NO VISAS brings together five renowned hip-hop artists to perform both individually and collectively, the culminating performance after a multi-month collaborative artistic process. The Foundry Theater welcomes, for the first time, Neta Weiner and Samira Saraya of Beit System Ali, a cultural educational movement based in Holon, whose activity is based on the belief in the power of artistic action to promote equality and generate socio-political change. After a year of preparation, Neta and Samira’s in-person tour in Ohio was cancelled in August 2025 due to no visas being issued for them by the current administration. This project hence pivoted to a remote collaboration with three Ohio hip-hop artists based in Yellow Springs: Jayswifa, Tronee Threat, and ArtGod. 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.

This unique performance at the Foundry will highlight the individual artists’ works and voices, but also share through narration and film segments the process of making music together. The show will end with a hybrid live-filmed performance of the two tracks created by all five artists. Samira and Neta will be joining the Q&A segment from Berlin.

What began as the hip-hop ensemble System Ali during the 2006 housing rights movement against the eviction of 500 Palestinian families from the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa (adjacent to Tel Aviv). Beit System Ali has grown over more than a decade into an exceptional cultural engine for community building. Alongside the ground-breaking artistic work of our collective of artists (all genders, LGBTQI+, Muslims, Christians and Jews of diverse backgrounds), Beit System Ali develops and runs unique educational programs that encourage brave multicultural discourse, cultivate in-depth encounters, and enable shared society between different cultural groups. Neta and Samira will be hosting four remote workshops this fall in Ohio, two of which will be in Yellow Springs. For more information about joining a workshop, contact Angie at hsu.enchi@gmail.com.

Support for this project comes from:
The Yellow Springs Community Foundation
Dayton Sister City Committee
Mad River Theater Works
Ohio Arts Council
WYSO
Antioch College Learning Hubs
Iddings Foundation
MAZU