Ariyan Johnson to Screen Documentary at 2025 Hip-Hop Culture Conference

UC Irvine will host the 2025 Hip Hop Culture Conference on Friday, May 2, from 12 to 6 p.m. at the UCI ANTrepreneur Center. Presented by the Student Outreach and Retention Center (SOAR), the event brings together artists, scholars, students and community members to explore the richness of hip-hop as a cultural movement rooted in community, resistance and creative expression.

Among the featured participants is Assistant Professor Ariyan Johnson, actress, director and faculty member in the Department of Dance at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Johnson will present a screening of her documentary Spiritual Cyphers: Hip Hop and the Church from 3 to 4 p.m. The film examines the spiritual legacy of hip-hop, its historical tensions with the Black church and the vital contributions of African American women hip-hop dance pioneers.

“As far as Hip Hop conferences go, this one is focused on the Culture, and as a lover of Hip Hop, I couldn’t be happier to be invited to participate in screening my documentary,” said Johnson. “Hip Hop started from community, and being a community-centered artist and educator, that aspect of what Antonio Lee wanted to accomplish with this intergenerational and multi-disciplinary Hip Hop Culture Conference represents the essence of what makes Hip Hop—Hip Hop.”

Event Details
What: Spiritual Cyphers: Hip Hop and the Church – Film screening with Professor Ariyan Johnson
When: Friday, May 2, 2025 | 3 to 4 p.m.
Where: UCI ANTrepreneur Center
Cost: Free with RSVP

The screening and conference are free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP via the SOAR Center website or through a direct link on Campus Groups.

This program is made possible through the support of UCI Student Outreach and Retention Center, Student Housing, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts and ASUCI.

Photo: Ariyan Johnson. Credit: Skye Schmidt Varga.