A special “Spoken Word” event will take place tonight,  Wednesday, May 10th at 6:30 pm at Augustana College.  There is a live performance by local spoken word artist, Aubrey Barnes.  Poems from incarcerated students in the Augustana Prison Education Program will also be read.  Read More

We’re back with more Alternating Currents recommendations from The Echo! This time the picks are from local creative Aubrey Barnes (Aubs.) This year Alternating Currents is trickling into Downtown Rock Island and we’re incredibly excited to see one of those venues highlighted here! Here are his picks:  Read More

The Bishop Hill Creative Commons is hosting the second-annual Bishop Hill Book Fair on Saturday July 24th, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., where you can meet local authors in their natural habitat. Attendees can hear them speak and read from their recent work. Aspiring authors can attend workshops on cultivating the writer within. Books will be available for purchase, so people can collect autographs from their favorite local wordsmiths. The event will be held at the Commons at 309 N. Bishop Hill Road, Bishop Hill (about 20 miles south of Geneseo). Authors will represent a wide range of genres from children’s... Read More

Last year, spoken-word artist Aubrey Barnes and singer-songwriter Delores Westbrook-Tingle partnered to make a new song that summarizes what United Way of the Quad Cities is all about – “Together.” That inspiring song – which kicked off the July 2019 unveiling of United Way’s African-American Leadership Society (AALS) and was part of the September 2019 launch of “Amplify Quad Cities: The Soundtrack” – has now been made into a five-minute video to support the nonprofit’s racial equity effort. “We need to stand strong – walking together in this community,” sings Westbrook-Tingle.... Read More