T Banks, Zhalarina, Isha Camara, Dequadray, The Floroq Jazz Trio

Isthmus Jazz Festival. Free.

press release: T. Banks is disability justice and mental wellness advocate, poet and playwright from Madison, WI. A First Wave Scholar and graduate of UW Madison. He received his BA in English with an emphasis in creative writing.He is a proud teaching artist with Arts + Literature Laboratory. T. recently launched his own Black, Queer, and Trans* led arts company called Loud ‘N UnChained Theater Co. Which is also home to LNU Publishing House and hub of Black Creatives. Banks has published two chapbooks, "Call Me Ill" and "Left".

Dequadray is a Hip-Hop and contemporary R&B artist hailing from Forest Park, Georgia. With the nostalgia of the 90s and a smooth, fresh voice, his lyrics touch on subjects of love, growth, and his experiences of being Black and Queer. Rapper and singer, Dequadray blends Hip-Hop with funk, soul, and gospel in an incredibly cohesive way. With his debut project, "Dequadray! A Black Sitcom", he invites you to the metaphorical set of his life and experiences that seem too odd to be true or the cameras must be rolling. Nevertheless, he does not take defeat as the end all be all; he continues to grow as everything around and within him tends to change. Dequadray has performed at a list of venues some that are well known such as the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Georgia, the ART Garage in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and The Sett in Madison. He most definitely is the artist to watch so make sure you don’t hop on the bandwagon too late.

Isha Camara is a twenty-year-old sophomore hailing from South Minneapolis and a proud Aries. She’s been writing and performing poetry since the age of thirteen, working and learning in youth programs and workshops. She was able to write a compilation of poems highlighting her life from birth to eighteen to create her first self-published chapbook, Selfish. Now with some creative writing courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under her belt, she’s been attempting to understand the world of professionally publishing poetry. Most subjects she writes about circle thoughts and experiences of her identity as a Black Muslim woman and the ways in which she navigates in America; then understanding how America responds back to her. Isha’s purpose is to give a narrative that create conversations driven by tenderness and encourage readers to be caring and gentle to a life not theirs, learning how there are human beings with dreams, fears and desires outside of their way of living that are just as normal and human.

Zhalarina H. Sanders is a rapper, actress, playwright, and producer from Tampa, FL who serves as co-founder and Executive Director of The JVN Project, a Hip-Hop centered non-profit that seeks to serve and empower. She recently received her masters in counseling psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has had the opportunity to travel and be awarded for her work in theatre and music. Appearing on stages such as the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in London, Zhalarina currently splits her time between the completion of her rap album, Again, and the tour of her one-woman show, Rose Gold.