ia: The best of Iowa arts and culture

Feast on syrup-slathered pancakes at the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids. (Photo: ICNC)

At the Maple Syrup Festival, it's OK to get sappy

Celebrate your favorite pancake or waffle topper at the 42nd annual Maple Syrup Festival in Cedar Rapids. Start your day with breakfast from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on March 29 and 30 at the Indian Creek Nature Center, where you can enjoy syrup made from trees right on-site.

When you're full, watch a traditional syrup-making demonstration and then head to the old sugar shack to take a whiff of the sweet, steamy cauldrons of sap. Find tickets and details online.

Check out live music at various venues during the Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City. (Photo: MCF)

Music and literature mix in Iowa City

Every spring, Iowa City's Mission Creek Festival brings together musicians, writers and fans for a citywide bonanza. Concerts and readings take place at various venues, including local shops temporarily adapted for live performances.

This year's event, April 3-5, features creative folks from Iowa City and beyond. Some artists are well known, like Rachel Kushner and Neko Case, while others are relatively niche, just waiting to be discovered.

Take your appetite to the annual Iowa Eats Festival in Waterloo. (Photo: IEF)

Waterloo welcomes everybody who eats

Foodies will be in good company at the Iowa Eats Festival on April 5 in Waterloo, where the state’s top chefs, cookbook authors, and other food and beverage experts will demonstrate new products and share kitchen wisdom and, of course, plenty of samples.

Visitors can attend classes and presentations led by experts like the Des Moines baker Eileen Gannon, who competed on Netflix's "Blue Ribbon Baking Championship" and founded Sunday Night Foods, and Jacob Schroeder, who owns Crafted Food Services catering and Moxie Kitchen + Events, a shared kitchen and prep space in Des Moines. At other workshops, visitors will learn how to bake bread, make pasta, blend spices, pair wines and appreciate whiskey.

Tickets are $10 per person and include food and beverage samples. Find more info on vendors, classes and speakers at iowaeatsfestival.com.

Humanities Iowa supported a program called "Timeless Journeys" at the University of Northern Iowa. (Photo: HI)

Humanities Iowa redesignated as the state humanities council

The National Endowment for the Humanities recently redesignated the nonprofit Humanities Iowa as the state’s humanities council. For the past several years, the designation was held on an interim basis by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, until it closed during the state government’s realignment in 2023, and then the State Historical Society of Iowa.

As the state’s humanities council, Humanities Iowa supports and funds humanities programs that connect Iowans to history and culture.

In recent years, Humanities Iowa has hosted community roundtables and intergenerational storytelling programs, helped restore small-town archives, promoted the Iowa Poet Laureate and Iowa Student Poet Ambassador, and organized a statewide speakers’ series. In all, these 200 programs and partnerships have reached more than 250,000 Iowans over the past two years.

A new play about the risks and rewards of farming is touring the state. (Illustration: EcoTheatre Lab)

‘Resistance’ sprouts across Iowa

A new play is spreading like a weed. "Resistance," a statewide touring show about some farmers who fight about a new herbicide, is designed to spark conversations about agriculture in the real world and the opportunities and risks that come with it.

The show was written by Iowa State University science lecturer Taylor Sklenar and produced by the Ames-based EcoTheatre Lab. It debuted earlier this month in Audubon and continues its tour in Ruthven (March 22), Milford (March 23), Grinnell (March 29) and Ames (April 5).