Third Annual Clarion University Hip-Hop Symposium

Hip-hop artist Common, a 2008 Grammy Award winner and five time NAACP Image Award winner, and Bakari Kitwana, co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention, are the keynote speakers for Third Annual Clarion University Hip-Hop Symposium on Thursday, Oct. 23. The program features speakers from around the world and an International Film Festival based around the theme "Hip-Hop Symposium 2008:  Global Impact!"

Keynote Speakers

Common - Hip-Hop Artist and Actor; 2008 Grammy Award Winner and winner of five NAACP Image Awards.

Bakari Kitwana - author, Hip-Hop Generation, Why White Kids Love Hip-
Hop; Artist-In-Residence, University of Chicago.

Presenters

Toni Blackman - U.S. Department of State American Cultural Specialist
and Hip-Hop Ambassador to Senegal, Ghana, Botswana, Swaziland and
Southeast Asia.

Martha Diaz - Founder and President of the Hip-Hop Association (H2A),
New York City; Producer of the Hip-Hop Odyssey International Film
Festival

Rufus Morris, CEO and President, School of the heARTS, Syracuse, N.Y.

Giusseppe Pipitone, - author, Bigger Than Hip-Hop; Hip-Hop from
the Italian Diaspora, Advisory board of the Black Soil International Hip
Hop Film Festival based in Rotterdam/Amsterdam; Creator and Manager of
the digital magazine Hiphopreader.it

Carlos "Los-1" Ramirez II - Youth Motivation Speaker, Tampa Florida,
United States Armed Forces "Combat Support Speaker"

Janet White - Moderator, TV Producer, and President of 5 Stone Entertainment

John Miller - Poet; President, Clarion County Arts Council; Co-Owner of Artfunkle