UW–Madison Division of the Arts: Announcing the Inaugural Arts Crawl at UW–Madison from March 31-April 2, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 10, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT:
Lisa Spierer | UW–Madison Division of the Arts | lisa.spierer@wisc.edu

MEDIA KIT: https://uwmadison.box.com/s/ekt0fd6tv4pc5dculz7dx0wal55bimif

LINK TO ARTICLE: https://artsdivision.wisc.edu/2022/03/10/arts-crawl/

Announcing the Inaugural Arts Crawl at UW–Madison from March 31-April 2, 2022

Madison, Wis. – Mark your calendars for the inaugural Arts Crawl, taking place on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus from Thursday, March 31 – Saturday, April 2.

Arts Crawl highlights a collection of arts events held over several days in the arts departments and co-curricular arts units at UW–Madison. It is an opportunity to have creative arts experiences, which may take the form of demonstrations and workshops, as well as the chance to visit arts classes, lectures, talks, performances, exhibitions and rehearsals.

Division of the Arts student assistant Dawry Ruiz presented the concept for this event last fall. Ruiz is a third-year First Wave Scholar majoring in Community and Nonprofit Leadership and a certificate in Arts and Teaching. He says, “The Arts Crawl is a collaborative experience where the arts on campus are showcased in their most collaborative and interdisciplinary form. The Crawl is an opportunity to share what the arts community at UW can offer the surrounding communities.”

Attendees are invited to curate their own experience. Sit in on a weaving course or watch films by students in Communication Arts. See a glass blowing demonstration, walk through an immersive installation at the campus art museum or attend a performance by Grammy-nominated musicians.

Arts Crawl is presented in partnership with Line Breaks Festival (April 1-2, 2022), one of the largest annual hip hop theater festivals in the Midwest. In the fifteenth anniversary year of the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, the sixteenth annual Line Breaks Festival will be a homecoming for UW alumni involved in multicultural arts over the last 15 years and beyond. Line Breaks Festival events are free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Many Arts Crawl events are free and open to the public. Some events require advance registration or ticket purchase. To view the whole schedule, visit go.wisc.edu/ArtsCrawl.

Arts Crawl 2022 is presented by the UW–Madison Division of the Arts in partnership with the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives and the Madison Metropolitan School District.

About the Division of the Arts

An academic administrative unit in the Office of the Provost, the Division of the Arts unifies and catalyzes the arts at UW–Madison. We support and promote the missions of the academic arts departments and affiliated partners, foster interdisciplinary collaborations, deepen the student experience, build community engagement, and advocate for inclusion, diversity, equity, and access across the arts.

About the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives

The Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives within the Division of Diversity, Equity, & Educational Achievement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provides culturally relevant and transformative arts programming to promote positive social dialogue and to give cultural art forms a legitimate academic forum. By harnessing the broad cultural influence of spoken word, hip hop and emerging as well as traditional art forms, OMAI’s events and programming create learning environments that directly affect UW-Madison’s campus climate, improving retention and graduation success, preparing future leaders to reinvest in their communities. By continually refreshing this paradigm that integrates traditional academics and cutting-edge arts activism, OMAI empowers transnational leaders with new tools for inclusive community building.

One of OMAI’s most prominent initiatives is the First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Learning Community, a cutting-edge multicultural artistic program for incoming students which offers a four-year full tuition scholarship to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Bringing together young artists and leaders from across the United States and beyond, the First Wave Learning Community offers students the opportunity to live, study and create together in a close-knit, dynamic campus community. First Wave is the first university program in the country centered on urban arts, spoken word and hip-hop culture.

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