The mission of the H2A is to facilitate critical thinking, foster constructive social change and unity to instill tolerance, civic participation, social reform, and economic sustainability, while advancing Hip-Hop's culture through innovative programming.


historical timline

November 2007

• Co-presenter for the 11th annual Arab Film Festival (Los Angeles, CA)

• H2O programs a global Hip-Hop film showcase for the Cinefest Multicultural Film and Performance Festival (Madison, WI)

• Supporting Sponsor of the African American Women in Cinema Film Festival (New York, NY)

• Supporting Sponsor of panel “Global Impact of Hip-Hop Culture,” at St. John’s University (New York, NY)

October 2007
• Co-Presenter at the United Nations Association Week panel “Bridging the Gap: Hip-Hop and the U.N” (Washington, DC)

• Facilitates screening of The Hip-Hop Project at the Rich Mix Cultural Foundation (East London, England)

• H2A becomes a member of the Public Education Needs Civic Involvement in Learning (PENCIL) program and adopts the Rafael Hernandez School of the Performing Arts in the S. Bronx (New York, NY)

September 2007
• Programs a global Hip-Hop film showcase for the 9th annual BFM International Film Festival at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London, England)

• Facilitates a special screening of The Hip-Hop Project at the US Embassy in London (London, England)

• Supporting Sponsor of the International Association of Hip-Hop Educators Conference (Washington, DC)

August 2007
• Martha Diaz and Rolando Brown launch the GROW Hip-Hop Initiative

June 2007
• 5th Annual H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival screens over 75 films from over 10 countries (New York, NY)

• The Hip-Hop Association receives the prestigious Union Square Award for its consistent contribution to the community and social activism (New York, NY)

• Partners with Urban Word NYC and University of Wisconsin-Madison to present the 2nd Edition of the Spoken Word and Hip-Hop Summer Teacher Institute (Madison, WI)

May 2007
• Participant on a distribution panel at the inaugural Black Lily Film and Music Women’s Festival (Philadelphia, PA)

April 2007
• Co-Presenter with the University of Alaska of the first ever Hip-Hop Leadership and Career Development Summit (Anchorage, Alaska)

March 2007
• Facilitates screening of Beyond Beats and Rhymes at the Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival at Trinity College (Hartford, CN)

February 2007
• Programs global Hip-Hop film showcase for the Grassroots Media Coalition Conference at New School University (New York, NY)
February 2007
• Martha Diaz and Marcella Runell Hall create and publish, the first of its kind reference book entitled, The Hip-Hop Education Guidebook, Vol. 1
• Partners with Urban Word NYC and the New School's Institute of Urban Education to produce the It’s All About M.E.E. (Media, Expression, and Education) Festival, a 3-day multi-media celebration that combines the Freshest Youth Program, the Urban Word NYC Grand Slam Final, and the Hip-Hop Education Summit (New York, NY)

December 2006
• Facilitates screening of Beef III at the Balafon Film Festival (Bari, Italy)

November 2006
• Programs global Hip-Hop film showcase for Cinefest Multicultural Film Festival (Madison, WI)
• Facilitates screening of Resistencia: Hip-Hop in Colombia at the Whitechapel Gallery (East London, England)
• Facilitates screening of South African film Mr. Devious and produces a global Hip-Hop panel for Planet Hip-Hop 3 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark, NJ)
• Co-Presenter for screening of Inventos: Hip-Hop Cubano and Resistencia: Hip-Hop in Colombia for the BFM Film Club at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London, England)

October 2006
• Co-Presenter of “United Nations and Hip-Hop Working Together” panel at the United Nations Association Week (Washington, DC)
• Supporting Sponsor for the African American Women in Cinema Festival. Presents a panel entitled “Building Bridges: Using Hip-Hop culture to analyze Race Relations.” (New York, NY)
• Facilitates screening of Brown Like Dat at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA)
• Co-presenter for screenings of Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Estilo Hip-Hop, and Bling: Consequences and Repercussions at the Tricycle Cinema for Black History Month (London, England)

September 2006
• Programs global Hip-Hop film showcase from throughout the African Diaspora for the 8th annual BFM International Film Festival (London, England)

July 2006
• Programs Hip-Hop film showcase addressing political and socio-economic issues for the National Hip-Hop Political Convention (Chicago, IL)

June 2006
• Co-presenter of film series on women in Hip-Hop for the B-Girl Be Summit (Minneapolis, MN)
• Partners with the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame’s Summer Teacher Institute to program the first ever Hip-Hop education focused professional development course (Cleveland, OH)

May 2006
• Supporting Sponsor of the “Principal for a Day” program at the Sankofa Academy during Hip-Hop Appreciation Week (New York, NY)

April 2006
• Programs Hip-Hop films for the Longbaugh International Film Festival (Portland, OR)
• Programs a global Hip-Hop film series and produces a panel examining the global Hip-Hop film movement for Film Fest DC (Washington, DC)
• Co-Presenter of Hip-Hop films at the Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival (Hartford, CN)
• Programs global Hip-Hop films for the Starz Denver Pan African Film Festival (Denver, CO)
• Programs Hip-Hop films for the Atlanta Hip-Hop Film Festival (Atlanta, GA)

February 2006
• Programs a global Hip-Hop film showcase for the Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF), the largest Pan-African film festival in the US. Also produced a panel for the festival examining the transition from music video directing into feature film directing.
• Programs global Hip-Hop film showcase and social justice workshop for the NYC Grassroots Media Coalition Conference (New York, NY)

December 2005
• Programs global Hip-Hop films for Baobab Urban Youth Conference (Capetown, South Africa)

November 2005
• Fourth Annual H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival (New York, NY)
• Third Annual H2Ed [Hip-Hop Education] Summit (New York, NY)
• Programs global Hip-Hop film showcase to help launch the Pittsburg Hip-Hop Film Festival (Pittsburg, PN)

October 2005
• Programs global Hip-Hop films for the Hipnotik festival where H2A founder Martha Diaz also participates on an international panel (Barcelona, Spain)

September 2005
• H2A becomes a member of the Media Coalition for Artists of Color
• Programs global Hip-Hop films for Cinema Urban program (Marseilles, France)

August 2005
• Co-Sponsored the Inventos Sankofa Tour, sending filmmaker Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi to Colombia and Cuba with resources to build the global Hip-Hop community
• H2A partners with Hip-Hop Congress to advance the initiatives of the H2Ed program

April 2005
• H2Ed facilitates two workshops during the Sixth National Conference on Family and Community Violence Prevention (Honolulu, Hawaii)

February 2005
• Programs global Hip-Hop films for the Pan African Film and Arts Festival (Los Angeles, CA)
• Presenting sponsor for “Latino filmmakers in Hip-Hop” panel discussion during the National Association of Latino Independent Producers Conference (Los Angeles, CA)

November 2004
• Third Annual H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival (New York, NY)
• Second Annual H2Ed [Hip-Hop Education] Summit (New York, NY)
• Co-Presenter of screening of short documentary Estilo Hip-Hop during the World Youth Festival (Barcelona, Spain)

August 2004
• H2Ed participates in a panel discussion on the Language of Hip-Hop sponsored by UNESCO and the International Music Council at the World Youth Summit (Barcelona, Spain)

June 2004
• Programs a 5-hour film series, followed by a Directors’ Q & A, featuring political and socio-economic topics during the Hip-Hop Political Convention (Newark, NJ)
• H2Ed programs an education training workshop entitled “Using Hip-Hop as an Educational Tool And Its Politics: Engaging Students with their Culture” at the 1st annual Hip-Hop Political Convention (Newark, NJ)

May 2004
• Co-produces a series of Hip-Hop short screenings during Hip-Hop Appreciation Week (New York, NY)

March 2004
• Martha Diaz and Mona Ibrahim officially launch the Community Building Initiative

April 2004
• H2Ed teams up with the Queens Museum program Leadership through the Arts: Young Adults Arts Leadership Corp. (New York, NY)
• H2Ed teams up with Eyebeam Museum's Educational Division for curriculum development, to create the first series of lesson plans that teaches blogging by using Hip-Hop tools

March 2004
• H2Ed teams up with University Settlement to create the first curriculum made for their Hip-Hop Leadership ACTION TEEN Camp (New York, NY)
• H2A teams up with the Bronx Museum for a long-term partnership to host the H2O IFF (Hip-Hop Odyssey International Film Festival) and H2Ed Summit (New York, NY)
February 2004
• H2Ed sponsors Union Settlement's Hip-Hop Conference for youth (New York, NY)

January 2004
• Martha Diaz, Tricia Wang, Rolando Brown and Hon. George Martinez officially launch Defuse News

December 2003
• H2O co-founders Martha Diaz and Tania Cuevas-Martinez sit on Advisory Board of the first International Hip-Hop Film Festival in Europe, the Black Soil Film Festival. (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

November 2003
• Second Annual H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival (New York)
• Supporting sponsor for the launch of the Hutus Hip-Hop Film Festival (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• H2Ed [Hip-Hop Education] holds the first ever Hip-Hop and Education gathering, the 2003 H2Ed Summit: Connect!, at The Door, the oldest youth center in New York City, with over 500 educators attending (New York, NY)

September 2003
• Programs a global Hip-Hop film series during the Hip-Hop and Social Change Conference at the Field Museum (Chicago, IL)

• The 7th Annual LA International Short Film Fest teams up to bring viewers a 90-minute program of independent Hip-Hop shorts at the Arclight Cinema in Los Angeles, California.

August 2003
• Co-Presenter of the first ever Hip-Hop film series during the 9th Edition of the National Cuban Hip-Hop Festival (Havana, Cuba)

July 2003
• Co-Presenter of film series during the Rock Steady Anniversary celebration (New York, NY)

January 2003
• Martha Diaz and Patricia Wang launch H2Ed [Hip-Hop Education] Initiative and Freshest Youth Category for the H2O Film Festival

November 2002
• Martha Diaz organizes a dozen artists, activists, executives, and educators, including Gabriel Tolliver, Tania Cuevas, Rachel Goldstein, Alyce Emory, Ariel Palitz, and Tariq Zaid, and launches the First Annual H2O [Hip-Hop Odyssey] International Film Festival (New York, NY)