From month to month, Mainframe Studios in Des Moines is always changing. With each First Friday event, the sprawling creative hub sheds one artistic skin to reveal another. April’s energetic and interactive showcase “Diverse by Design” gave way this May to something quieter, deeper and more reflective. On May 2, 2025, Mainframe welcomed visitors from […]
Liz Rosa
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Mainframe Studios becomes a free, interactive art museum on First Fridays, drawing thousands of Des Moines art lovers
On the first Friday of every month, something incredible happens at 900 Keosauqua Way. Creativity spills from every floor of Des Moines’ Mainframe Studios, transforming the city’s largest artist hub into a vibrant, open-door celebration of local art, music and community spirit. Inside, over 180 artists open their studios to the public, revealing an ecosystem of expression.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
As xBk expands, Tobi Parks is doubling down on her mission to uplift local talent
When Tobi Parks opened a 250-capacity music venue in Des Moines’ Drake neighborhood in 2019, she was enacting her plan B. “I think it always goes back to this idea: I was a musician [and] when I first started it was always like, yeah, you can be a musician but always have a plan B, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: A family flails as a 50-year marriage fizzles in ‘Grand Horizons’ from Iowa Stage Theatre Company
The crowd’s perspective of the play shifts to the unfamiliar when the man coyly bends over to reveal his skimpy thong. Don’t get your hopes up; the near-nudity ends there.
The Iowa Stage Theatre Company recently presented Bess Whol’s Grand Horizons at the Stoner Theater in the Des Moines Civic Center from March 14 to March 23, 2025.
