Carolyn Martin

The Hamburg Historic District in Davenport, IA, affectionately known as the “Gold Coast,” contains some of the widest variety of architectural styles in the Quad Cities.  Built primarily by German immigrants in the 19th and early 20th century, the district lies between 5th and 9th Streets (south to north) and between Ripley and Vine (east to west).

Situated on the second floor of the River Music Experience building in Davenport, IA, is The Underground Economy, a full-scale media and production house which bridges the gap between art and entrepreneurship.  Containing a podcast studio, a recording studio, and a content editing station, the space is available to creatives via a variety of membership options, with the goal to become an incubator for the arts within the Quad Cities.

The national touring show Beatles vs. Stones - A Musical Showdown is coming to the Adler Theatre in Davenport on October 20, 2020.  The tribute bands Satisfaction and Abbey Road, wearing period clothing and playing vintage instruments, will be accompanied onstage during seven of their songs by a string quartet composed of local high school musicians.

Rock Island native John Shallman recently published his first novel, Return from Siberia.

The acclaimed artist Cecile Houel works in Ft. Madison, IA where she has been creating beautiful, realistic portraits of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.  Twenty of her large 4’ x 4’ works are currently on display in a variety of locations throughout the Quad Cities. Ten are at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy in Bettendorf as part of their “Peace Starts Within” exhibit; six are on display at Quad City Arts’ airport gallery as part of their “A Portrait of Remarkable Women” show; and two portraits are at both the German American Heritage Center and in the River Center/Adler display cases.  The portraits will be up through the end of October.

The Quad City Music Academy is a new school for students pursuing their musical education in cello, violin, viola, or bass.  Private lessons are offered with a variety of accomplished professional musicians, and specialized courses and workshops are also available.  The Academy is the first of its kind in the Quad Cities.  Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the fall 2020 semester will be held online.

Racial inequity in the arts is well documented across all genres, from theatre, to film, literature, and the visual arts. The public outcry and protests that have occurred this year following the death of George Floyd and countless other people of color have resulted in a strong public reckoning regarding our own implicit biases regarding race. Those biases, in combination with existing economic disparities and entrenched institutional hierarchies affect what we see and view on screen, on stage, in museums, and read in books.

The innovative sculptor Beverly Pepper was a resident artist with the Visiting Artist program in the Quad Cities in 1981.  Over a dozen works were created during her time here.  Four of them remain in the Quad Cities, of which three are available for the general public to view. Her sculptures, many of them monumental in size, have been exhibited in major museums throughout the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, and in many locations throughout Italy where she resided for many decades.

Originally from the Quad Cities, Samantha Pauly is an actor best known for originating the role of Katherine Howard in SIX the Musical on Broadway, and for her portrayal of Eva Perón in Jamie Lloyd’s critically acclaimed London revival of Evita.

The freelance hairstylist, Amelia Bay, is originally from the Quad Cities and now works in television and on Broadway.  She was in the midst of filming for the TV show Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit when the entertainment industry was shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.