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The 27th annual Iowa Arts Festival is scheduled for June 5-7 in downtown Iowa City. New this year, look for an expanded artist layout, more music and more fun! All activities are free and open to the entire public. Bring your lawnchairs and get ready for a weekend of arts and culture at it's very best.
Recognized in 2006 & 2007 as the winner of the award “For Innovation and Excellence in Festival Programming” from the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance, the Iowa Arts Festival is the most anticipated visual art-centered event of the summer.
NEW this year an expanded festival layout which will include more artists and more fun! Enjoy browsing the streets of downtown Iowa City where over 140 local and regional visual artists display and sell their artwork. You will also hear local and national musical artists perform on the main stage, sample regional and ethnic food on “Culinary Row” and participate in a variety of creative and educational activities and entertainment. Families are invited to enjoy the activities in the Global Village on Saturday and Children’s Day on Sunday plus entertainment Saturday and Sunday on the Family Stage. A new and emerging artist display will be added to the US Bank parking lot. Look for Iowa City’s upcoming musicians and watch live art demonstrations all weekend long!
You may download a list of artists vendors that plan to have a booth at this years fair by clicking the "Participating Artists" link, also found in the right column of this page.
A map of the vendor booths is available by clicking the "Festival Map" link.
Each year the Iowa Arts Festival awards first, second, and third place prizes to three artists selected from all of the participating artist booths. For 2009 the awards go to...
1st Place: Linda Lewis -- West Des Moines, IA -- Sculpture -- Booth# 60
2nd Place: David Young -- Solon, IA -- Wood -- Booth#105
3rd Place: Dana Noble -- Iowa City, IA -- Jewelry -- Booth #42
Congratulations to this year's winners, and an enormous thank you to all of our participating artists!
Friday, June 5, 2009
7:00 pm The Damnwells
9:00 PM Squirrel Nut Zippers
Saturday, June 6, 2009
11:00 AM Lipstick Homicide
12:00 PM Andy Carlson & Casey Cook
1:30 PM Dave Moore
3:00 PM Finders & Youngberg
4:30 PM The 100’s
7:00 PM Kevin Gordon Band
9:00 PM Robert Earl Keen Band
New & Emerging Musician/Artist Demonstrations
Sponsored by West Music
All activities take place in the US Bank parking lot located at the corner of Linn Street and Washington Street
Saturday, June 6, 2009
10:00 AM Andy Carlson & Preucil School of Music – Fiddle Workshop
12:00 PM Artist Demo: Heather Wetzel
1:30 PM Johnny Lipford: Featheridge Flutes
2:45 PM Artist Demo: Beppie Weiss
4:00 PM To Be Confirmed
Sunday, June 7, 2009
10:00 AM Artist Demo: Astrid Bennett
11:30 AM Slip Silo
12:45 PM Artist Demo: Carl Homstad
2:15 PM Nolte Academy of Dance
3:15 PM Equador Manta
4:00 PM To Be Confirmed
The Rockwell Collins-Family Stage Line Up
Saturday, June 6, 2009
10:00 AM Celtic Music with The Drollinger Family Band
11:00 AM Native American Songs & Tales with Wha'la
Noon Kojokan Samurai Dojo -- Aikido lessons (WEATHERDANCE FOUNTAIN STAGE)
12:45 PM Aztec Spanish/English Puppet Show by Students of Pat's Learning Adventure
1:30 PM Scottish & Irish Storytelling with Darrin Crow of Usher's Ferry
2 p.m. Latin Dance and Argentine Folkloric Dance lessons (WEATHERDANCE FOUNTAIN STAGE)
2:30 PM Turkish Music with Bahri Karacay & Turkana
4:00 PM Taiko Drumming with Kojokan Samurai Dojo Students
5:00 PM American Hillbilly Folk Music with KMB
Sunday, June 7, 2009
12:00 PM Didgeridoo Stories From Down Under - Deanne Wortman & Scotty Koepke
12:30 PM Strike Up the Band Concert with Iowa City Community Band
1:20 PM Magic Show with Eric Dany of the Quad City Magic Club
2:00 PM Amazing Escape Artist Jeremy Haak of the Quad City Magic Club
2:40 PM Balloon Art with Rick Brammer or Jason Hamilton of the Quad City Magic Club
3:10 PM Family Fiddlin' Music with The Awful Purdies and Young Harp & Violin Students
2:00- 4:00 p.m. - Pedestrian Plaza & Art Fair 12 Strolling Magicians, Balloon Artists, Face Painters, Jugglers, and other Performing Members of the Quad City Magic Club
Youth Activity - Global Village Sponsored by West Bank
Saturday, June 6, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
This year you'll have the chance to visit booths that represent specific countries as well as booths that give you a "taste" of different countries, learning about games, languages and music. Enjoy learning about countries like Japan, Indonesia, Sudan, Germany, Spain, Russia and the Caribbean countries. There will also be a sample of musical instruments used by different cultures in the West Music tent. We'll provide the passports for your special trip!
Children's Day Activities - Sponsored By Hills Bank & Trust
Sunday, 12:00-4:00 p.m. Children's Day Art & Activity Booths
Black Hawk Mini Park on the Pedestrian Mall
Come one, come all for an arts & imagination celebration! The Family Stage will feature performing arts while kids create and learn from real artists. And everyone can sign up for the Iowa City Public Library's Summer Reading Program! Please note: in case of rain, this event will be help in the Library.
Children's Day Art & Activity Booths:
- "Be Creative @ Your Library" Summer Reading Program Registration - Iowa City Public LibraryKinderMusic Fun - West Music
- Dinosaur Sculptures & Crafts - Jack Neuzil & the Solon Public Library
- Drum Fun Circle - Yahoo Drummers
- Paint the Town - Dick Blick Artist Materials
- Face Painting - Summer of the Arts Volunteers, Laura Nimo, and the Quad City Magic Club
- Time Travels Heritage Crafts - University of Iowa Museum of Natural History & Old Capitol Museum and the Johnson County Historical Society
- Costume Photography - Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation
- Nature Art - Prairie School of Art
- Creative Fun Crafts - Home Ec
- Magical Arts - Quad City Magic Club
- Music Together - Preucil School of Music
- BubbleMania - Iowa City Public Library Kidspectacular Youth Volunteers
- Toddler Duck Pond - Iowa City Public Library Youth Volunteers
- OverHead Bots Multimedia Fun - Iowa Children's Museum & the Iowa Center for
- Developmental and Learning Sciences (NOTE: this activity will take place inside the Library's Storytime Room)
Special Events and Partnerships
Thursday June 4, 2009 Special Events
Boomer Bash!
Thursday, June 4 from 6 - 9 PM
On the street in front of the Senior Center
Join us in front of the Senior Center as we kick off Art's Fest with the second annual Boomer Bash! We're blocking off the street, setting up the stage, and clearing a dance floor. Don't forget to bring your lawn chairs and join in the fun with the Beaker Brothers Band - local Iowa Citians who have come of age (the big 50) and are still rockin' and rollin', playing music we grew up on - Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, the Allman Brothers, and the Grateful Dead. The band took its name from Clyde Clifford's Beaker Street on KAAY from Little Rock, Arkansas, the Mighty 1090 we listened to way past bedtime! Join us and the Beaker Brothers Band to officially kick off Arts Fest weekend and have fun on the "joyride from the Summers of Love - it'll be really groovy" (http://beaker-brothers.com/).
Friday June 5, 2009 Special Events
Iowa City Public Library Altered Books Exhibit & Silent Auction
June 5, 2009, 5 p.m.-7 pm
Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Stop by to marvel at and bid on unique artwork that began life as books! While the original book may have been read for its literary meaning, the altered book seeks to be "read" for different meaning, often in conversation with the original intent of the text. Generous members of the Iowa City community create these special works of art and donate them to be sold by the Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation to benefit the Library. The Iowa City Public Library Friends Foundation hosts the third annual silent auction of "Altered Books" to help kick off the Iowa Arts Festival weekend.
Old Capitol Quiltors Guild Presents: Quilt Fest
June 5, 2009, Afternoon and Evening
June 6, 2009, All Day
United Methodist Church at the corner of Dubuque and Jefferson Street
The Old Capitol Quiltors Guild will be hosting a quilty show in the United Methodist Church at the corner of Dubuque and Jefferson Street on the Afternoon and evening of June 5 and all day June 6. It will be a non-traditional quilt show with the quilts draped over the pews rather than hung on piping.
Saturday June 6, 2009, Special Events
The Iowa City Community String Orchestra presents: The Giant Jam Sandwich
9:30 am & 11:00 am – 2 LIVE performances, free admission!
Englert Theatre
Part of the Englert Theatre Community Spotlight series, sponsored by the Iowa City Press-Citizen
The Iowa City Community String Orchestra and the Englert Theatre team up to produce an orchestra concert for children of all ages. The fifty minute concerts feature local soloists introducing the string, wind, and brass families of the orchestra and culminate in The Giant Jam Sandwich, a work for Narrator and Orchestra based on the children’s book by John Vernon Lord and Janet Burroway. Composer Philip Wharton will project over 100 images taken from the book’s illustrations and Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey tells the story of one town’s united efforts in the face of great adversity.
Arts Fest Jam Session
With Dustin Busch, Banjo Kellie and Friends
Saturday, June 6, 12:00 - 4:00PM
The Red Avocado Patio, 521 E Washington St.
Sponsored by New Pioneer Food Co-op and the Red Avocado
Damnwells
The Damnwells, as a collective, have been making music since the turn of the century. As most fans will know, Alex Dezen has often referred to The Damnwells as a collective. As he wrote on his myspace blog: The Damnwells has always been about my songs with extremely talented musicians and producers collaborating. The personnel have changed, but the essence—one of this week’s vocabulary words for the 7th graders I teach—remains the same.
Squirrel Nut Zippers
The Squirrel Nut Zippers rejoice at the difficulty people have pigeonholing their unmistakable sound. A perpetually evolving, hybrid-stew of Southern roots traditions, blues and jazz, the Zippers were aptly tagged "'30s punk" by one critic. They have always flirted with a muse most concerned with ghosts, love gone wrong, fever-dreams and stories unearthed from days past. Centered around the beguiling vocals of Katherine Whalen and the anachronistic windup toy that is Jimbo Mathus, the Zippers promise to both charm and confound. You won’t want to miss the Squirrel Nut Zippers on Friday night.
The 100’s
The "Americana Music" tent is a pretty big piece of canvas these days, one that stretches to encompass an assortment of traditional and contemporary performers, songs and styles. Under this big top you'll find Midwest band The 100s, playing its own brand of roots-rock-country-folk music and building a loyal following through its live shows and its two CD releases, "Take the Gravel Home" (2005) and Echoes (2008).
Finders & Youngberg Band
Finders and Youngberg...It's not a Law Firm…In fact, if you take legal advice from any of these musicians (especially Amy), you'll probably end up in the clink. Finders and Youngberg is a well-established folk/bluegrass/country musical group, a partnership between two talented couples whose paths have converged to carve a distinct mark. The Finders (from Iowa at the time) met The Youngbergs (from Colorado) in Chicago, 2005 while playing with other bands and sharing the billing. Though this alliance is newly solidified, the experience of the individuals is boldly evident in the award-winning songwriting and the spaces between the seasoned vocal and instrumental performances. To be sure, the synergy of this quartet sparkles brighter than the stage lights.
Kevin Gordon Band
Alternative country-rock singer/songwriter Kevin Gordon was born and raised in West Monroe, Lousiana, and grew up on a steady diet of the area's indigenous swamp blues, honky tonk and rockabilly. A published poet and graduate of the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, he teamed with producer and E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent to record his debut Illinois 5 a.m., issued in 1997 on the Nashville-based Motherlode label; Down to the Wall followed in mid-2000. Gordon's songs have also been recorded by rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess and All the King's Men, an ad hoc band formed by one time Elvis Presley sidemen Scotty Moore and D.J. Montana. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen has been a mainstay on the Texas music scene for over 25 years. He has released 15 albums, and could best be described as the most successful artist that many Americans have never heard. He consistently plays sold-out shows for audiences that number sometimes as many as 25,000. Keen’s set lists are ever-changing, the songs often undergo metamorphoses with continued playing, and his band - whose “newest” member has been with Keen for five years - revels in versatility. Bring your dancing shoes Saturday night, you won’t want to miss this high energy performance.
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