schedule A performing artists for next fall OR spring

Teachers and principals of all Quad City Area schools are invited to schedule an arts engagement for their students from a professional performing artist during the upcoming school year through Quad City Arts’ Visiting Artist Series.
 
Students will have access to professional performing artists who celebrate the diversity of the students and communities we serve as well as workshops and masterclasses to learn more about careers in the arts.
The series will provide engagement visits featuring music from Hawaii, Brazil, Belgium, India, Ireland, Canada, Japan, and Mexico, plus a children's puppet play, and return visits from a Chicago-based hip-hop/contemporary dance company and a Mexican folk/rock quintet.
 
School staff from public and private schools can schedule residency engagements for this fall and next spring by visiting www.quadcityarts.com/vas-scheduling.
 
The 2024-2025 season is filled with music, dance, and theater across genres and from around the world.
The first three artists of the season represent Native Hawaiian culture, music, and dance, Afro-Brazilian music, and a blend of 1780s Belgian music with modern jazz.
 
Chicago Dance Crash returns for a week-long residency in mid-January 2025 to serve as ambassadors of street dance for area students. Known for its diverse repertoire, Crash’s performances feature choreography and freestyles by some of the nation’s top dance practitioners and tours annually across the U.S.
 
Visiting in late January 2025, “Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch” is a puppet play based on the book by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Paul Yalowitz and adapted and directed by Chris McGregor. This performance tells the story of when Mr. Hatch’s world is turned upside down and he begins to make friends and enjoy all the fun parts of life that he once ignored. “Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch” a heartwarming puppet play for K-7th grade students that examines the effect that kindness can have on a dreary existence.
 
The popular and multi-award-winning quintet Goitse will be in residence mid-March 2025. The band was forged in the white-hot creative crucible of Limerick’s Irish World Academy. Named Live Ireland’s “Traditional Group of the Year”, Chicago Irish American News’ “Group of the Year”, as well as winning the prestigious “Freiburger International Leiter 2016” award in Germany, Goitse have become a leader of the new generation of traditional Irish ensembles.
 
Since 1973, San Jose Taiko has captivated global audiences and critics alike with the powerful sounds of the taiko.Inspired by traditional Japanese drumming, company performers express the beauty of the human spirit through the voice of the taiko, creating a vibrant, contemporary art form as they strive to connect people through cultural understanding, creative expression, and rhythmic heartbeat. The company visits Quad City area schools in March 2025.
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​Residency host sites can sign up for visits ranging from all-school performances to hands-on workshops or performance opportunities with artists in residence hosted by Quad City Arts.
 
The full roster of artists in residence is as follows:

• Kulaiwi, Indigenous Hawaiian performance, Sept. 30 to Oct. 5
• Luciane Dom, Afro-Brazilian music, in residence Oct. 7-10
• WÖR, Belgian 18th century folk crossover band, in residence Oct. 28 to Nov. 1
• Robin Spielberg, Concert pianist and speaker on music and health, in residence Nov. 4-8
• Fabulous Equinox Orchestra, Soulful Southern Big Band, in residence Nov. 20-22
• Sunny Jain and the Wild Wild East, Indian/jazz fusion, in residence Dec. 2-6
• Chicago Dance Crash, street dance fusion company, in residence Jan. 13-17
• “Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch”, children’s puppet theatre, in residence Jan. 27-31
• Goitse, traditional Irish music, in residence Feb. 18-21
• San Jose Taiko, traditional taiko drumming, in residence March 10-14
• Twin Flames, Canadian Indigenous Folk, in residence March 24-28
• Jarabe Mexicano, Mexican folk-rock, in residence May 5-9
  
  

Community sites will be able to schedule engagements for their patrons and clients in the coming weeks through the same website. More details will be posted on www.quadcityarts.com/vas.
 
As a keystone program of Quad City Arts, the Visiting Artist Series, which started in 1974 to present multi-disciplinary performing arts residencies in schools and community sites, has brought in 490 residencies, more than 847 artists, over 10,570 school visits, more than 457 concerts, and nearly 2.76 million reached.
 
The series serves students and community members in Clinton, Scott, and Muscatine Counties in Iowa, and Henry, Rock Island, and Mercer Counties in Illinois.
 
Since 1974, the Visiting Artist Series has engaged Quad City residents of all ages in quality arts experiences with professional performing artists. Artists of various disciplines present demonstrations, workshops, and master classes at pre-K sites, elementary, intermediate, and high schools as well as college campuses and community organizations.

SCHEDULE A VISITING ARTIST

For more information on this residency program, visit www.quadcityarts.com/vas.
 
About Quad City Arts
Quad City Arts is a nonprofit local arts agency dedicated to enriching the quality of life in the Quad City region through the arts. Quad City Arts receives significant support for the Visiting Artist Series from Scott County Regional Authority, Regional Development Authority, Bechtel Charitable Trust, National Endowment of the Arts, Iowa Arts Council, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Quad Cities Cultural Trust, The Amy Helpenstell Foundation Fund, the John J. Quail Fund and the Marsha and Don Pedersen Endowment at the Quad Cities Community Foundation, Rock Island Community Foundation, Geneseo Rotary Club, Rauch Family Foundation I, Kiwanis Club of Davenport, and Quad City Arts donors. 

Contact: Margot Day, performing arts director at Quad City Arts, [email protected] or 309-793-1213, ext. 106.