Quad City Arts is providing over $84,000 in funding for 25 area organizations, arts-centered programs, and individual artists in 2021. The goal of the Arts Dollars Project and Education Grants is to provide funding for a variety of organizations and projects that have strong community impact and feature unique and interesting artistic ideas and to ensure that artists are being paid in the process. “Arts Dollars is unique – it’s a re-granting program designed to funnel funds deeper into the community, for smaller, more targeted grants,” Kaleigh Trammell of Quad City... Read More

The 2021 Quad City Arts Metro Arts Youth Apprenticeship Program is accepting applications through Wednesday, March 31.  This program provides area youth ages 15-21 with five-week paid summer apprenticeships. These apprentices will create community arts projects that positively impact our community. These projects include mural painting, poetry, film, graphic design, and more. Interested applicants can apply online at quadcityarts.com/metro-arts This year’s Metro Arts program will start on Monday, June 7, and end on Thursday, July 8. Apprentices will meet for up to four hours Monday through Thursday.... 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

In late October 2020, Quad City Arts’ Visiting Artist Series launched the Educational Resources project with content from 11 professional performing artists. A dozen new artists presenting a broad selection of music, dance, theatre and visual arts are joining the project as of Friday, March 5, for a total of 21 artists and ensembles participating. Quad City Arts has enlisted these performers, including a North Carolina rapper and banjo player, a former NPR “Tiny Desk Concert” contestant, and an emerging Chicago dance studio, to create videos and documents to be shared with Quad City educators... Read More

The latest Quad City Arts’ Art at the Airport – on display through April 28 — presents aquatic paintings by Brian Buckles of Waterloo, Iowa, fiber tapestries by Rowen Schussheim-Anderson, Davenport, and coiled fiber baskets by Kelly Hanson of Moline. Brian Buckles was born and raised in the Quad-Cities, yet has had a lifelong fascination with marine life and sharks. “The cruelty of shark finning and the unsustainable fishing practices that are threatening the survival of many species are the inspirations for my work,” he says of his aquatic paintings. “Because most people... Read More

For Western Illinois University art professor Bruce Walters of Davenport, a 37-year career teaching in higher education has been accentuated by the personal artwork he’s created, in a wide variety of media. As he prepares to retire from teaching in May, an exhibit of part of his inspired work — titled “What the Hand Dare Seize the Fire?” — is on display at the University Art Gallery in Macomb through April 2. The title of the current exhibit is taken from a 227-year-old poem, “The Tyger,” by William Blake. “The first drawings in this exhibition are drawn from... Read More

Quad City Arts announces the open Call for Entries for public sculpture to be considered for exhibition in the Quad Cities on a one-year lease. Currently, the cities of Bettendorf, Rock Island and Moline participate in the program with their own selection committees who choose from the available sculptures for pieces that provide points of interest, inspire discussion, and attract visitors to the community. Quad City Arts has facilitated the leasing and installation of public sculpture in the Quad Cities since 2002. All the sculptures are for sale and can be purchased by individuals, businesses,... Read More

Living Proof Exhibit – which provides hope, support, and healing through the arts to Quad Citizens touched by cancer – is growing with new programs and a new program manager. Each month, LPE offers free Creative Sessions where participants use various art forms to heal and find hope. Everyone impacted by cancer is invited to these free sessions, including those undergoing cancer treatment, family members, friends, and caregivers. You can register online at livingproofexhibit.org. Due to Covid-19, sessions will be virtual or outdoors with limited capacity. Each session will be available live... Read More

To help celebrate the blockbuster exhibit “For America,” at the Figge Art Museum, the Quad City Symphony will feature American music in a Signature Series concert at the Figge’s lobby on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Up to 50 socially-distanced concertgoers will be allowed in person; the concert will be livestreamed and will be available for viewing for 30 days following the livestream. As of Thursday morning, 42 tickets were sold for the program featuring associate concertmaster and violinist Emily Nash, violist Bruno Silva, and associate principal bass Kit Polen. The evening begins with... Read More

It’s Monday. The weather over the last week has sucked. Covid sucks. And in general you’re feeling like a loser. Well, DO WE HAVE THE VIDEO FOR YOU! There are certain videos and songs that are undeniably, indelibly, of their time, and today’s video is one of them. If you were putting together a time capsule of the early ’90s and Generation X (of which I’m a member, so I have a certain affinity), this video would be in there. The song, artist, and video so perfectly encapsulate the slacker smartass ethic of Gen X, even more so than Nirvana’s “Smells Like... Read More