We are BEAT. Bridging Education & Art Together. ‍

In the service of the Hip Hop principle of “Each One, Teach One”—BEAT’s original mission, established in 2009, was to preserve authentic Hip Hop culture and to teach young people how to leverage Hip Hop and creative self-expression to give them the tools to better advocate for themselves and their needs. BEAT quickly became a leader in New York City schools providing quality arts based education rooted in Hip Hop.

After a decade of programming in public schools, libraries, therapeutic settings, hospitals, and even refugee camps, BEAT’s instructors began to realize the utility of Hip Hop went well beyond self-advocacy. They watched as participants flourished—especially people with disabilities and youth in under-resourced communities. They saw Hip Hop as an effective pedagogical and therapeutic approach for improving health and wellness outcomes in the communities BEAT served. 

While this was an unintended consequence, BEAT decided to follow the evidence and ask why this was happening. Why were participants seeing such incredible benefits from Hip Hop? Was it something specific about Hip Hop that produced these outcomes?

In 2017, BEAT began partnering with clinical researchers to answer that very question. They began investigating what about beatboxing led to better speech development in young people with speech and communication difficulties. Since that time, BEAT has developed additional partnerships with clinical researchers to investigate other realms of Hip Hop and its impact on health and wellness. Through this research, BEAT seeks to understand and optimize the power of Hip Hop as a pathway to improving health and healing. 

In 2020, BEAT began seeking accreditations to provide continuing education courses based on the outcomes of its clinical research to teach professionals how to leverage Hip Hop’s proven benefits in educational, clinical, and therapeutic settings. The goal of these programs is to teach clinicians, educators, and caregivers how to incorporate Hip Hop into therapeutic and wellness settings.

Today, BEAT champions Hip Hop as a dynamic tool in improving physical and mental wellbeing. BEAT accomplishes this mission through a three-pronged “program tunnel”. BEAT offers arts education programs rooted in Hip Hop culture to youth in under-resourced communities and to people with disabilities. Informed by observations of its programs, BEAT conducts clinical research on the efficacy of Hip Hop as a pathway to physical and mental wellbeing. Based on this research, BEAT trains professionals across industries to use Hip Hop as a tool to advance clinical and health practices.