The Quad Cities Community Foundation Tuesday announced the recipients of more than $111,000 in its spring 2021 Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants. With up to $15,000 in funding available for each project, the grants provide powerful support for investments in equipment and technology, training for staff and board members, and strategic planning work, among other areas. This cycle’s grantees represent an equally broad range of industries, from arts and culture to workforce development. What unites them all is a strong vision for the future—both of their individual organizations and of the community... Read More

UPDATED: Though the Mississippi Valley Blues Society (MVBS) in 2020 had to cancel its annual blues festival and Blues in the Schools education program, it was hardly idle. The completely volunteer-run nonprofit organization, founded in 1984, completely revamped its website, mvbs.org – with much more content than before. It’s also returning to Davenport’s LeClaire Park (later this year than usual), Sept. 17-18, with its signature event, the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. The website overhaul (led by the Rock Island-based design firm Pixouls) is broken into three main sections: Listen Most... Read More

Just a week after its first 2021 production, the Mississippi Bend Players, with Shelley Cooper, will be back this week with her original one-woman show, Mary and Ethel: How I Learned to Sing. The show, which debuted at the Circa ‘21 Speakeasy in September 2020, contains musical numbers from musical theater Golden Age icons Mary Martin (1913-1990) and Ethel Merman (1908-1984). With musical arrangements and piano accompaniment by Quad-City music director Mason Moss, Cooper sings multiple medleys from Golden Age classics like Anything Goes!, Hello, Dolly!, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Annie... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Though the Mississippi Valley Blues Society (MVBS) in 2020 had to cancel its annual blues festival and Blues in the Schools education program, it was hardly idle. The completely volunteer-run nonprofit organization, founded in 1984, completely revamped its website, mvbs.org – with much more content than before. It’s also returning to Davenport’s LeClaire Park (later this year than usual), Sept. 17-18, with its signature event, the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. The website overhaul (led by the Rock Island-based design firm Pixouls) is broken into three main sections: Listen Most... Read More

Before the remarkable run of “Red” – the Mississippi Bend Players production that concluded earlier today, lead actor Mike Schulz reflected on getting to play the real-life abstract-expressionist artist Mark Rothko. Twice. Now 53, the thoughtful, passionate and intense Schulz reflected on his past nine years living with the play – done first with a tiny group at QC Theatre Workshop, running over three weekends, and recently with a crew of at least a dozen at MBP, with just four performances over one weekend. “John Logan’s script is so amazing, and so engaging and audience-friendly,... Read More

Saturday in the Arts is a weekly feature covering a trend, subject, event or personality of local interest. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for the best entertainment and arts coverage in the area, QuadCities.com! Like the powerful, epic quest taken by their musical’s protagonist, Quad-Cities theater artists Dan Haughey and Michael Callahan have been on an imposing, challenging journey to bring their new theatrical vision to life. Twenty months after holding a staged reading of “Aaron Power! The Musical” at Moline’s Black Box Theatre, the 66-year-old Haughey and 50-year-old... Read More

A 2005 Rock Island High alum, JUNO the Artist has toured the world as a guitarist and has played with everyone from Bruno Mars to Camila Cabello to Lizzo, plus Lady A at the June 9 CMT Awards in Nashville. But the exuberant, 34-year-old Chicago native had not returned to the Quad-Cities until Covid hit in March 2020, and she moved back to her aunt and uncle’s Rock Island house, where she recorded her debut album, “Help Is Not on the Way.” JUNO will perform at 4 p.m. Saturday as part of the Quad Cities Juneteenth Festival, at the Lincoln Center, 318 E. 7th St., Davenport. “Now coming back... Read More

If you’re at the Food Truck Fight on LeClaire’s levee tonight, or the Saturday Farmers Market at the Davenport Freight House, there’s a good chance you’ll see a bright blue and green newcomer. Buddy Bison – a big, colorful fiberglass statue – was painted this week by 28-year-old Moline artist Atlanta Dawn, to help promote the ambitious Bison Bridge project, to repurpose the existing I-80 bridge. She has volunteered with Living Lands & Waters over the years, the environmental nonprofit led by Chad Pregracke, who in March announced the Bison Bridge plan. Dawn’s boyfriend Cody Breecher... Read More

Pop Art pioneers Roy Lichtenstein, Takashi Murakami, Andy Warhol, and more will truly pop at Figge Art Museum this summer with Pop Power from Warhol to Koons: Masterworks from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. The newest exhibition to arrive at the Figge (225 W. St., Davenport) features more than 100 works that have never been seen in the Quad-Cities before. An exclusive members-only preview will open the powerhouse exhibition on Friday, June 25 with a special tour given by Jordan D. Schnitzer, who has collected the masterpieces in the show throughout his life. The... Read More

Words and art are my business – as tools, objects of affection, contemplation and worship, ways to make sense and meaning of life – as they are for “Red,” the brilliant, caustic, literate John Logan play given a fantastic, thrilling new production by Mississippi Bend Players at Augustana College. Over an emotional 90-minute rollercoaster — in an action-packed, dialogue-dense one act, first-class director Cait Bodenbender and peerless actors Mike Schulz and Tristan Odenkirk grab your attention and never let go. It’s as riveting, passionate, thought-provoking – and deeply committed... Read More