Moline-based John Deere  — which started River Bend Food Bank in 1982 in response to the ’80s farm crisis — committed Thursday to donate $1.7 million to the Food Bank in 2021, part of a planned $7 million through the John Deere Foundation over the rest of this decade. In 2020, with Deere’s continued investment, the Food Bank distributed more than 23 million meals and served 160,000 people in 23 Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois counties. “Our history together goes back to the very beginning of River Bend almost 40 years ago,” Nate Clark, president of the John Deere Foundation,... Read More

An adapted version of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure will open the Genesius Guild’s 2021 season with performances at 7 p.m. on June 19, 20, 26, and 27. All performances are held at the Don Wooten Stage in Lincoln Park, 1120 40th St., Rock Island, and admission is free. Opening weekend marks the Genesius Guild’s return to live theater after cancelling the 2020 season. Sometimes known as one of Shakespeare’s problem plays – shows that are not explicitly comedies or tragedies – Measure for Measure is a “fascinating exploration of how power can corrupt, with comedic overtones,”... Read More

The annual Juneteenth festival in the Quad-Cities will be held Saturday, June 19, at TMBC at The Lincoln Center, 318 E. 7th St., Davenport, the former Lincoln Elementary School. Open since Feb. 1, 2021, TMBC stands for “Together Making a Better Community,” and the free Juneteenth event will be 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, including food and retail vendors, history and information booths, fun-filled games and entertainment for the whole family. TMBC is the hub for resources, professional services, programs and events for the African-American community in the Quad-Cities. The Juneteenth festival... Read More

Quad City Arts on Tuesday announced the full schedule of events for Chalk Art Fest in Schwiebert Park, downtown Rock Island, June 26-27. SATURDAY, JUNE 26 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. — Chalk art competition  Live Music Lineup: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. — Live DJ Mark Manuel, Alt 104.5/Kiss FM 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. – Chrash 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. — The Textures 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. – Doug Brundies Big Acoustic Show SUNDAY, JUNE 27  10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Chalk art competition  Live Music Lineup: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Mo&Co 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. — QC Rock Academy 3:30 p.m. – AWARDS CEREMONY 4 p.m.... Read More

The Alternating Currents festival will showcase 100-plus performances, film screenings and art-related events at more than 20 downtown Davenport venues from Aug. 19 to 22. Designed to showcase the vibrant culture of our downtown areas, the annual event is billed as a music, film, comedy and art experience, according to an event release Tuesday. Alternating Currents is produced by Downtown Davenport Partnership (DDP), a division of the Quad Cities Chamber, in collaboration with local talent across our region’s creative community. Alternating Currents today announced featured live music acts for... Read More

Forty days before his wife Jen would turn 40, Ben Schrempf of Rock Island had a pretty big surprise waiting for her. Inspired by a video he saw last summer on TikTok, Schrempf for months enlisted family and friends to help get Jen 40 birthday presents. He hid them at his office – where he works in IT for Ruhl & Ruhl corporate in Davenport, until May 24th. “Our daughter had a softball game that night and I was strategically late coming home from the gym so she would have to take her to softball,” Ben recalled Monday, when the TikTok video he made of Jen’s reaction surpassed one million... Read More

Nearly nine years after he first played 20th-century artist Mark Rothko, to launch the QC Theatre Workshop, Mike Schulz returns this week to launch the new season of Mississippi Bend Players, acting opposite a fellow MBP veteran in the one-act “Red” by John Logan. In the 2010 Tony winner for Best Play, master abstract expressionist Rothko (1903-1970) has just landed the biggest commission in the history of modern art, a series of murals for New York’s famed Four Seasons restaurant in the late ‘50s. In the two fascinating years that follow, Rothko works feverishly with his young assistant,... Read More

Sixteen months after the Spotlight Theatre staged its last major musical, it’s provided the pitch-perfect, post-pandemic production – “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Simple, sweet, nostalgic – both exuberantly childlike and loaded with the weight of the world on its young shoulders – the beloved 1967 musical based on the classic “Peanuts” characters has deeply resonated with me my whole life. First, I’m sure like many socially awkward boys, I always closely identified with the title “Everyman” role. Charlie Brown is the cartoon reflection of “Mister Cellophane” (from... 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! Brianna Hobbs was in middle school when the then-new River Music Experience first opened its doors June 12, 2004, in the historic Redstone building at 2nd and Main streets, Davenport. Now, the 28-year-old East Moline native is thrilled to join the growing nonprofit’s staff as new programs director, as the veteran RME leaders Bret Dale and his wife Kate transition out as... Read More

I really wanted to enjoy Quad-City Music Guild’s first complete musical in a year and a half, “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” which is available to be streamed online June 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m., and June 13 at 2 p.m. But due more to its supremely silly, groan-inducing, seemingly unending source material than its eminently capable cast and crew, this two-hour-plus filmed version is disappointingly lifeless and unsatisfying. Despite opening on the day where the state of Illinois is allowing all theaters to open at full audience capacity, the Guild months ago decided to stage “Spamalot” with... Read More