WBL Hip Hop Conference-SFSU
Posted October 11, 2008 2:46 pm (about 1214 days ago)
The second workshop I attended, “Program Models that Work,” had representatives from BAVAC, BUMP Records, YMR, HHC,
and Art Share LA, including my boy D-Labrie, and fellow University of Michigan graduate Chris Wiltsee, discussing the keys to their sustainability, including how they generated funds, maintained relationships, and promoted their activities. While I found this workshop to be interesting, it didn’t really fit my own situation as I work in a school that has a fairly consistent budget (don’t have to worry about the lights getting turned off), provides benefits, and we’re not looking to become an international organization any time soon. Does this mean that I’m better off? Not necessarily. What it does mean is that by having basic needs met I can more easily focus on areas such as teaching since my basic needs are met. But other non-profits are there as well. The aforementioned groups sound like they’re doing well and throughout the weekend a 
consistent theme was how to get organizations to the point that people can make comfortable careers out of them and support their families. Most of the older folks (meaning older than 25) weren’t trying to be martyrs, yet love this work so want to be able to continue doing it. Another good point all the panelists made is that they're not competing with one another as the need for youth services are so great that there's no way they can accomodate even a fraction of the demand. That's something I constantly tell people as well. There's SO much money out here and we're fighting over crumbs?The final panel focused on “E-activism;” essentially how technology can be used to further social causes. It was good, but nothing that our generation and those under us weren’t already familiar with. A few people did start to touch on more advanced technologies, but it was towards the end and I think everyone was pretty much burnt out by then.
Having said that, as I talked to some of the older folks, meaning those of us in our late twenties and up, most of these conferences provide great introductory information and we would’ve loved them when we were younger. However, as we’ve progressed in our careers and lives, we need more depth, which was essentially my point at the beginning of this. In their defense, the organizers of this event were seeking to create a forum for these types of more advanced discussion to happen. As such, I can personally attest to the fact that some great networking took place, which is often the main benefit at any conference. Plus, I found myself on more than one occasion taking up the role of the “old head” sharing his “back in the day” experiences with the younger folks, which highlights the need for people of varying experiences to come together and share information with each other. I learned quite a bit from informal conversations and it’ll be interesting what grow out of this conference. I’m e-mailing new contacts as we speak!
Shout out to Mazi, Goldie, Dawn, Jeff, DLabrie, Rico, Sarah, Sincere Justice, the crew from Soka University, and everyone else I had a chance to chop it up with!
I believe that this conference was a great step in the right direction to channel high school education and bring relevance in the curriculum through the hip hop music