As someone easily overwhelmed by crowds and sensory overload (and more so as I age), I can find Iowa City’s wonderful summer festivals a challenge. I have many times enjoyed the tunes, charts and riffs flowing from the stages of the Iowa City Jazz Festival. I have often parked my camp chair on the Pedestrian Mall on Friday night […]
Iowa Arts Festival
Street closures for Iowa Arts Festival announced
Street closures have been announced for the Iowa Arts Festival in downtown Iowa City. The festival doesn’t kick off until Friday at 4:30 p.m., when the Iowa City Carnival Parade starts, but street closures will start on Thursday so crews can start to set up the fair. According to a press release from the city, […]
Iowa City buses will be free on Friday and Saturday for the first two days of Iowa Arts Festival
On Friday and Saturday, there’ll be no charge for riding Iowa City buses, as the Iowa Arts Festival takes over downtown, the city announced on Monday. Buses will run on their regular schedules, but some stops will change starting on Thursday. The city’s bus hub will move from Washington and Clinton to Court Street between […]
Best of the CRANDIC 2018: Arts & Entertainment
The results are in! Here are the winners of the 2018 Best of the CRANDIC competition in the Arts & Entertainment category, representing Little Village readers’ favorite businesses, organizations, people and places in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City area. […]
Five questions with: Ryan Young, fiddle player for Trampled by Turtles
Trampled by Turtles, a folk-rock/bluegrass band with Minnesota roots, are headlining this year’s Iowa Arts Festival. They perform in downtown Iowa City at 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 2. Currently, the band is touring in support of their new album, Life is Good on the Open Road, their first record in four years. […]
Street closures for Iowa Arts Festival announced
Street closures have been announced for the Iowa Arts Festival in downtown Iowa City. The festival doesn’t start until Friday, when the food stands open at 4 p.m. and the arts fair and beverage garden open an hour later, but street closures will start on Thursday so crews can start to set up the fair. […]
Joan Osborne, ’90s chanteuse, will perform for Iowa Arts Fest
Iowa Arts Festival: Joan Osborne Downtown Iowa City — Friday, June 1 at 9 p.m. Among an excellently curated set of local gems and national talent, the Iowa Arts Festival’s featured performer for Friday night, June 1 is Joan Osborne, who claimed notoriety with her 1995 song “One of Us.” The biggest single off her […]
Iowa Arts Festival performers announced
Mainstage performers for the Summer of the Arts’ 2018 Iowa Arts Festival, taking place June 1-3, have been announced, representing both local and national musicians and dancers. […]
Arts Fest 2017 beats the heat with a jam-packed weekend
The 2017 Iowa Arts Festival was more spread out than in previous years, allowing more space between tents and less congestion in the streets. The Pedestrian Mall was filled with activities to introduce kids to the arts — not only the visual arts, but music (family stage) and literature (thanks to Antelope Lending Library and […]
A-list: Anaïs Mitchell brings a deep history to the Iowa Arts Festival
Among the exciting national acts brought in for the Iowa Arts Festival this year is Vermont-born, Brooklyn, New York-based songwriter Anaïs Mitchell. Deeply rooted in American folk traditions, Mitchell manages a sound that is contemporary without being retro or revival — an extension of the sound, rather than a tribute to it. She is tomorrow’s folk singer.
Mitchell’s 2010 recording of her folk opera Hadestown featured an array of key voices in the genre, from Ani DiFranco to Iowa’s own Greg Brown. Mitchell continues to work on its transformation into a full stage musical; the 2016 off-Broadway production has been nominated for several awards, including the April Drama Desk Awards announcement of its nomination in the Outstanding Musical category. Her most recent record, 2014’s xoa, was the third released on her own label, Wilderland Records. Mitchell took some time just before hitting the road to answer some questions over email for Little Village. […]
If it’s summer, it must be Arts Fest!
Iowa Arts Festival Downtown Iowa City — June 3–5 You’ve probably kicked the A/C on already at least once, and barbecue grills have been fired up across town with a vengeance … but there’s no surer sign of the start of summer than the Iowa Arts Festival, which explodes into downtown Iowa City this weekend. […]
Three-time Grammy winner Steve Earle to headline this Saturday at the Iowa Arts Festival
Renowned singer-songwriter Steve Earle is set to headline the main stage on Dubuque street this Saturday as part of the annual Iowa Arts Festival… […]