Black Arts Matter Festival

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Produced by award-winning spoken word artist Shasparay Lighteard, the Black Arts Matter Festival brings together black artists from Madison and the Midwest for a week of performances, discussions and more. Features include a slam poetry contest (Friday-Saturday, Central Library), a one-person show by Porsha Olayiwola (Wednesday, Edgewood College), and a screening of Spike Lee's satirical film Bamboozled (Thursday, Central Library). 

press release: We intend to build a community around Black artistry by uplifting Black art and Black voices in white-dominated spaces. This is the inaugural year of Black Arts Matter Festival, an interdisciplinary arts festival celebrating and promoting Black art.

If you would like more information, please contact blackartsmatterfest@gmail.com.

SUNDAY:

"Trouble in Mind" By Alice Childress; Directed by Sandra Adell. 2 pm, Bartell Theatre.

Synopsis: Broadway, 1957. An integrated theater company gathers to rehearse a new play—likely the next big hit on the Great White Way. Veteran actress Wiletta Mayer grapples with the choice between a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play the lead role in a Broadway show, and the cost of compromising her principles, as her white director and playwright fail to listen to cast members’ objections to the representation of African American lives. "Trouble in Mind" is a  groundbreaking backstage story of egos and attitudes, and an insightful look at who we are and who we want to be in a racial milieu far too familiar six decades after it won an Obie Award.

MONDAY:

Opening Event & Panel, Monday, March 4 @ 7:00 pm, UW Red Gym-Multicultural Student Center, 716 Langdon St.:The Opening Event & Panel Discussion marks the official start of the first ever Black Arts Matter Festival in Madison, Wisconsin. Founder, Shasparay Lighteard, will give a brief introduction as well as provide a preview for the events happening throughout the week. A panel discussion about topics surrounded Black arts will follow some live entertainment. Light refreshments will be provided and attendees will be able to mingle with the founder, staff, and panelists. Free event.

WEDNESDAY

"Black & Ugly as Ever" with Porsha O: March 6 @ 7:30 pm, Anderson Auditorium, Edgewood College: Black & Ugly as Ever featuring Porsha O is a one-person choreopoem that explores what it means to move through reality as a queer, fat, dark-skinned woman.  The production utilizes original song, poetry, and movement to discover love of self in a body that occupies multiple marginalized identities. This hour-long production is split between two halves: one that scrutinizes society's norms and the other that praise the defiance of rigid normalities. Be prepared to laugh, cry, think critically and be a little uncomfortable in this dangerous love story. ​Free Event.

THURSDAY

Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2000): Thursday, March 7 @ 6:00 pm, Central Library, 201 W Mifflin St.: Bamboozled is a 2000 satirical comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring Black actors donning blackface make-up and the resulting violent fallout from the show's success. Free event.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY

BAM Poetry Slam

PRELIMS Friday, March 8, Bout 1 & 2: 7:30-9 pm, Bout 3: 9:30-11 pm: BAM Slam Preliminaries is the first day of a two day spoken word poetry competition where 30 award-winning poets from around the country to compete for over a $1000 in prizes.There will be two preliminary bouts happening at 7:30 pm and another at 9:30 pm. Free event.

FINALS & CLOSING EVENT

Saturday, March 9: 7-10 pm, Central Library, 201 W Mifflin St.: This is the last day of the two day poetry competition. Judges from the previous night will select 12 poets to compete for the top prize of $1,000. Alongside the slam there will be other live performances. This event is free to the public and will be catered by a local Black owned caterer.