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! Quad-Cities artists and audiences alike are hungry to return to live, indoor, in-person shows, and the Adler Theatre Foundation is filling the need – a varied series of six performances over six weeks, starting May 8. Rick Palmer, executive of the Adler and RiverCenter, said Thursday that they not only wanted to bring in national touring artists, but give local performers... Read More

Quad-Cities schools want to make sure students have access to promising employment tracks. Two upcoming events will present exciting options for students to explore. Apprenticeships offer many exciting opportunities, and Quad-Cities schools will celebrate these options on April 19 during the Quad-Cities-Wide High School Apprenticeship Signing Day. The community will learn how apprenticeships can offer students powerful technical and professional skills to help them build a competitive advantage. These events will be held Monday and Tuesday, April 19 and 20. The April 19 event will be Signing Day,... Read More

Like for most of us, the past year has been an emotional rollercoaster for Quad-Cities singer/songwriter Molly Durnin. The epic highs and lows will be encapsulated over four hours Thursday night for the intensely talented 32-year-old. Jambrella Productions has organized a mega-music party, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at one of Durnin’s regular performance venues, the cocktail bar Eleven17, at 1117 Mound St., Village of East Davenport. About 20 musicians are scheduled to perform (there’s no cover charge), including Durnin at 6 p.m. and 9:20 p.m., the night before she heads back East, on her way to... Read More

It’s fairly rare for a symphony orchestra to feature a concert of all-American music or two living composers on the same program. Fans of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) hit the jackpot with exactly this all for two performances of “For America,” Saturday at the Adler Theatre. But even if you weren’t among the 344 lucky people to attend the concerts in person (the 2,321-seat Adler has allowed 25-percent capacity), anyone can purchase digital access (for $40) to watch the supremely talented musicians in the delightfully varied program – online through May 11. Plus, unlike the in-person... Read More

EXCLUSIVE: A new theater experience, The Mockingbird On Main is coming to 320 N. Main St., in downtown Davenport! The new performance venue will kick off its existence with NEW BEGINNINGS, a virtual cabaret, on Saturday, April 10 at 7 p.m. This virtual cabaret will feature well known performers from the Quad Cities and performers from across the United States. Tune in to find out the who, the what, the when and the where and hear some of the finest performers from across the country. Here are the details: NEW BEGINNINGS A Virtual Cabaret Saturday, April 10 – 7pm On Facebook – Follow... Read More

Across the country, the destinies of many of America’s school libraries are on hold. They have been closed during the pandemic and it is not known when they will be able to reopen. But, two Davenport Community School District educators are dedicated to making sure that area kids still have quality books to read. Shari Larsen, principal at Wilson Elementary School in Davenport, IA, and Amber Cravens, teacher of English Language Learners, developed a project that is putting books in the hands of children who are eager to read. That project, the Unicorn Library, became available to all students... Read More

If you visit the Quad City Botanical Center by the end of May – and you certainly should – you’ll see a portrait of an artist as a young man. A very young, talented man indeed. Eight-year-old Levi Folker of Davenport is the youngest artist ever to have his own exhibit in the 23-year-history of the QCBC, with 28 of his deeply colorful, imaginative paintings on the walls in the main hallway. They’re on display for all of April and May. “I like painting because it makes me happy,” Levi, a second-grader at Adams Elementary, who’s been homeschooled this past year, said recently. “I like... Read More

If you get your Covid vaccine at the Rock Island County mass vaccination clinic in Milan between April 14 and May 20, there will be something special that’s literally music to your ears. Taking inspiration from famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s recent impromptu performance during his Covid vaccine observation period, the Rock Island County Health Department and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) are partnering to bring live music to the mass vaccination site at Camden Centre in Milan. “Vaccine Variations” is an initiative that arranges for one-hour performances by QCSO musicians starting April... Read More

Spring is here, the weather is looking better, and there’s an optimism in the air! Things are looking good, Quad-Cities! And so, it’s a great time to check out some of the POSITIVE news and stories from around the area, which we do every month in our What’s The Good News feature on QuadCities.com and KWQC-TV6’s “Paula Sands Live.” So, what’s the good news this month? Let’s find out… New Book Offering Advice To Teenagers Yours truly, Sean Leary, is working on a new book, Advice To A Teenager, based upon advice I’ve learned, been given, and will be giving to my son Jackson, who... Read More

I got two election fliers in the mail the other day. Being that we’re only a few days away from the April 6 election, and the mayoral race in Rock Island is, from most reports, closely contested between incumbent Mike Thoms and challenger Thurgood Brooks, this is not surprising. But what has been pleasantly surprising is the positive nature of this campaign. While the Moline mayoral race slides around in the mud, with a bunch of slanderous and poorly spelled fliers by a dark money group peddling lies about Stephanie Acri’s challenger, Sangeetha Rayapati, the two men vying for Rock Island’s... Read More