Most people have little or no exposure to spoken word. Maybe a YouTube video posted to a friend’s Facebook wall or a clip from HBO’s “Def Poetry.” MTV doesn’t carve out a ton of time for it and you’re not going to hear it on mainstream radio. Spoken word is rap music without the frills, and people love their frills. But take out the cars and chains, cut the beats and fame, and spoken word is what you’re left with. Rhythmic poetry. A landscape of words crafted to flow smoothly so that background music isn’t necessary or even wanted. The University of Wisconsin-Madison instituted a program in fall of 2007 to foster this art form and give interested students an opportunity to get involved.
First Wave is an urban arts movement that was brought to campus from the Bay Area by Executive Director Willie Ney with the mission of bringing multicultural spoken art to a wider college audience. Ney witnessed the youth poetry mecca in California, shook some hands and used his connections to start a pipeline program for students here.
“We wanted to give the brilliant students of the hip-hop generation and spoken art the chance to reproduce what happened at this annual festival in California,” Ney said. “They just vibe and come together as a community once a year.”
To Dominique Ricks, a member of the sixth cohort of students from Baton Rouge, La., the program means “substantial progress, not just for UW, but for the entire world. We come from all over, and our dreams and goals range.”
The program is part of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement, and the group takes pride in the multiculturalism found in urban art. Ney says the art “forms a community,” adding that “you don’t need many resources, and people of all backgrounds are drawn to it to address issues in their lives that get marginalized.”
The cutting-edge program is one of the first of its kind to fuse hip-hop theater pieces with a university scholarship. First Wave takes 15 new students each year out of an application pool that’s doubling in size annually, and accepted applicants are awarded a full scholarship to the university. Each class, including a small crew of fifth-year seniors, works together on productions throughout the year.
Urban art inherently forges a sense of community. It is an art form based around the passions and emotions created by the same streetlights above different heads. It’s art that is inspired by a city landscape that’s shared by so many people. The art feels like it comes from everyone in town. In First Wave, the art actually does come from everyone. The pieces are created by drawing on individual strengths from different students to create a whole.
“As students in the program we learn so much from each other as artists and individuals and bring that back to our communities,” says Ricks, who is currently working on creating a TED talk to be delivered at Louisiana State University next month.
The program immediately started to gain recognition as being one of the first of its kind. In 2009 it received the Wisconsin Governor’s Arts Award, the highest arts achievement award in the state, as well as the National Governor’s Arts Award in 2010. The ensemble performed on Broadway, at the Apollo Theater, and travelled overseas to Great Britain to perform at the Cultural Olympiad to kick off the 2012 Olympic Games. The NCAA National Convention in San Diego also saw the First Wave artists perform as a headliner.
“We’ve definitely made our mark and we’re going to continue to grow,” Ney said.
But when you go to see a First Wave performance, you’re probably not looking at the next Kanye West or Jay-Z. Instead, you’re watching mostly future school teachers and writers. Though some alumni have gone on to work in music or theater—one student is currently in a Milwaukee production of “In the Heights”—most major in education. An astounding 100 percent of First Wave students who apply are accepted into the highly coveted and highly selective education program, Teach for America. This compares to the miniscule 11 percent who are accepted nationally, according to The Washington Post.
“As a graduating senior I’ve come to see that the program is transformative. The program has taught me how to effectively market my talents and how to network as not only an artist but as an academic,” Ricks said. “I’ve learned creative processes and made connections that will make it easier for me to thrive as an educator and an artist.”
By producing such a tight-knit community of artists and providing them with the resources they need to succeed, the First Wave program maintains a 97 percent graduation rate, compared to the university’s six-year graduation rate of only 83.7 percent.
“A very high GPA is critical. We set a high standard,” Ney said. “The students get jobs of their choice, most of the time any job they apply for. They also get into graduate programs of their choice. One student received a full scholarship to a doctorate program in sociology here at UW. First Wave helps them be successful in whatever they want. It’s not a training ground to become the next best rapper, although we do have the talent to produce one. We support the students in whatever they want to do.”
First Wave’s most popular event is a monthly open mic, held on the first Friday of every month at the Red Gym. Featured students from the program host the event and welcome other students to try their hand at the rising art form. The students are set to host a festival in April, presenting their original pieces of poetry and theater.
