am working on for my senior thesis and allowed me to use their studio space for creative time and brainstorming. Additionally, as a networking social representative for the Hip Hop Theater Festival, I was able to attend various concerts and exclusive events every week where I was able to talk to industry leaders in the media network and many hip hop artists including The Clipse. Alongside my internship, I am developing my senior thesis project named The Memoirs of Hip Hop, which intends to be a collaborative dance, theater and musical piece that personifies and gives life to Hip Hop, while simultaneously revealing the life story of young black girl trying to grow into her own. I am using all the connections and ideas I get from networking within my piece and hopefully using some of the artists that I meet within the work. Lastly, I have also been taking various dance classes including Hip Hop, West African Dance, Ballet and Vogue in order to expand my dance vocabulary for my piece. Fortunately, the summer is not over and my heart is set on continuing this amazing journey and even moving across the U.S to study hip hop cultures in other areas of the country. This summer has become my dream summer and it is only leading me to believe that even better things will come to my future.
