MACOMB, MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University Assistant Director of Residence Life Jessica Butcher has been named the Al and Elaine Goldfarb 2020 Civil Service Employee of the year. Butcher was awarded an engraved clock and a $500 stipend from the WIU Foundation. She was also named the Employee of the Month for November. Butcher started at WIU in July 1998 as a residence hall director in Auxiliary Facilities Systems. In July 2005, she was promoted to assistant director of Student Development and Orientation, and in July 2010, she was promoted to assistant to the vice president for student... Read More

Eleven cultural organizations and three artists in the Quad-Cities were among those to receive a share of $7 million in new grants announced Tuesday by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. A total of 267 cultural organizations and 152 artists serving 118 Iowa communities will get funding, made possible by the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, on Dec. 2. The department launched the Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program the same day and received more than 550 requests totaling more than $36 million by the Dec. 11 deadline. The list of recipients includes some of Iowa’s... Read More

Hannah Holman, principal cellist with the Quad City Symphony, got an early Christmas present this month – the keys to the historic Deanery at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Davenport. She’s had a longtime dream to start a new music school, which she did online in September, and she is Executive Artistic Director of the Quad City Music Academy. Following months of negotiations between the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s Vestry and her academy’s Board of Directors, Holman now has a 15-year lease on the 90-year-old building and the QCMA will rename it The Deanery School of Music. “It’s so... Read More

Holiday and end-of-year holiday closures for Rock Island Public Libraries are as follows: Rock Island Downtown and Southwest Library locations will be closed Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25 for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Locations are open from 9:00 am to noon on Saturday, December 26. Rock Island Library locations are closed Thursday, December 31, and Friday, January 1 for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Library locations are open from 9:00 am to noon on Saturday, January 2, 2021. Mobile Library2Go routes run as scheduled Monday, December 21 through Wednesday, December... Read More

Mic Seifert, a veteran physical education teacher in Davenport, has exercised a new muscle this year he never thought he had before – computer literacy. Like all teachers nationwide, Seifert, 47, was forced by the Covid-19 pandemic this past spring to come up with virtual content for his classes at Madison Elementary School. He’s in his 22nd year of teaching and virtual fitness lessons have become an international viral sensation. His YouTube channel, P.E. with Mr. S, can be found at https://www.youtube.com/c/PEwithMrS/videos. Since May, Seifert has made 40 videos, and already the channel’s... Read More

Western Illinois University students Hannah Akers (Cambridge, IL) and Samuel Ogali (Flossmoor, IL) have been chosen as the 2020-21 recipients of the William H. and Eva Little Graham Libraries’ Student Assistant Scholarship. Akers and Ogali, both student employees at University Libraries, will each receive the $500 scholarship for the Spring 2021 semester. The scholarship is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated excellence in the performance of their assignments, and the funds are applied to the selected students’ tuition. Akers is a junior early childhood education major. She... Read More

A Western Illinois University music major has been awarded first prize in an international music competition; the only student from the United States. Madalyn Pridemore, of Macomb, a sophomore violin performance major, is one of 21 finalists in Asociația Culturală Arta Sonoră’s “Rezonanțe Sonore Online” International Festival. She is the winner of the violin category and one of the winners featured on the George Enescu Museum’s website. The competition included 137 participants from Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United States, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. A total... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University’s live mascot, “Ray,” and his retired brother, “Rocky,” are getting into the holiday spirit, trying to raise at least $1,000 to buy food and treats for animals housed at the McDonough County Animal Shelter. The effort launched seeking 200 people to donate $5 each, and the food and treats will be purchased from local and small businesses. Ray and Rocky have also partnered with the Old Dairy to buy homemade, gourmet dog treats as part of the event. This is the last week for the fundraiser so the treats can be delivered... Read More

An effort to create a public art project, co-founded by a Western Illinois University history professor to commemorate the lives lost during the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, has received a grant from Illinois Humanities to further the project and related events. WIU Professor Peter Cole and Franklin Cosey-Gay, executive director of the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Protection, co-direct the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19). Its goal is to create and install markers at each of the 38 locations where a life was lost in 1919 – still the deadliest incident of racial violence... Read More

Saturday In The Arts is a weekly look at a personality, place, trend or topic of interest to the Quad-Cities. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for fun, free, local entertainment and features, QuadCities.com. The traveling exhibit “Race: Are We So Different?,” in 2019 at Davenport’s Putnam Museum, had a profound impact on visitors, staff and those who took part in many related discussions. Building on that success and a Quad-Cities-wide effort to improve racial equity this year – amidst national reckonings regarding racial injustice – Putnam president/CEO Rachael Mullins has... Read More