Marrialle Sellars, a top 20 American Idol competitor in 2014, made her Art & Soul debut in 2021, seven years after a successful audition for Idol panelists Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Harry Connick Jr. Then a 17-year-old Lawrence Central High School student, Sellars sang Bruno Mars’ Grenade on the TV talent search. She describes her music genre as a unique and powerful sound mixing sultry R&B and slow pop. Naked (Acoustic) – EP is her first original album.

Chantel Massey (she/her) is a storyteller, poet, author, teaching artist, and educator based in Indiana who will be performing some of her original poetry in The Alley. Poems from Bursting At The Seams (VK Press, 2018), her first book of poetry, have been performed across various platforms. Massey also founded the literary arts organization UnLearn Arts, which focuses on cultivating and amplifying the craft and wellness of BIPOC writers in the Midwest and beyond.