Chuy Renteria was raised in the town of West Liberty, IA. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Dance. A B-boy since the age of 14, he is a central figure in the Iowa dance scene. A latent interest in writing led to his stories being published in the anthology We […]
“Andrea Gibson (they/them/their) is one of the most stirring and influential spoken word artists of our time. Best known for their live performances, in which they regularly sell out large capacity rock clubs and concert halls, Gibson has changed the landscape of what it means to attend a “poetry show” altogether. Gibson’s poems center around […]
“SASAMI (Sasami Ashworth) has been making music of every kind in Los Angeles for the last decade, from playing French horn in orchestras and studios to playing keys and guitar in local rock bands (Dirt Dress, Cherry Glazerr), and playing on albums by and doing arrangements for artists like Curtis Harding, Wild Nothing, and Vagabon. […]
Steubenville, Ohio native MC Animosity is a Rapper/Producer/ and musician. He brings an East coast style and flavor to anything with a good beat. He’s been the lead vocalist for The Uniphonics since the band was formed in 2005. He has been involved in various music projects in Iowa City since 1998, including Hip hop […]
Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs […]
From the moment she began writing her new album, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner knew that she wanted to call it Jubilee. After all, a jubilee is a celebration of the passage of time—a festival to usher in the hope of a new era in brilliant technicolor. Zauner’s first two albums garnered acclaim for the way […]
Each year for Mission Creek Festival welcomes community members and visitors to experience live performance, literary arts, and radical community happenings within intimate venues and spaces of downtown Iowa City. An important piece of each Mission Creek Festival is the memories and experiences made at a number of restaurants and pubs. While the festival remains […]
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, ranging topics from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the […]
Extravision is the intentionally malleable music of Des Moines humans Ryan Stier (The River Monks, Annalibera), Ben Dixon, Amanda Gibbons, and a rotation cast of helpers. Extravision is in a word, psychedelic, and seeks to explore that concept in multitudes. Sometimes spacious and expansive, sometimes glitchy and watery, sometimes a whisper, Extravision is as unpredictable […]
Brian Penkrot, Jason Palamara, and Justin K Comer met in the early 2010s while pursuing graduate degrees in composition at the University of Iowa. Jason and Justin began playing together to accompany dancers, and eventually founded the duo JCϟjp. The duo lost some steam when Jason moved to Indiana, but in 2019, Brian breathed new […]