After a long hiatus, the Englert Theatre is once again opening its doors to the public, albeit with strict COVID-19 safety procedures in place. Interim Executive Director John Schickendanz and Board President Carl Brown sat down with Little Village recently to discuss the theater’s current changes and future direction. It’s been a difficult 16 months […]
Art in the time of COVID-19
Posted inArts & Entertainment
We Are Here online concert addresses the state of the arts in Iowa
“As difficult as it feels to acknowledge it, I have not fared well through the pandemic,” Iowa musician River Glen Breitbach said in an email. “I have been a hard working musician for over 25 years and in that time I have established annual routes that have me touring throughout Iowa and the neighboring states, […]
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Ghost Creek shimmers in the fog of our pandemic-fatigued minds
We’re in a pandemic, in case you haven’t noticed. And in a pandemic, especially as the parent of a toddler, time (to put a fine point on it) gets a bit — slippery. So on this past rather innocuous Tuesday night, when Ghost Creek premiered, I accessed the website at “about 7” rather than at […]
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Theatre Cedar Rapids uses shut down to create positive, lasting change
Live performance venues were the first businesses to close when the coronavirus arrived in the United States, and they will likely be the last to reopen. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a clear path to a scenario where these important cultural spaces can reopen in the near future. As Broadway announced its theaters will […]
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Jordan Sellergren on balancing music, motherhood and magazines in a pandemic
Writing and recording music as a mother with a full-time job has been a balancing act for Jordan Sellergren, even before COVID-19 arrived in Iowa. “On a typical day, I would get the kids to school and head to the Little Village office first thing,” said Sellergren, art director at Little Village, of her pre-pandemic […]
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FilmScene launches new app-based program to watch curated films at home
To many Iowans, fall is movie season. From Halloween slashers to the Oscar contenders released just before the holidays, a dark movie theater offers respite from the oncoming cold and a momentary trip to another (perhaps warmer) world. Given 2020’s constant apocalyptic newsfeed and a life-or-death election on the near horizon, there has never been […]
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CSPS uses the pandemic as an opportunity to focus on better serving artists and the community
The decision to use a space as an incubator for the arts and as a cultural gathering place for a community is often difficult, especially in a trendy neighborhood. Despite the fact that it is exactly these kinds of spaces that make neighborhoods attractive to restaurants, shops and other businesses, they frequently deal with razor-thin […]
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Public Space One gets flexible with its new spaces and online programming
Public Space One, over a variety of forms and spaces, has provided a home for art and artists in Iowa City for almost two decades. The newest chapter for the organization was just beginning as the COVID-19 pandemic reached Iowa and made in-person events and shared workspaces unsafe. Last year, PS1 purchased two houses at […]
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Riverside Theatre takes the virtual stage in its busiest season ever
Even as nearly every other performing arts organization, of every type, has scaled back its programming in 2020, Riverside Theatre is ramping it up. The 2020-21 season marks the 40th season for the revered Iowa City theater, and it has brought with it a good deal of change.
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Englert makes the best of the pandemic, presenting and fostering engagement with the arts digitally
Throughout its 108-year history, the Englert Theatre in Iowa City has always changed with the times. From its origins as a vaudeville theater, to a movie theater and now a revered space for performing arts, the Englert has grown into its role as a cornerstone in Iowa City’s art scene. Through its regular programming as […]
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Record Collector adapts to the new normal, prepares for three Record Store Days
Since 1982 Record Collector has been a hub for Iowa City’s music-loving community. When founder and original owner Kirk Walther passed away back in 2017, many vinyl enthusiasts worried whether Iowa City would lose this sacred place where they could dig through crates of old jazz records, pick up the newest release of their favorite […]
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Artist profile: QC lamp lover Mike Steele
With his recent multimedia avant-garde ode to light fixtures, experimental artist Mike Steele demonstrates the potential of creative constraints and a renaissance of absurdism. Eastern Iowa and other QC live music fans already know Steele as the human giant who has introduced bands at Codfish Hollow, the Rust Belt, RIBCo and other staples of the […]
