The top bands of the University of Iowa School of Music will take center stage with the annual Band Extravaganza at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Band Extravaganza is a popular showcase for the Johnson County Landmark jazz band, the Symphony Band, and the Hawkeye Marching Band.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a free organ recital by guest artist Kevin Bowyer at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus.

Iowa Percussion, a program in the University of Iowa School of Music, will present “Percussion from Outer Space,” a free performance set for 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus.

Dance Gala 2012, the University of Iowa Department of Dance’s major annual event, kicks off tonight in Space Place Theater. Iowa Now provides this peek at dress rehearsal.

University of Iowa President Sally Mason joined state and congressional leaders in praising the federal government’s decision Wednesday to reaffirm its commitment to provide $83 million for the replacement of Hancher Auditorium, School of Music, and studio arts buildings.

The University of Iowa’s student and community-based group TransCollaborations announces the schedule for the fourth annual TransWeek! Nov. 2 through 5 with the theme, "Organizing Against Transnormativity," a week that celebrates trans-identified people and gender variance.

Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Jason Lewis will read from his first novel, "The Fourteenth Colony," and play music as part of a free event at 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8, in the Times Club Café of Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City.

Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumnus Nick Twemlow and Joel Craig will read from their poetry at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

The second production of the University Theatre Mainstage 2012-13 season, "Spring Awakening, A Rock Musical," will open at 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 9, in E.C. Mabie Theatre of the University of Iowa Theatre Building.

For many Americans, the Qur'an is difficult to read, its organization obscure, its messages cryptic or even threatening. Professor Carl W. Ernst will discuss strategies for making sense of the Qur'an's complex text during a series of events Nov. 1-2.

The University of Iowa Center for New Music (CNM) will present a free concert featuring guest artist Michael Norsworthy on clarinet and CNM director David Gompper on piano at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 28, in the Senate Chamber of Old Capitol on the UI campus.

UI Department of Dance faculty member Rebekah Kowal was honored for her book, "How to Do Things With Dance: Performing Change in Postwar America," in which she takes a fresh view of modern dance in the 1950s, portraying dance as an agent of social change in the Cold War era. Kowal discusses her research with Iowa Now.