Latest flood news: Coralville Lake down to 700.34 feet | Dubuque Street partially reopened (More info)
Featured Events
Main Page Content
Jun 16
MusicIC presents 'Ferdinand and the Bull'
Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
What's happening? MusicIC will present a children's concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 16 at the Iowa City Public Library. The concert will feature Ferdinand the Bull, Goodnight Moon, and Pecos Bill with music by Debussy, Copland, and Alan Ridout.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
More information: www.uiowa.edu/musicic/
Bijou summer movies begin with 'Stoker'
Bijou Cinema, Iowa Memorial Union
What's it about? After India’s (Mia Wasikowska’s) father dies in an auto accident, her Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman). Soon after his arrival, she comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives, but instead of feeling outrage or horror, this friendless girl becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
See full showing schedule: bijou.uiowa.edu/2013/05/29/stoker/
Trailer: youtu.be/MXaanQkzrXU
Jun 17
Anthony Marra to read at Prairie Lights
Prairie Lights Bookstore
Anthony Marra will read from his new novel, The Constellation of Vital Phenomena at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 17 at Prairie Lights Bookstore in downtown Iowa City. This special event is co-sponsored by The Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.
Marra, a Stegner Fellow, Iowa MFA, and winner of The Atlantic’s Student Writing Contest, has written a brilliant debut novel that brings to life an abandoned hospital where a tough-minded doctor decides to harbor a hunted young girl, with powerful consequences.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Listen online: A live stream of the event is available at www.writinguniversity.org.
Jun 18
Kyle McCord and Caryl Pagel to read at Prairie Lights
Prairie Lights Bookstore
What's happening? Writers' Workshop graduates Kyle McCord and Caryl Pagel will read from their poetry at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 18 at Prairie Lights Bookstore in downtown Iowa City.
Kyle McCord is the author of three books of poetry: Galley of the Beloved, a co-written book of epistolary poems entitled Informal Invitations to a Traveler, and Sympathy from the Devil.
Caryl Pagel will read from her book of poetry, Experiments I Should Like Tried at My Own Death. Pagel is the acting director of this year's Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the co-founder and editor of Rescue Press, and a poetry editor at jubilat.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Listen online: A live stream of the event is available at www.writinguniversity.org.
Jun 19
Ben Miller to read at Prairie Lights
Prairie Lights Bookstore
What's happening? Ben Miller will read from his memoir, River Bend Chronicle: The Junkification of a Boyhood Idyll Amid the Curious Glory of Urban Iowa at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19, at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City.
With keen powers of observation, Ben Miller chronicles the eccentric Miller family’s tangled connections between themselves, an unlikely cast of locals, and a seldom-documented urban Iowa, one not of cows and cornstalks but of concrete and rust, full of longstanding institutions buckling under economic pressures and peopled by citizens adrift in an America that began to vanish in the 1960s and ’70s.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Listen online: A live stream of the event is available at www.writinguniversity.org.
Jun 20
Karen Bender will read at Prairie Lights
Prairie Lights Bookstore
What's happening? Novelist and short story writer Karen Bender will present a public reading at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 20, at Prairie Lights Bookstore in downtown Iowa City.
Bender is the author of A Town of Empty Rooms and Like Normal People. Her new collection of short stories, Refund, is forthcoming from Counterpoint Press.
Bender teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and is on the faculty of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Listen online: A live stream of the event is available at www.writinguniversity.org.
Jun 21
UI Children's Hospital to host groundbreaking event
John Colloton Pavillion Patio, UIHC
What's happening? The public is invited to a groundbreaking ceremony for the new UI Children’s Hospital at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, June 21, on the patio of the John Colloton Pavilion at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
Parking and directions: Parking for the event is available in Hospital Ramp 4. To view a map, go online to www.uichildrens.org/groundbreaking.
Watch it online. The groundbreaking will be available for viewing online via a live Webcast at www.uichildrens.org/live to anyone who cannot attend the event in person. Photos and video from the event will be available at www.uichildrens.org/buildingupdate and www.facebook.com/uichildrens.
More info: http://now.uiowa.edu/2013/06/kids-help-break-ground-new-ui-childrens-hospital
Family canoeing at Macbride Nature Recreation Area
Macbride Nature Recreation Area
What's happening? Spend the evening at Macbride Nature Recreation Area with your family canoeing Lake Macbride from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Friday, June 21.
This event is best suited for families with children ages 5 and older, and any participating children must be accompanied by an adult. Cost to members will be $5 per child, non-members will pay $7 per child.
Map and directions to Macbride Nature Recreation Area: recserv.uiowa.edu/Apps/Facilities/MacBrideNatureRecreationArea.aspx
The Fez to take the stage at the Friday Night Concert
Pedestrian Mall, Iowa City
What's happening? The Fez, eastern Iowa’s new new hot-ticket super-group, will play on the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Friday, June 21.
If you are a Steely Dan fan, The Fez will knock your socks off! Come down and rock with this 15-piece band composed of some of the finest musicians in Eastern Iowa.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
More information about the Friday Night Concerts: http://www.summerofthearts.org/festival-menu/concert-series/about.aspx
Wenonah Hauter will read from 'Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America'
Prairie Lights Bookstore
What's happening? Wenonah Hauter will read from Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 21 at Prairie Lights Bookstore.
“Hauter knows where the bodies are buried beneath the amber waves of grain. This is a terrific primer on the corporate control of food in the US, and the actions of those who fight back. By turns heartbreaking, infuriating and inspiring, Foodopoly is required reading for anyone who wants to understand both the scale of the challenge in reclaiming our food system, and the urgency for doing so.” —Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Bijou to show 'To the Wonder'
Bijou Cinema, Iowa Memorial Union
To the Wonder opens at the Bijou at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 21. The film boldly and lyrically explores the complexities of love in all its forms. Parisian single mother Marina (Olga Kurylenko) and Midwestern tourist Neil (Ben Affleck) fall madly in love in France and relocate to Oklahoma with Marina’s young daughter to start a life together.
See full schedule of showing times: bijou.uiowa.edu/2013/05/29/to-the-wonder/
Trailer: http://youtu.be/rjVDnwGsAF4
Ticket information: Tickets are available at The Hub—$3 for students and $7 for non-students.
Come view the starry skies
Van Allen Hall
The UI Society of Physics Students invites you to observe the night sky from the telescope on the roof of Van Allen Hall. The group will gather at 9 p.m. on the first and third Fridays of each month throughout the summer, weather permitting.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
More information: www.facebook.com/pages/Society-of-Physics-Students-Iowa-Chapter/154376411246560
Jun 22
Natural History Museum presents summer series on Native American art
Museum of Natural History, Macbride Hall
The Museum of Natural History will host a series of Saturday workshops on Native American art this summer for children entering grades 3-6. Come to one or come to them all.
The first workshop on Saturday, June 22 will focus on importance of the American Bison to Native American cultures and the many uses of the hides and skins, including the parfleche. Make your own parfleche to take home!
Registration: Pre-registration is required, class sizes are limited. The workshop fee is $5. To register on online see the Museum site.
See the full schedule: http://www.uiowa.edu/~nathist/programs.html
Saturday Night Free Movie to feature 'Ice Age'
The Pentacrest
What's happening? Iowa Summer of the Arts’ Free Movie Series will feature Ice Age at sunset on the lawn outside Macbride Hall on the Pentacrest. Pack up the blankets and the kids and head on down.
What it about? This computer-animated dramatic comedy is set twenty thousand years ago when the earth is overrun by freezing temperatures in an Ice Age that is sending all manner of critters scattering in the path of encroaching glaciers.
When a lost human infant is discovered, an unlikely quartet of misfits forms to return it to its mother: Manny, a depressed woolly mammoth (Ray Romano); Sid, a fast-talking sloth (John Leguizamo); an acorn-crazed squirrel named Scrat (Wedge); and the devilish saber-toothed tiger named Diego (Denis Leary). Before they can complete their mission, the reluctant compatriots will brave pits of boiling lava, dangerous caverns of ice, and even a traitorous plot within their midst.
See the trailer: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/ice-age/
Raining? No problem: In case of inclement weather, the film will be shown in Macbride Auditorium at 8:30.
Jun 23
Tour City of Literature Literary Walk
Authors, poets, and playwrights abound in Iowa City. Iowa City’s Literary Walk celebrates the work of 49 of these writers.
The Literary Walk runs along Iowa Avenue from Clinton Street to Gilbert Street. It’s comprised of a series of bronze relief panels set in the pavement that feature authors' words as well as attribution.
More information: www.icgov.org/?id=1585
Jun 24
Interested in writing? Come to the Eleventh Hour Series
Biology Building East, Room 101
Some background: The Eleventh Hour Series makes the expertise of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival available to the public. Daily presentations cover a broad range of topics related to the writing craft.
Faculty readings: Fridays in the Eleventh Hour Series are reserved for Iowa Summer Writing Festival faculty readings.
When is it? Events are held at 11 a.m. each weekday June 11 through July 27 (with the exception of July 4 week) in Room 101 of Biology Building East on the University of Iowa campus.
Admission: Free and open to the public
Find out more: The full schedule is available here.
Jun 25
'David Plowden's Iowa' on display at Old Capitol Museum
Old Capitol Museum
Old Capitol Museum invites you to view David Plowden’s Iowa, an exhibit featuring four decades of work by documentary photographer David Plowden. The exhibit will run until Sunday, August 25.
Admission: The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Museum hours:
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Breaking the sound of silence
Macbride Auditorium
Bernd Fritzsch, professor of biology at the University of Iowa will present a lecture titled "Breaking the sound of silence: Evolving an auditory system and maintaining it through old age" at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 25 in Macbride Auditorium.
Sound is essential for human communication, but its importance is only appreciated when deafness strikes the aging ear, disabling communications one is accustomed to. This presentation will introduce how sound perception evolved, why the human hearing organ is so unique in terms of loss of its function, and how deeper understanding of human hearing may allow us to restore lost hearing abilities.
Accommodations: Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the Museum at 319-335-0480.
Jun 26
Enjoy a French picnic at Lunch with the Chefs
Iowa Memorial Union, Main Lounge
What's happening? University Catering invites you to a French picnic at Lunch with the Chefs on Wednesday, June 26 from 11:30.
What's on the menu? Get a menu preview at housing.uiowa.edu/departments/residentialdining/LWTC.html
Tickets: Tickets are $12.25 and must be purchased online in advance at: http://housing.uiowa.edu/chefs
Iowa City seeks your input in 'Inspire Downtown IC' project
Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
What's happening? The City of Iowa City invites to to share your thoughts, ideas and suggestions for improving Downtown Iowa City on Wednesday, June 26 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Iowa City Public Library.
Over the next year, the City of Iowa City will be working with the Iowa City Downtown District and other community stakeholders to develop a plan that will guide future investments in our downtown public spaces.
Downtown Iowa City is an incredibly vibrant district with extraordinary dining and entertainment venues, an eclectic mix of retail shops, an expanding entrepreneurial culture, engaging public art projects, unique living opportunities and nationally recognized special events. The plan we are creating will draw upon the strengths of downtown and capture the community’s creative thoughts and energy in way that will shape our community for decades to come.
More information: www.InspireDowntownIC.com
John Murillo and Ghada Abdel Aal to read at Prairie Lights
Prairie Lights Bookstore
What's happening? The International Writing Program will co-sponsor a reading John Murillo and Ghada Abdel Aal at Prairie Lights Bookstore in downtown Iowa City.
Ghada Abdel Aal is the author of I Want to Get Married!: One Wannabe Bride’s Misadventures with Handsome Houdinis, Technicolor Grooms, Morality Police, and Other Mr. Not-Quite-Right. Ghada Abdel Aal works as a pharmacist and continues to blog.
John Murillo is the author of the poetry collection, Up Jump The Boogie. He is a graduate of New York University’s MFA program in creative writing, he has also received fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Cave Canem, and the New York Times. Up Jump The Boogie is his first collection.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Listen online: A live stream of the event is available at www.writinguniversity.org.
Jun 27
Andrew Sean Greer to read from 'The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells'
Prairie Lights Bookstore
What's happening? Andrew Sean Greer will read from his new novel, The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 27 at Prairie Lights Bookstore.
Greer is the bestselling author of The Story of a Marriage and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was a Today book club selection and received a California Book Award. He lives in San Francisco.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Listen online: A live stream of the event is available at www.writinguniversity.org.
Summer Rep season opens with 'Bad Seed'
Coralville Center for Performing Arts
What's happening? UI Department of Theatre Arts will open its 2013 summer repertory theatre season with Bad Seed on Thursday, June 27 at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.
Bad Seed, directed by Eric Forsythe, Iowa Summer Rep artistic director, takes place in the South not long after World War II, and mainly concerns a seemingly perfect little 8-year old girl who, because of a hereditary “bad seed,” is actually a scheming murderess. Did little Rhoda actually drown one of her schoolmates who won the coveted penmanship medal that Rhoda feels she deserved? Does her mother go insane with suicidal guilt? Does everybody deny everything? And how can the neighbors, friends, even a mystery writer and a psychologist not see what anyone with a lick of sense can see?
Additional performances: Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29 at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $26 ($23 for seniors 65 and up; $13 for youth 17 and younger; $5 for UI students with valid UI ID). Tickets are on sale at the Hancher Box Office in the Old Capitol Town Center. Tickets are available at http://www.hancher.uiowa.edu/tickets. Hancher Box Office summer business hours, for walk-up and phone sales, are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. Call 319-335-1160 or 800-426-2437. People with special needs for access, seating, and auxiliary services should dial 319-335-1158, which is equipped with TDD for people with hearing impairment.
More information: now.uiowa.edu/2013/06/iowa-city-flooding-alters-summer-rep-season
Jun 28
Friday Night Concert to feature Orquesta Alto Maiz
Pedestrian Mall, Iowa City
What's happening? Break out your dancing shoes! Orquesta Alto Maiz will play at the Friday Night Concert from 6:30-9:00 p.m. Friday, June 28 on the pedestrian mall downtown.
The latest incarnation of the band is sure to continue to attract a large and faithful following of dancers and fans whose support has encouraged their efforts in the exploration of this wonderful music known, generically, as "salsa" and Latin jazz.
Admission: The event is free and open to the public.
Bijou to show 'Violeta Went to Heaven'
Bijou Cinema, Iowa Memorial Union
What's happening? The Bijou will show the Spanish film Violeta Went to Heaven starting at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 28. The film tells the extraordinary story of the iconic poet, musician and folksinger Violeta Parra, whose songs have become hymns for Chileans and Latin Americans alike. Director Andres Wood (Machuca) traces the intensity and explosive vitality of her life, from humble origins to international fame, her defense of indigenous cultures and devotion to her art.
Trailer: http://youtu.be/SChk4lmDCJU
Ticket information: Tickets are available at The Hub—$3 for students and $7 for non-students.
See full viewing schedule: bijou.uiowa.edu/2013/05/29/violeta-went-to-heaven/
Jun 29
Native American art series continues at the Museum of Natural History
Museum of Natural History, Macbride Hall
The Museum of Natural History will host a series of Saturday workshops on Native American art this summer for children entering grades 3-6. Come to one or come to them all.
The second workshop on Saturday, June 29 will focus on importance of the American Bison to Native American cultures and the many uses of the hides and skins, including the Plains buffalo hide ledger drawings and war shields. Make your own hide ledger or war shield.
Registration: Pre-registration is required, class sizes are limited. The workshop fee is $5. To register on online see the Museum site.
See the full schedule: http://www.uiowa.edu/~nathist/programs.html
Saturday Night Free Movie to feature 'The Help'
The Pentacrest
What's happening? Iowa Summer of the Arts’ Free Movie Series will feature The Help, at sunset on the lawn outside Macbride Hall on the Pentacrest. Pack up the lawn chairs and enjoy movies under the stars!
What it about? Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives—and a small Mississippi town—upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families.
Watch the trailer: www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi809278745/
Raining? No problem: In case of inclement weather, the film will be shown in Macbride Auditorium at 8:30.
Jul 5
Iowa City Jazz Festival, July 5-7
Downtown Iowa City
What’s happening: Named one of the Top Ten Jazz Festivals in the country, the 2013 Iowa City Jazz Festival definitely will live up to that reputation. With a variety of well-known jazz musicians and an infusion of up-and-coming talent, you're sure to enjoy the music from all four stages! So pack up the lawn chairs and the sun screen and head down to the Pentacrest for a full weekend of entertainment.
Main stage events:
- Friday night: United Jazz Ensemble, Laranja, Sachal Vasandani & the Iowa Jazz Orchestra.
- Iowa City fireworks will be launched from Hubbard Park at 9:45!
- Saturday: North Corridor Jazz All Stars; Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola Duo; Christian Scott Quintet; Dr. Lonnie Smith
- Sunday: Philip Dizack Quartet; JD Allen Trio; Fred Hersch Trio; Pharoah Sanders
Full music schedule: www.summerofthearts.org/festival-menu/jazz-festival/schedule.aspx
Kids’ activities: www.summerofthearts.org/festival-menu/jazz-festival/childrens-br-activities.aspx
More information: www.summerofthearts.org/festival-menu/jazz-festival/about.aspx
