Hip Hop Congress

Hip Hop Congress Partners with The Cipher in Austin TX

From one of the organizers:

Austin, Tx

The Cipher- Austin’s Hip Hop Project exists to ensure Austin youth a safe, supportive, dynamic and challenging community in which to discover their powerful voices. Through written, spoken word and hip-hop, they can express their views and strengthen self-esteem. This project encourages them to use musical self-expression to air their opinions on personal and sociopolitical issues.

We provide uncensored writing, recording and performance opportunities to Austin youth at no cost. Through our year-long curriculum and workshops, we aim to develop youth’s critical thinking skills, leadership, and to ignite a personal commitment to growth and learning. In addition, this program improves job and networking skills enabling youth to start and maintain community connections. We were inspired to create this program by the documentary film The Hip Hop Project and the program it features. www.hiphopproject.com

In our curriculum, we also include the films Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes by Byron Hurt and Before the Music Dies by Austin filmmakers Joel Rasmussen and Andrew Shapter. see http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/hiphop/ and http://www.beforethemusicdies.com/

The Beyond Beats and Rhymes discussion is led by violence prevention specialist Sean Tate from Texas Council on Family Violence.

The teens also experience hip hop theatre through Zell Miller III’s Hip Hop Theatre Explosion http://sharonbridgforth.com/2007/08/05/hip-hop-theatre-explosion/ and http://austinist.com/2007/07/31/zell_miller_iii.php

This show, put on 4 times a year, allows the teens opportunities to perform in a non threatening space as they move through the Cipher program.

Some samples from the the artists work can be seen here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNGACXaR4WY
http://www.myspace.com/zellmillermusic
View Public Offenders’s EPK
and http://www.saulpaul.com/
http://www.balleteast.org/Bios/ananda.htm

All of the performers are guest speakers and involved in the day to day workings of “The Cipher”

We also partner with Austin Voices for Education and Youth, Southwest Key Programs, Texas Association for Nonprofit Organizations and numerous community organizers. This allows Cipher participants to be meaningfully involved in the community.