As we’re into the second year of the Covid pandemic, more rescheduled 2021 events are again being pushed back another year, as TEDxDavenport announced Monday. After being moved from June 2020, to this June, the event organizers are rescheduling again to June 25, 2022 at Davenport’s Adler Theatre. “Given the fluid situation of the vaccine rollout, varying state regulations, the safety of travel for our speakers, and limitations of masks and social distancing for our attendees (both for the event and meet-greet following the event), we feel that our 2021 date is not feasible,” TEDxDavenport... Read More

It’s been a while, but the Black Box Theatre in downtown Moline will be back with live theater starting Thursday, with a new production of “Dick Tracy: A Live Radio Play,” starring James Driscoll, Matt Walsh, Doug Kutzli, Mark Ruebling, Jenny Winn, Sara Nicole Wegener and Tom Vaccaro in the “Case of The Big Top Murders.” “Dick Tracy and The Case of the Big Top Murders” is a whodunnit focusing on the renowned sleuth’s investigation of murder and mayhem in a traveling circus company. ho killed the clown, and why? Theater veteran Jim Driscoll is Dick Tracy. Lora Adams, BBT co-founder... Read More

If you think a 22-year-old is too young to be an executive director of a new music school, you don’t know Rishi Wagle. A bright, articulate and friendly 2016 Pleasant Valley High School alum and 2020 graduate of Brown University, Wagle was recently named the first head of the new Deanery School of Music, 1105 Main St., Davenport, whose founder and artistic director is Hannah Holman, principal cellist of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and a busy teacher (including as cello instructor at University of Northern Iowa). “Rishi, who went through substantial music education here in the Quad-Cities,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Moline Mayor Stephanie Acri wants to break up with Western Illinois University, but the public riverfront campus wants more time to work things out. Last month, new WIU president Guiyou Huang wrote to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker  about ongoing discussions regarding a potential transfer of the WIU Quad-Cities campus to another state institution. Huang became president Jan. 1, 2021. At that point, Western has not been included in the discussion, he noted, copying Mayor Acri and Quad Cities Chamber president/CEO Paul Rumler. She responded that she’s had concerns about the impact of... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: More residents of Rock Island and Scott counties are eligible to receive long-awaited vaccines against Covid-19. The Iowa Department of Public Health has announced that beginning Monday, March 8, health care providers are now authorized to vaccinate individuals 64 years of age and younger with medical conditions that are or may be an increased risk of severe illness from Covid-19. Qualifying underlying conditions can be found on the Centers for Disease Control list of underlying conditions. The IDPH press announcement stated: “This announcement comes as several Iowa counties... Read More

The premiere of opera at Moline’s Bartlett Performing Arts Center again will be delayed, as Opera Quad Cities plans to postpone the tragic Puccini opera “Madame Butterfly” from this June to June 2022. “I think it’s just tough to foresee audiences. I mean, we don’t know what the vaccination rates are gonna be in the Quad-Cities. We don’t know if audiences are gonna feel fully comfortable,” opera conductor Nathan Windt said this week. “There’s just too many unknowns. The idea is that the main performance will happen next June,” he said of the need to postpone... 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! In 1971, the cost of a postage stamp was 8 cents; a gallon of gas was 40 cents, and the average cost of a new house was $25,250. For many members of the Moline High School Class of ’71, what hasn’t changed in 50 years is their love of music, their friends and their school. Unfortunately, their 50th class reunion – scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 28, 2021 at East Moline’s... Read More

LaTisha Howlett, owner of Bayside Bistro, at 1105 Christie St. in the Village of East Davenport, has had a crazy past year in business – like many restaurants and countless organizations in the Quad-Cities. At a Quad Cities Chamber legislative webinar Friday morning, with leaders from the Iowa and Illinois restaurant associations, she shared her perspective on the unprecedented challenges of the past year and what assistance she and other small business owners may need moving forward. “Covid has been difficult for everybody, especially small businesses,” Howlett said. “Having the governor... Read More

The past couple months have been a busy time in the private college presidential search business in the Quad-Cities. In late January, Augustana College president Steven Bahls announced he was delaying his planned retirement one year – from July 2021 to July 1, 2022. In early February, St. Ambrose University concluded its search process for the 14th president of the Davenport institution, naming Amy C. Novak, president of Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., to take the helm this August, with the retirement of Sister Joan Lescinski. And in late February, Augustana in Rock Island held... Read More

The Bereskin Gallery and Art Academy, 2967 State St., Bettendorf, will highlight the multimedia artworks of Davenport artist Steve Banks in March and April. An opening reception with Banks will be held Friday, March 5 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Banks’ new exhibit. “Construct/Destruct,” emphasizes the architectural underpinnings in his artwork, which includes several ceramic sculptures. There are 25 pieces — both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works – in the gallery. “It’s something this area hasn’t seen. This is the first time he’s ever exhibited anything like this,”... Read More