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! If you think the last two years have been crazy (thanks, Covid), the fine folks at WQPT-TV in Moline have endured an unusual past three years – simultaneously a thrilling joyride and a white-knuckled journey of adventure and challenge. The Quad Cities’ PBS station, which will mark 40 years in business in 2023, got a new general manager last month – who’s actually a... Read More

The Savanna Times Theater in Savanna, Illinois is the site for a preview screening of WQPT’s newest documentary “Havencrest Castle: A Very Special Place.” The screening takes place on December 6 at 6:30 pm and is free to the public. “We are delighted to provide a sneak peek of our newest documentary to the citizens of Savanna,” said producer Lora Adams. “We also want to thank the folks at the Savanna Times Theater located at 222 W Main St, Savanna, IL for providing the location.” The film took much longer to complete due to Covid. “We interviewed Alan several years ago and had... Read More

Two candidates will interview Monday, Nov. 1 and Monday, Nov. 8 for the general manager position at WQPT of the Quad Cities at Western Illinois University. Dawn Schmitt, interim general manager of WQPT, and Matt Franklin, vice president of Lakeshore Public Media, will interview Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, respectively. Open sessions for campus and community members will be held via Zoom for each candidate. Individuals interested in participating in the open session must register at bit.ly/SchmittCampusOpen (1:45 p.m. Nov. 1) and bit.ly/SchmittCommunityOpen (11:30 a.m. Nov. 1); and bit.ly/FranklinCampusOpen... Read More

Brothers Emmanuel and Eric Juarez will star as brothers Joseph and Frank Sandoval in An Infantryman from Hero Street, part four in the Hero Street documentary series produced by Moline-based Fourth Wall Films. “We are very pleased to have Manny portray hero Joseph Sandoval, and Eric reprising his role as hero Frank Sandoval for this important new chapter of the historical documentary series,” said director Kelly Rundle, noting Eric played Frank in their 2015 documentary “Letters Home to Hero Street.” An Infantryman from Hero Street tells the true story of Pvt. Joseph Sandoval, who was... Read More

It’s Sunday, and QuadCities.com proudly presents Fun10, a list of the top 10 things to do in the Quad Cities this week, and every week! Every Sunday, we drop a new Fun10, to give you a head start on your week and a heads up on what’s going on over the coming seven days. Check out Fun10 every Sunday for the details on ten awesome events happening around town. It’s a cool read, and a great way to get started planning your entertainment for the week. FUN10 — ten ways for you to have fun in the Quad-Cities, this week and every week, running every Sunday, only on your site for fun, free, local... Read More

WQPT, PBS for the Quad Cities region is partnering with award-winning celebrity chef, author, and host of “Lidia’s Kitchen” Lidia Bastianich for its live virtual Taste of Fame culinary fundraising experience on May 21. More than 30 participating PBS stations will be part of the event, first launched by PBS station WCNY in Syracuse, N.Y. Taste of Fame and WQPT invites guests to be part of this live culinary journey from the comfort and safety of their homes. Participating PBS stations are happy to work with Sunbasket who will deliver meal kits to homes, so guests can cook along with Lidia,... Read More

In conjunction with the new Ken Burns PBS documentary on author Ernest Hemingway, WQPT will hold a special 30-minute virtual screening and discussion with Mary V. Dearborn, a Hemingway biographer featured in the film, on April 27. The free virtual event will take place that Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and attendees will have the opportunity to ask Dearborn their Hemingway-related questions. Participants will also have the chance win copies of Dearborn’s 2017 Hemingway biography, a Google Home smart speaker, and other great prizes. “Hemingway has this public image of being this extraordinarily masculine,... Read More

WQPT, PBS for the Quad Cities region is partnering with award-winning celebrity chef, author, and host of “Lidia’s Kitchen” Lidia Bastianich for its live virtual Taste of Fame culinary fundraising experience on May 21. More than 30 participating PBS stations will be part of the event, first launched by PBS station WCNY in Syracuse, N.Y. Taste of Fame and WQPT invites guests to be part of this live culinary journey from the comfort and safety of their homes. Participating PBS stations are happy to work with Sunbasket who will deliver meal kits to homes, so guests can cook along with Lidia,... Read More

WQPT, the PBS station serving the Quad Cities and surrounding communities has often heard from viewers with issues related to receiving their signal. As a result, for the last several years WQPT has been involved in their Aspire Higher Capital Campaign. The first year was spent in the “silent” portion of the campaign and in January 2020 WQPT announced the public phase of the campaign. “This was only the second time in our 38 year history that we embarked on a capital campaign,” said Interim General Manager, Dawn Schmitt. The first being before WQPT went on the air for the start-up of the... Read More

WQPT presents a variety of outreach activities in conjunction with the new Ken Burns documentary Hemingway. Directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, Hemingway examines the visionary work and turbulent life of Ernest Hemingway, one of the most influential writers America has ever produced. Interweaving his eventful biography with excerpts from his writing, we will see beyond the façade of the public image, becoming intimately familiar with this brilliant, ambitious, charismatic, and egocentric man. You can log on to https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/hemingway/events/ and join Conversations on Hemingway:... Read More