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 […]
Eastern Iowa Arts & 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
Take a survey, boost local art: The Englert’s Katie Roche on why Johnson County is participating in the Americans for the Arts study for the first time
Roughly every five years, Americans for the Arts, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit founded in 1960, conducts a nationwide impact study on how individual communities are affected economically by the arts programs they foster and support. This year, the sixth of the study, Englert Theatre Development Director Katie Roche made sure that Johnson County would be […]
An experts’ guide to Stanley Museum must-sees (besides ‘Mural’)
Sure, Mural represents a breakthrough, American ascendency in the art world. Yeah, yeah, it has its own documentary film. And sure, the new University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art where it’s housed is gorgeous, sexing up Burlington Street like the Voxman before it. But what else should you look for in the Stanley’s collections? […]
Crooked Path Theatre to bring its off-beat productions to Prairie Lights, The James this fall
It can be hard to keep up with the absolute explosion of theater happening in the Corridor. Talent and passion keep sprouting in this fertile Iowan soil, and “so much theater” is an incredibly delightful (and coveted) problem for any town to have. Not new, but positively blossoming this fall is one company you may […]




