In it’s first edition, the Festival is meant to “elevate the timeless craft of songwriting by blending world-class live performances with educational opportunities and community engagement,” as announced by the organizing team at the Englert Theatre.
Iowa City events
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Back at Mission Creek as an author, Neko Case discussed going down the rabbit holes of her own origin story
Case, a Grammy-nominated singer, was in conversation about her recent memoir The Harder I Fight The More I Love You with best-selling author Melissa Febos, a Professor at UI’s Creative Nonfiction Program.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Mission Creek’s Lit Walk is a sensory, choose-your-own adventure experience
While an author reads, she cannot know that three people are filming her: husband, daughter and granddaughter. It’s a moment to remember. That was the level of intimacy felt on Friday, April 4 during Mission Creek Festival’s Lit Walk. As much a part of the mythos of the Festival as the long list of past music headliners, the Lit Walk, as the MCF website states, gives festival-goers an opportunity to “…hear an unexpected variety of work from a mix of talented local and out-of-town writers.”
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: From rapt silence to cathartic screams, Mission Creek’s Day 2 performers crowd-surfed the line between rage and joy
Night two of Mission Creek, in contrast with the first night’s containment at Hancher, encompassed many venues around the downtown area, a return to previous years’ mad dash of “Creekers” around Iowa City looking for the show that will change their lives, whether that be a new-to-you music act or a local literary hero at the […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Angels from the Alvin Ailey dance company brought rhythm, reverence and revelations to the Hancher stage
Movement, in all of its forms, is powerful. The fusion of the physical, political, and spiritual forms came together during the Iowa City stop of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 2025 national tour.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Reimagining the Black Midwest with a new exhibition at the Stanley Museum of Art
Curated by Reynolds and supported by a five-person curatorial cohort of advisors, “it’s a fine thing” explores the rich and often overlooked landscape of the Black Midwest, including the Rust Belt.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Dreamwell’s ‘Design for Living’ is a tangled comedic tale
Noël Coward’s Design for Living is a play that demands a deft balance of wit, tension and vulnerability — qualities that are central to an exploration of love, freedom and emotional tangles. Dreamwell’s recent production, directed by Will Asmus, certainly attempts to bring Coward’s dark comedy to life, but the results are, at times, uneven, leaving the audience to question whether the fault lies with the production or the material itself.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: ‘Art is survival’ for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated craftsmen behind this PS1 exhibition
Community members packed the February 7 opening reception of the “Art from the Inside Out” exhibition at PS1 South, giving me the feel-goods. I saw a woman I used to work with and met her mother; I saw friends and met their grandchild. Artists and their families were there, and it was the most class-diverse art show I’ve attended.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Emanuel Ax and Anthony McGill ooze chemistry in a virtuosic duet at Hancher
This past Saturday world-renowned pianist Emanuel Ax and clarinetist Anthony McGill performed at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City.
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Review: Riverside ensures you’ll never see the ‘The Illiad’ the same way again with ‘The Cure at Troy,’ a tale of snakes and scruples
Iowa City’s Riverside Theatre is entering the final week of performances for their run of The Cure at Troy, a play featuring a lesser-known character detailed in Homer’s Iliad.
Posted inCommunity/News
In a history-making pick, Gov. Reynolds appoints Sen. Chris Cournoyer to replace Adam Gregg as lieutenant governor
Gov. Kim Reynolds has appointed Chris Cournoyer lieutenant governor. The LeClaire Republican was in her second term in the Iowa Senate, representing District 35 — which covers Clinton County, as well as parts of Scott and Jackson counties — when she was selected for her new position. Chief Justice Susan Christensen administered the oath of […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
What does it mean to be seen? New play ‘Myocardium; Graphite’, staged by Dreamwell, draws the audience into an art class
Myocardium; Graphite, a new work by MFA Playwright, Eli Campbell, offers a poignant and immersive experience that grapples with the complexities of human vulnerability, trauma and connection.
