Music and spoken-word festival to feature international artists

The fifth annual Passing the Mic series, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI), will bring internationally renowned musical and spoken-word artists from Central America and across the United States to the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium from Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 8-10.

The lineup includes Guillermo Anderson, Philip Montalvan, Greg Landau, Marty McConnell and Tish Jones, along with a showcase featuring UW–Madison First Wave performers and teams of teen poets and artists from Chicago, the Twin Cities and Hawaii.

In conjunction with the three-day musical and spoken-word event, which is part of the annual Wisconsin Book Festival, the award-winning artists will participate in outreach events and workshops in Madison public high schools and venues at UW–Madison in addition to their evening performances. All events are free and open to the public.

Here is a schedule of events, all of which will be held at the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium, 816 State St.:

• Thursday, Oct. 8, 8 p.m.: Get Up/Stand Up: OMAI-First Wave Wins 2009 Governor’s Arts Award and OMAI Web site release showcase. Join the OMAI staff, First Wave students and friends of OMAI celebrate the Governor’s Award in Support of the Arts with a showcase event featuring some of Passing the Mic’s highlighted performers and unveil the new OMAI Web site designed by ZD Studios.
• Friday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m.: “Making Wave Showcase: From Hawaii to First Wave through Chitown.” Join two-time International Teen Slam Champion Team Hawaii as they share their award-winning pieces. Also featured will be the Chicago-based Def Poetry veteran Marty McConnell, followed by special First Wave hip-hop theatrical shorts drawn from the sophomore and freshman cohorts.

9 p.m.: Passing the Mic Spoken Word and Hip Hop Open Mic, hosted by First Wave, featuring the Midwest Youth Slam All-Stars. Come hear youth poetry slam champions from Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, and the Twin Cities and bring your own pieces to share. Signup starts at 8:30 p.m.

• Saturday, Oct. 10, 8 p.m.: A Tribute to Tico da Costa: A Celebration of 20 Years of Building Cross-Hemispheric Arts Alliances featuring Guillermo Anderson (Honduras), Greg Landau (Bay Area), Philip Montalvan (Nicaragua), Tish Jones (Twin Cities) and the First Wave Hip-Hop Music Ensemble. Join OMAI for a tribute event celebrating Tico da Costa, a Brazilian singer-songwriter who died in early September. A team of internationally renowned Central American musicians will team with the First Wave Music Ensemble and perform an evening of cutting-edge music drawn from the musical traditions of punta (Central American music), reggae, soca (soul calypso dance music) and hip-hop.