Sidekick Coffee and Books has cozy green couches and private booths. It has a long coffee bar, complete with pastries and ice cream. But apart from its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the bookstore’s most prominent feature is the children’s section. Rows of children’s books cover two walls and surround three hexagon-shaped reading nooks. Katy Herbold, the owner […]
Eastern Iowa Arts & Entertainment
Posted inWeekender
Weekender Eastern Iowa! Iowa City Book Festival | ReFocus Film Festival | Gallery Walk
READ THE LATEST | SUPPORT LITTLE VILLAGE | SHOP PERKS THE WEEKENDER Your weekly editor-curated arts compendium Fall is in full swing, and Eastern Iowa is ready to take advantage of it! There’s plenty of opportunities to wander, from the Gallery Walk to the Refocus Film Festival to the continuing Iowa City Book Festival (a few events are highlighted […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Watch: Screenwriter and producer David Kajganich on adapting novels, cannibalism and Iowa City’s new film festival
For the first time in four years, screenwriter and Iowa Writers’ Workshop alum David Kajganich is back in Iowa City for the FilmScene premiere of his genre-bending, spine-tingling new work. Bones and All is the third adapted screenplay Kajganich has crafted for director Luca Guadagnino — audiences packed FilmScene during the 2018 Witching Hour Festival […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Grocery shop and (possibly) mosh to support the Domestic Violence Intervention Program
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and this month, Hy-Vee and Fareway shoppers in Iowa City and Coralville will be able to provide necessary supplies to the Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP), as Shop for Shelter returns for its 16th year. From 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, DVIP staff, board members […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Tiny pianos, big ideas: Witching Hour and FEaST bring playful creatives to Iowa City this fall
When Lucy Yao and Dorothy Chan began collaborating with each other and creating as Chromic Duo, both were already experienced educators and performers, looking for a way to foster community and lift up the Asian American diaspora in New York, which at the time was increasingly the target of racist violence. “I think eventually, when […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Orchestra Iowa’s centennial season features Iowa composers and world-class performers
Lasting 100 years is clearly something for any arts organization to celebrate. “It gives an illusion of permanence,” says Orchestra Iowa music director Timothy Hankewich. “But nowhere is it written that a community will have a symphony orchestra.” In recent decades, many orchestras have folded in the United States. The continuous existence of Orchestra Iowa […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
UI Dance works with experimental choreography duo FLOCK on 2022 Dance Gala
The University of Iowa’s Dance Gala is still weeks away, (mark your calendar for Nov. 11 and 12!) but we’re already eager to attend one of the two shows at Hancher. As always, Gala-goers can expect to spend the evening watching dancers perform faculty members’ new, innovative choreography. This year, they’ll also be introduced to […]
Posted inWeekender
Weekender Eastern Iowa! Nakatani Gong Orchestra | Anastasia | Beowulf
READ THE LATEST | SUPPORT LITTLE VILLAGE | SHOP PERKS THE WEEKENDER Your weekly editor-curated arts compendium From the start of the Iowa City Book Festival to a political revolution via puppet circus, you’ll be running all over to catch it all this crisp fall weekend! Top pick? The Witching Hour series (a program of Little Village and the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Five questions with: Andy Colpitts, touring cast member in Bread and Puppet Theatre
Founded in 1963 as a way to tell neighborhood stories of New York City’s Lower East Side, Bread & Puppet Theatre is considered one of the oldest, non-profit, politically-driven theater companies in the country. In 1974, the company moved its home-base to Glover, Vermont, where it now operates a museum of retired puppets in an […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
A community read of ‘Les Miserables’ drives a thread of ICBF programming
Anna Barker hadn’t even made it into her chair in the patio seating area of the downtown Java House for our interview before she posed a question. “Thirteen hundred pages in 92 days? Who does that?” The answer, of course, is that she does — and so do her hundreds of reading companions. The 1,300 […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Video & Photo Gallery: Longfellow neighbors gather for the 2022 Front Porch Music Festival
One of Iowa City’s tightest-knit neighborhoods came together for an afternoon of local tunes on Sunday, Sept. 25. Performers of all abilities were invited to participate in the seventh annual Front Porch Music Festival — so long as they have a connection to the Longfellow community — making residents’ front porches and yards their stages. […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Iowa City’s Mic Check Poetry Festival to return with a slam in November after ‘phenomenal’ 2021 turnout
Iowa City Poetry’s Mic Check Poetry Festival will return Nov. 11-12 after organizers Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey and Lisa Roberts received what Rainey called a “phenomenal showing” of support and enthusiasm last year. The November festival will be only two days this year instead of three, but it will include expanded offerings and an […]
