Portugal
From October 15-30, 2022, eight Hip Hop artists traveled to Portugal as part of the Next Level program. Orb (Dancer), Hannah G-W (Dancer) Mazzi (MC), Agana (Aerosol), BLVK Samurai (Beatmaker), and Diamond D (Beatmaker), joined site managers Brian Pistols and Corey James Gray to perform for audiences and collaborate with local artists to promote cross-cultural creative exchange and conflict transformation. Team Portugal is part of a larger Next Level cohort of American MCs, DJs, beatmakers, and Hip Hop dancers seeking to create a global community through Hip Hop culture.
Next Level, a cultural diplomacy program that uses Hip Hop to create connections is an initiative of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Meridian International Center that promotes conflict transformation, entrepreneurship and artistic and professional development among younger and under-served audiences around the world.
The main residency activity was the Academy workshops. Beyond the Academy, everyone (Artist-Educators, Site Managers, and videographers) also met up to build with their respective communities and/or student-collaborators. This looked like non-Academy workshops and local sessions for the dancers, open mics and studio time for beatmakers and emcees, hitting various free walls across Lisbon for the aerosol artists. Hannah G-W also taught two workshops at NEXT Dance Studio on October 19th, and Orb taught a House masterclass at MOS Studio on October 20th. At those workshops, we were able to meet with various local dancers and community leaders pivotal in leading the Lisbon scene.
Aside from formal workshops, all dancers present at the residency attended the local sessions. Hannah G-W and Junious attended a House session at MOS Studio on October 18th; the next week, October 25th, Orb and Bao attended the same session. Brian Pistols attended an outdoor Breaking session at Graca on October 25th where he was able to meet more local breakers; one of whom even attended the final event. On October 27th, Orb, Hannah, and Brian all attended a session at Ponto de Encontro where they were able to meet new faces and familiar ones from previous sessions. On October 29th, the day after the final event, Orb and Brian attended a jam held by MOS for their 10-Year Anniversary celebration where everyone they met at the local sessions and studio workshops was present.
On October 23rd, Mazzi, Corey, & Blvk Samurai performed a live set on the same bill as a few student collaborators, at a venue called Nucleo A70. Later that week, on October 26th and October 27th, various members of the team including Mazzi, BLVK Samurai, Diamond D, Corey, Laura, & Bao, along with some of the student-collaborators had studio time at Kriativu and another location. They recorded the music they were working on in the Academy, shared unreleased work, and got the chance to meet other local beatmakers and emcees on those visits. Agana was consistently out and about with her student-collaborators, painting and building all across Lisbon at various free walls.
All participants left feeling inspired, charged up, and feeling like it was an opportunity of a lifetime. The students have been in touch on social media letting the Next Level team know that they are now meeting up weekly and monthly to collaborate.
NEXT LEVEL ACADEMY PARTICIPANTS
