Hancher announces a new multi-venue spring music fest in Iowa City, Stop/Time Festival

Renowned jazz trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire. — courtesy of the artist

Hancher Auditorium, lead by executive director Andre Perry, has announced they are producing a new music and arts festival scheduled for this coming spring. The Stop/Time Festival is billed as a “two-day, multi-venue, multi-artist spring festival devoted to innovation and independence in contemporary music and the arts.”

The first edition of Stop/Time Festival launches Friday, April 3 through Saturday, April 4 in Iowa City.

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On initial impressions, the festival feels like it could be filling a void left by the changes to Iowa City’s Mission Creek Festival, which hosted its last iteration with the Englert at the helm this past April.

“We do a lot of shows with well-known artists,” Perry says in the announcement, “which is great, but [Stop/Time Festival] seeks the magic of walking into a venue and hearing or seeing a new kind of art for the first time, something that opens the doors and brings us closer to our own creativity, our community, and the world.”

The festival aims to present musicians and interdisciplinary artists across downtown Iowa City and the University of Iowa campus.

The initial list of performers includes Ambrose Akinmusire playing their latest album honey from a winter stone. Other heavy-hitters include the Branford Marsalis Quartet presenting their Grammy-nominated album Belonging and the post-rock band Tortoise in support of their new record Touch. The lineup also features contemporary classical brass ensemble The Westerlies, jazz pianist Jason Moran with a program honoring Duke Ellington, experimental sound artist Evicshen, avant-garde jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson, anti-folk singer-songwriter Jeffrey Lewis, multi-genre bassist Mali Obomsawin, and psych-punk band Frankie and the Witch Fingers.

The program also celebrates Iowa-based musicians, including Lex Leto x The Christine Burke Ensemble, Miracles of God, and Pieta Brown with the string trio Open Field Ensemble.

Mali Obomsawin playing electric bass with Welcome to Indian Country (2022) — Photo by Tolepekinape

“From new arrivals to established anchors, these artists form a wide-angle picture of the performing arts at its most alert and alive,” said Hancher programming and engagement director Aaron Greenwald, who co-curated the festival with Perry.

Featured venues include Hancher Auditorium, Voxman Music Building, Riverside Theatre, the Englert Theatre, Iowa City Masonic Lodge, Gabe’s and the UI Pentacrest.

Hancher will announce a second wave of programming in the new year, including information about featured authors and free community events at the festival.