11/04/2025
Last fall, the Dayton Sister City Committee, along with many other organizations, welcomed Neta Weiner and Samira Saraya to Dayton for a couple of days. Neta and Samira are part of Beit System Ali (BSA), a cultural educational movement based in Dayton's sister city of Holon, whose activity is based on the belief in the power of artistic action to promote equality and generate socio-political change. Their visit was an effort to gauge interest in bringing more of their organization back to Dayton. However, after a year of preparation and planning, Neta and Samira’s in-person August 2025 tour in Ohio was cancelled due to no visas being issued for them by the current administration. This project hence pivoted to a truncated, though no less inspirational, and virtual project. Neta and Samira will facilitate two virtual educational programs, one for Wright State University students and one for students at Sinclair College, that encourage brave multicultural discourse, cultivate in-depth encounters, and enable shared society between different cultural groups (thanks to The Iddings Foundation!). Additionally, Neta and Samira will be a part of a remote collaboration with three Ohio hip-hop artists based in Yellow Springs: Jayswifa, Tronee Threat, and ArtGod. Titled "NO VISAS," the performance salvages the effort to put on an in-person concert by staging a hybrid one at The Foundry Theater at Antioch College, with these five renowned hip-hop artists performing both individually and collectively. Through countless remote meetings, sharing inspiration and beats, and discussing what it means to make art in times of political unrest and turmoil, these five artists have pushed themselves to create music together that speaks to the realities of life in America, Palestine, and Israel.
https://tinyurl.com/4jxu43bh
