Donate to Support Mad Lit!

Mad Lit, our free summer concert series, has supported 150+ local artists, vendors and visual artists of color via stage access, market place visibility, and honorariums thanks to sponsors, and individual donations.

More Lights

"I was talking with one of the owners of one of the restaurants and the conversation started as, 'You know what this street needs: more lights.' And that's really how the whole thing kind of evolved."
Rob Franklin
Founder of Mad Lit

Interested in sponsoring Mad Lit?

View our sponsorship packages.

Interested in participating during Mad Lit?

Fill out our interest form today!

Background:

Mad Lit began in the Summer of 2021 every other Friday on July 2 through October 8, on the 100 block of State Street. Mad Lit is a free concert series featuring live music and highlighting local artists, and businesses of color. The series ran from 8 PM until 11 PM and included pop-up shops, visual exhibits, and community-led workshops.

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted State Street businesses and culture, and this new event series was a way to help revitalize the 100 block of State Street. Although this area has not always been a welcoming space for people of color, the social justice murals that went up during the summer and fall of 2020 brought a new and diverse group of people downtown – some for the first time.

2023 Sponsors

This project is supported by Dane County Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation; The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times; the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation; and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.

Previous Sponsors

2023 Sponsors:

This project is supported by Dane County Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation; The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times; the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation; and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.

Previous Sponsors:

Photo Collages:

Click an image to enlarge the 2021 and 2022 photo collages created to showcase our previous Mad Lit performing artists, vendors and visual artists.

Urban Community Arts Network, Ltd. and the Greater Madison Music City Project are the official primary providers of the Mad Lit 2023 Summer Concert Series. Mad Lit is a free concert series open to the public and there will be no ticket sales for this event. We do not partner with ticket resellers or 3rd parties providers for event ticket sales of Mad Lit.

Interested in sponsoring Mad Lit?

View our sponsorship packages.