When an arts organization celebrates 50 years of sharing wonderful work with enraptured audiences, the time is right to do something exceptional. The question, of course, is what that something should be. For the Des Moines Metro Opera, the answer in part turned out to be adapting Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum Jane Smiley’s Pulitzer Prize […]
Central Iowa Arts & Entertainment
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Waukee’s Arts Festival is back for its seventh year
Waukee’s seventh-annual Arts Festival starts at 5 p.m. on Friday in Centennial Park, featuring homegrown music, over 100 artists selling original handmade work, a beer garden and food. The festival will feature Bulgogi from Sooks, wood oven-cooked pizza from Ferinheit Pizza, street tacos from Roadside Tacos, fresh hand-rolled Thai-inspired ice cream from Totally Rolled, and […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: The return of 80/35 this weekend was just what the doctor ordered
If Des Moines seemed to be asleep these past few years, it certainly woke back up this past weekend as 80/35 Music Festival returned for the first time since 2019. Maybe it was the large variety of food vendors or the diverse lineup. Maybe it was the tie-dyed Kum and Go bucket hats or the […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
An Indianola farm girl finds her way with animal pottery
Folk ceramic creator Caroline Freese found her love for animals and art starting at a young age on a farm in Indianola, Iowa. Art has been a driving force for her since then, into college and now owning a studio with orders coming in quicker than she can create. Freese is returning to Art Fest […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Five questions with: Basket maker Ibechaobi Leishangthem
Ibechaobi Leishangthem (Ibe to her friends) moved into her house in Grimes with her family in October of 2020. In the middle of the pandemic, the Manipur, India native was looking for something to do that would also make their new house feel a little more like home. So she turned to basket-making. Not long […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Art was Robert Moore’s ‘saving grace.’ Now his work graces T-shirts, walls and buildings in Iowa and beyond
A boy with a hidden talent fell into the wrong group of people, leading him down a scary path. His job in corporate IT and project management left him feeling empty. It took Robert Moore going to the hospital in 2019 after a night of too much drinking for him to turn his life around […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘We never do anything remarkable just for ourselves’: ‘Buffalo Women’ opens on Juneteenth
Three minutes to curtain on June 19, 2022, the Kate Goldman Theatre at the Des Moines Playhouse was mostly full. The blackbox was decked in a sparse yet effective smattering of western themed set pieces and there was an excited hum emanating from the audience about what was to come. Buffalo Women, which was produced […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Central Iowa, Central Iowa Arts & Entertainment
‘Buffalo Women’ offers a new conversation on Black female camaraderie, set against a Juneteenth backdrop
Buffalo Women, which opens this Sunday, Juneteenth, is a new play by Omaha-based playwright Beaufield Berry. Subtitled “A Black Cowgirl Musical Dramedy,” the play tells the story of how five Black women, including interpretations of historical figures, find solidarity with one another and use the strength of sisterhood to overcome adversities of motherhood, racism, new-found […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Jo Allen celebrates being both Black and queer with Pride and Soul skate night
Pride and Juneteenth have so many intersections to navigate. Jo Allen has challenged Des Moines to take those roads and realize that every marginalized community in the city are fighting for the same rights against the same people. “I was just recognizing that there wasn’t anybody that was doing something that focused on the intersections […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Ride your toad into battle: The Rook Room encourages adults to play games, get creative
Because of their similar sounding surnames, their shared love of board games and their charming banter, Annelise Tarnowski and Tony Tandeski almost seem like siblings. But the pair of best friends met while volunteering for the Drake Alumni Board. It was there they realized that they had a lot more in common. “After most meetings, […]
Posted inWeekender
THIS WEEKEND: Juneteenth: the Movement, Art Week Des Moines
READ THE LATEST | SUPPORT LITTLE VILLAGE | SHOP PERKS THE WEEKENDER Your weekly editor-curated arts compendium It’s Juneteenth this weekend, and there are celebrations everywhere you turn—from art to music to comedy to theater, and more! Add in Art Week Des Moines kicking off, and you have a jam-packed few days of honoring the […]
Posted inCentral Iowa, Central Iowa Arts & Entertainment, Central Iowa Community/News
Dive into Juneteenth celebrations in central Iowa
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Last year, on March 22, 2021, Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders announced Juneteenth as an official city holiday. “We hope by commemorating this date,” he said at the time, “we can better illustrate the significance of Juneteenth and generate greater recognition throughout our community and the state”. Later that year, President Joe Biden […]
