Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti looks to connect audiences across Southeast Michigan with film programming that celebrates diverse perspectives and cultivates a stronger arts & digital media community in Ypsilanti, MI. The 2024 festival takes place April 24-27. Learn more at iffypsi.com

Marcus Elliot is a saxophonist, composer, improviser, and educator based in Detroit, Michigan. Marcus is a 2020 Kresge Artist Fellow, awarded by Kresge Arts in Detroit. He is the current director of the University of Michigan’s Creative Arts Orchestra and Instructor of Jazz Saxophone at Wayne State University. His compositions and improvisations have been described by the New York Times as “convincing and confident, evolved in touch and tone…”, and the Detroit Free Press has said, “Marcus Elliot represents next generation of jazz”. Elliot leads and co-leads many different Detroit-based bands including the Marcus Elliot Quintet, Clockwork, Balance, and the Beyond Rebellious Ensemble. Elliot performs in the Shigeto Live Ensemble. He is a Fellow of the Geri Allen Gathering Orchestra. He is the founder of Creation Code Records.

Learn more at marcuselliotmusic.com

Michael Malis is a Detroit-based composer, pianist, and music educator, recognized for his exceptional improvisational skill and awarded the Greek America Foundation’s 40 under 40 honor. He has taught at the University of Michigan and Interlochen Arts Academy and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Michigan. Malis has released 13 albums, with his music praised as “downright transcendental” and “uncommonly mature,” and is regarded as one of the most compelling jazz musicians of his generation. His compositions have been performed widely across the U.S., including at Harvard University, the University of Maryland, The Owl in Brooklyn, and Detroit’s Orchestral Hall. As a pianist, he has collaborated with prominent artists such as Marcus Belgrave, Tyshawn Sorey, and Brandee Younger, and performed at venues including Birdland, The Stone, the Kennedy Center, and the Yokohama Jazz Promenade. He is also the founder of Other Tones, a concert series that showcases local and national composer-performers, with a focus on queer, BIPOC, and women or femme-identifying artists, supporting 22 performers from seven cities to date.

Garrett Schumann (1987-) is an award-winning composer, music scholar, educator, and writer based in Ypsilanti, MI. Garrett’s compositions have been performed around the world by leading soloists and ensembles including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Akropolis Reed Quintet, vibraphonist Joel Ross, Latitude 49, the percussionists of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Megan Ihnen & Alan Theisen Present, violist Michael Hall, and many more. A community-centered composer, Garrett’s recent projects include collaborations with the Ann Arbor District Library, the Michigan branch of the diversity and public art nonprofit Embracing Our Differences, and other local partners.

Garrett served as the Executive Director of the nonprofit ÆPEX Contemporary Performance from 2015-2022. Under Garrett’s leadership, ÆPEX featured the music of nearly 120 composers at more than 30 concerts and community music events at venues in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Kalamazoo, and Mt. Pleasant.

Garrett’s scholarship and writing on music has appeared inThe New York Times,NPR, Grove Music,Cambridge University Press’s Public Humanities journal,VAN Magazine, and many other outlets. He regularly presents his original research at conferences and university guest residencies. Garrett teaches a variety of music courses for the University of Michigan College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts.

Sara Tea marks a powerful return to music with new songs that reflect years of personal and spiritual growth, featuring ethereal instrumentation and her lush, humanistic vocals. Known for shaping inclusive music communities since the late ’90s across Denver, Los Angeles, and Chicago, Tea has had a celebrated DJ career, founded the inclusivity-focused Danceotron party, opened the boutique and event space Chielle, and pioneered early podcasts featuring guests like Aparna Nancherla and Ilana Glazer. During the pandemic, she embraced DIY recording and production, exploring soundscapes, soundbaths, and experimental instruments to craft deeply introspective work that captures her fight for self, health, and creative expression. Her first single, Heaven Knows, produced with Matt Johnson and Hamilton Belk and mixed by Fred Thomas at Westside Studios in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is accompanied by a limited edition physical art piece, exemplifying Tea’s commitment to creating immersive, healing spaces through music for those often overlooked.

Chien-An Yuan is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in Ann Arbor, MI.

Yuan runs 1473, a record label specializing in improvisation, electronics, and collaboration. He is also a founding member of IS/LAND, a performance collaborative composed of AAPI movers, artists, and collaborators. Yuan launched the inaugural KYLYN AAPI Arts & Culture Festival in 2024.

His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, NewCity, Salon, ArtSlant, Huffington Post, and WNYC.

Past performances and exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, The Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC), Gene Siskel Film Center, Elastic Arts, Convivium 33, Museum of Chinese in America NYC, Syrup Loft, Zhou B Arts Center, Asian American Cultural Center of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Hyde Park Art Center, and Gallery 312.

Julie Zhu is a composer, artist, and carillonist.

She entangles various media, from mural painting and sculpture to performance and video, and collaborates with artists from different fields to create experimental chamber experiences.

As a carillonist, she concertizes around the world and was the resident carillonneur at Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York City before moving to California.

Zhu studied at Yale University (BA mathematics, BA art), the Royal Carillon School (Diploma carillon performance), Hunter College (MFA art), and Stanford University (DMA composition). She is currently a presidential postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan.