Tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 24 for Syrian-American funk and soul band Bassel & The Supernaturals’ public show in downtown Davenport. The show is 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the Raccoon Motel, 315 E. 2nd St., Davenport, IA 52801. Tickets are $10 and available at 10 a.m. Friday at https://tixr.com/e/30180. Doors open at 6 p.m. on Oct. 20. This show is for ages 21 and over. Bassel & The Supernaturals are an artist in residence with Quad City Arts’ 2021-2022 Visiting Artist Series. This performance is a new collaboration between hosting venue the Raccoon Motel and Quad City Arts... Read More

Teachers and principals of all Quad-City area schools are invited to schedule an outreach visit for their students from a professional performing artist during the upcoming school year through Quad City Arts’ Visiting Artist Series. School staff from public and private schools can schedule residency engagements for this fall and next spring by visiting https://www.quadcityarts.com/vas-scheduling.html. The series serves students and community members in Clinton, Scott, and Muscatine counties in Iowa, and Henry, Rock Island, and Mercer counties in Illinois. Residency host sites can sign up for... 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

A contemporary jazz pianist, a multi-instrumental string quartet, and a Scottish folk/pop/rock group will all be featured as part of Quad City Arts’ Performing Arts Signature Series spring season, which will continue with a “virtual dinner and show” format through the end of April. In lieu of the in-person events, subscribers can enjoy access exclusive online access to world-class artists from the Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Series safely from the comfort of their own home. This unique experience offers take-out from a premium local restaurant paired with a backstage pass to a visiting... Read More

Quad City Arts launched its new collection of online educational materials for the 47th-annual Visiting Artist Series on Wednesday, Oct. 28. The site, https://www.quadcityarts.com/vas-educational-resources.html, offers exclusive content from a wide variety professional artists and ensembles, such as ballet fusion company Hiplet, pianist Barron Ryan, steel pan artist John Patti, Mexican folk/rock quartet Jarabe Mexicano, and National Players theatre company. Their contributions include brief demonstration videos, study guides, workshop-style videos, and more. This collection of resources replaces... Read More

Like many artistic endeavors since March, the Quad City Arts’ subscription series of benefit parties featuring artists from the Visiting Artist Series program will move online this fall with a virtual dinner and a show. Performing Arts Signature Series, or PASS, will not have in-person events for the fall. The series will instead offer a unique experience with take-out from a premium local restaurant paired with access to an online performance by a visiting artist who recorded a performance specifically for this event. The following performers are scheduled to appear: Thursday, Oct. 15: John... Read More

Rock Island-based Quad City Arts was the only organization in the immediate Q-C to earn funding Wednesday from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant. Like most of the 855 organizations funded nationwide, the regional nonprofit will get $50,000, on top of a previously approved $30,000 NEA grant last month that was unrelated to Covid-19 relief. Quad City Arts this spring did get Covid-19 relief funding through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, executive director Kevin Maynard said Thursday. Part of the criteria for new funding... Read More

Born to a Chinese father and Jewish mother, and raised in the multicultural metropolis of Toronto, saxophonist Allison Au found music as a young child. Her work is a concoction steeped in the tradition of jazz but skillfully laced with elements of classical, pop, R&B/hip hop, Latin, and world music. From Oct. 28 through Nov. 2, Au will bring her quartet into schools and community sites to provide musical outreach through a residency with Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Series. The Allison Au Quartet won a JUNO Award (a Canadian GRAMMY) in 2016 for “Best Jazz Album of The Year: Group”... Read More

The leaves are starting to drop from the trees and the artists are starting to drop into area schools as Quad City Arts’ fall visiting artists series kicks off this week! Quad City Arts opens its 46th Visiting Artist Series started this week with residencies by bluegrass and chamber ensembles. Andrew Collins Trio, a bluegrass trio from Toronto, Canada, will give 14 outreach performances for schools and community sites Sept. 16-20. The trio showcases a collision of folk, new acoustic roots, chambergrass and jazz. Collins is a prolific, robust performer – comfortable on mandolin, fiddle,... Read More

The Quad City Arts’ Visiting Artist Series will present its first ever summer residency June 15-19 with New Orleans jazz band Jazzy Ash & the Leaping Lizards! The group will be putting on free performances around the QC region, including a Father’s day concert during the Freight House Farmer’s Market in Davenport (11:00 am June 16), at the Moline Public Library on June 17 at 6:30 pm, the LeClaire Community library outdoor plaza on June 18 at 6:00 pm (rain location: next door at the firehall, 201 N 15th St.), a free concert for Rock Island summer camps and the public at MLK Jr. Park... Read More