State: IA

Red Cedar Chamber Music will bring an innovative quartet of violin, cello, double bass, and electric guitar to Johnson STEAM Academy. The lesson plans, enhanced with videos and slides, will focus on the history of jazz as a creation of black Americans and its continued impact on our musical culture. A free public concert will also be presented at the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

People with disabilities will have the opportunity to attend multiple sessions of songwriting and recording workshops at TalkBack Studios, gaining studio experience alongside professional, performing artist Evan Stock. Also, participants will have the opportunity to perform their creative ballads for the community on stage, alongside the Evan Stock Band.

CMA seeks to provide access to a music education series featuring our world renowned artists. Activities include; high-impact student enrichment concerts, professional performance collaborations, as well as workshops and clinics. Priority for these events is given to traditionally underserved communities and school districts throughout greater Des Moines and central Iowa.

Lindsey Row-Heyveld is one of nine winners of the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. This award is designed to support accessibility in the arts and celebrate the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The Iowa City NEA Big Read is the premier program associated with the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art’s exhibition on the Black Midwest, funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art. Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” together with the exhibition, brings the Iowa City community together to explore narratives of recovery, reproduction, and creation as they pertain to the Black Midwest.

Will Power marks the next stage of Riverside Theatre’s two decades of Shakespeare education and outreach in Iowa. Through partnerships with area community centers, schools, and libraries, Riverside will tour a trunk-show production of the preceding summer’s Free Shakespeare in Lower City Park, adapted to ninety minutes and coinciding with artist-led workshops for middle and high-school students.

Hola Iowa will produce a multimedia series highlighting the contributions of the Latino community to the arts and culture landscape in Iowa and the Midwest.

In late spring/early summer 2024, MIPSTERZ will bring their project Alhamdu ("an evolving experiential art exhibition that explores Muslim Futurism—a cultural and artistic aesthetic that learns from frameworks of Afrofuturism...

Our organizations pays all people involved in our productions; each of our productions have a minimum budget of $30,000. The grant would be used to help fund one of our...

Acclaimed poet Danez Smith headlines Mic Check Poetry Fest, a two-day celebration of spoken word and its power to bear witness, create community, and inspire change. The festival opens with...