MACOMB, MOLINE, IL – The Western Illinois University School of Graduate Studies is offering the waiver of the $30 application fee for international students who submit an application through Oct. 31. This waiver is only for new international graduate and undergraduate students who have not previously submitted an application. Students who have already applied should not submit a second application. To submit an application, visit student.services.wiu.edu/web-apps/Admissions/International. For more information about International Admissions at WIU, visit wiu.edu/grad/international.  Read More

Are you a local performer, theatrical actor, theater, or arts organization? We’re looking to provide you a virtual stage on the QuadCities.com site and social media! With covid rampaging, we know it’s a crazy time and we want to showcase your organization. No one can come to you but that doesn’t mean you can’t come to them. Along those lines, we’re producing a Virtual Cabaret called The Show Must Go On(line) and we want you to be part of it! The “live” event will air on our Facebook page on Friday, August 14 at 7 p.m. Submissions are due Friday, August 7 by 7 p.m. Use WeTransfer... Read More

Welcome to the QuadCities.com Virtual Art Gallery! In this feature, we’re spotlighting area artists and their work. Every Tuesday we’ll feature a new local artist. It’s free and our way of showcasing awesome area artists and allowing them to include a link to their own online gallery or patreon! If you’d like to be included in the gallery, just send your bio, a headshot pic of yourself and up to a half-dozen .jpgs of your art to Sean@QuadCities.com. We look forward to featuring you and your artworks in our gallery! Today’s artist is well-known and respected in the local art... Read More

Along with the usual characters like Thomas the Train Engine, Elmo and Blue, you might see some familiar faces on PBS Kids. Local PBS station WQPT has debuted a new commercial playing between shows (technically called an interstitial) featuring a number of Quad-Cities kids doing a variety of activities during the past few weeks of coronavirus quarantine. “The idea for the spot came watching my neighbors’ sons riding their bikes on our frontage road,” said Lora Adams of WQPT. “They’re the only kids around and I saw them making their own fun as they played on their own.” With the commercial,... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – When the recent pandemic handed Leathernecks a challenge, they worked together to make an opportunity for one graduate student who was left without an internship. Western Illinois University recreation, park and tourism administration Master of Science candidate David Brodwyn, of Jamaica, was supposed to spend his summer completing his degree by doing an internship at Clemson Youth Learning Institute in South Carolina, teaching fly fishing, paddling and climbing. When COVID-19 shut that opportunity down a few weeks into the training, Brodwyn was left without a way to complete... Read More

MACOMB, IL — The Western Illinois University Singers have been named the Third Place National Winners of The American Prize in Choral Performance (College/University Division), a year-long national performing arts competition. Choirs of all types and levels, elementary to professional, from around the United States, submitted recordings in late April 2019. From those recordings, a national panel of judges selected semi-finalists, finalists and finally, winners in each category. Assistant Professor Brian J. Winnie, director of choral activities, was named the Second Place National Winner of... Read More

MACOMB, IL – – Western Illinois University Instructor of Management, and doctoral student at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte Sarah Shike, and WIU Assistant Professor of Accounting Jennifer McGarry are performing research to determine how small businesses have responded to the global pandemic and how this could be the key to bouncing back from COVID-19. Shike and McGarry, along with Franz Kellermanns, management professor at UNC Charlotte; Laura Madden, associate professor at East Carolina University; Emma Lloyd Best, assistant professor at Wake Forest University of... Read More

Saturday In The Arts is a comprehensive weekly feature looking at a trend, personality, or major subject involving the Quad-Cities arts and entertainment scene.   When Davenport jazz pianist and singer Freddy Allen returned July 25 to perform at The Grape Life Wine Store & Lounge, it was the first time the former regular played there since Feb. 28. It was a bittersweet occasion for the 50-year-old full-time musician, who has seen his livelihood decimated due to the raging Covid-19 crisis. “It was emotional, it was hard,” Allen said recently. “I’ve been one of those people, during... Read More

The Friends of the Davenport Public Library recently won a state of Iowa grant to make material about jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke much more accessible to the public. The library earned nearly $15,000 from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs to digitize audio recordings for the Bix Beiderbecke Museum and World Archive, which opened three years ago at the lower level of River Music Experience, 2nd and Main streets, Davenport. The collection of 239 reel-to-reel tapes and other media formats, including cassettes, CDs and VHS tapes, has been stored at the lower level of the Davenport Main Library,... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — Western Illinois University will resume on-campus activities and face-to-face classes Monday, Aug. 24 at its Macomb and Quad Cities campuses. “We are engaging with faculty and staff to address final elements of our health and safety protocols that will ensure that we will be able to provide the best quality educational experience to all students in these challenging times,” Interim President Martin Abraham said. — Academic Calendar Like most universities in Illinois and around the country, classes will continue face-to-face through Thanksgiving, and then... Read More