A new event at the Krannert Art Museum hopes to bring together the Univeristy and the local community in a celebration of hip-hop and black culture.

Students and local artists will experience multimedia from spoken word to artwork at “Songs, Poetry, Expression, Art and Knowledge Caf‚,” premiering Thursday night. It will be the beginning of a six part series that will take place this semester and will feature shows from 7-9 p.m., with an intermission at 8.

Associate Director of African American Studies William Patterson said he co-created the event in an attempt to connect the University and the community in a way where activism and expression is shared by everyone.

The event evolved from “Cash Rules Everything Around Me,” an African American studies class Patterson taught last semester that looked at the culture of hip-hop from an industrial and political standpoint.

When Patterson collaborated with Krannert to create more hip-hop based activities on campus, his students got deeply involved. He said their energy and enthusiasm was what really helped create the event.

Sasha Skolnik, junior in LAS and a former student of Patterson, said that he and other students wanted to develop a way for artists to express themselves in front of a crowd. Skolnik said he hopes that the event’s success goes beyond that idea and leads to a new political venue.

The event also relates to this year’s theme of the African American Studies and Research Program, Patterson said.

“(The theme) ‘Race, Roots, and Resistance’ involves revisiting the legacy of black power, the Black Arts Movement and understanding how these past events affected the hip-hop generation,” said Patterson. “That being 30+ years ago, what has hip-hop learned or is (it) similar to what our artists of this generation are professing through their arts?”

Patterson said that the event will honor the past, while showcasing new artists and attempting to help these artists make professional musical debuts.

A significant part of the event is focused on bringing back community engagement, cultural events and other outlets from the past to better the quality of life for blacks, Patterson said. The first step in accomplishing this is to create a setting for University and community members to discuss these topics together.

Aaron Ammons, local artist and Urbana resident, said he hopes this project bridges the gap between the University and the local community, which he says have little affiliation with each other.

“I would love to see (University) students take the initiative in dealing with local racial issues and lack of education … like in the Civil Rights Movement,” said Ammons.

Ammons said that he wants to “shake up and wake up” everyone and encourage them to take action against problems that surround local communities. This would be a better alternative instead of waiting to take a stand only when catastrophes like Katrina happen, he said, referring to the racial tension that surrounds the relief effort of the hurricane victims.

Karen Hewitt, deputy director of the Krannert Art Museum and co-creator of the event, said when students have an opportunity to interact with people other than University associates in this type of intimate space, there are sure to be some connections.

Anyone born between 1965 and 1984 are considered part of the hip-hop generation because they were born when segregation was illegal, Patterson said. In this era, new programs and ideas for African Americans emerged.

“We and ‘Songs, Poetry, Expression, Art and Knowledge Caf‚’ are byproducts of that spirit,” Patterson said.