Youth Speaks Wisconsin

First Wave empowers high school and college students to find, develop, and share their voices through spoken word, hip-hop, and multimedia art. Promoting critical dialogue and cross-cultural celebration, we are growing together as artists, students, and leaders. A program of the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives at UW-Madison, we have been doing spoken word in the Madison schools since 2004 and Milwaukee since 2006. In 2007, we started the First Wave Spoken Word and Urban Arts Learning Community at UW-Madison, the first college program in the country centered on spoken word and hip-hop culture. We throw regular events like the Just Bust open mic, Passing the Mic, Cinefest, and the annual Wisconsin Teen Poetry Slam. From the classroom to the stage to the streets, this is a new movement for a new era. Are you in?