As part of Black History Month, Quad City Arts and Azubuike African American Council for the Arts have partnered to curate a juried, group exhibition, with Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center currently housing Artists of African Descent, an arresting and multi-varied exhibition on display through March 17.

Boasting works by more than a dozen gifted young artsist, the University of Dubuque hosts the locally produced International Photo Exhibit: Photos by UD Students, Staff, & Faculty through February 24, offering visitors an opportunity to travel abroad without leaving the comfort of the Bisignano Art Gallery.

With the focus of its celebration a 1990 recipient of the United States National Medal of Technology – the highest national honor conferred for achievements related to technological progress – the February 23 program Birth of the Computer: The John Atanasoff Story will be held in Augustana College's Wallenberg Hall, offering attendees insight into the inventor of the electronic digital computer and his reported ties to the Quad Cities area.

A track-and-field Olympian who was also an NFL player who was also a 1915 graduate of Rock Island High School will be celebrated on February 11 in Sol Butler: The Greatest Athlete You've Never Heard of, a Rock Island Public Library presentation by local author David Sebben on the Quad Citian who played for the Rock Island Independents football team and competed in the long jump in the 1920 Olympic games.

Showcased at the Figge Art Museum through May 7, the touring exhibition Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 will be on view in the Davenport venue's third- and fourth-floor galleries, and boasts 64 fully accessorized ensembles comprised of more than 480 historic objects.

Screening at Augustana College on February 12 and hailed by Video Librarian as "an amazing documentary that comes with interesting images and striking sound bites," The Ground Between Us serves as the fourth presentation in River Action's annual QC Environmental Film Series , the work lauded by ArtsFuse as a "timely new documentary casts an ambitious wide-screen, full-color gaze on public lands in America."

One of the most fascinating of all oceanic creatures will be given an up-close-and-person look at the Putnam Museum & Science Center through February 4, when the venue displays the Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend, an examination of the water-based wonders from their depiction in the 1500s as angry sea monsters to their present status as icons of pop culture.

Opening its eagerly anticipated 2023 season with one of the most hilarious and beloved romantic comedies in theatrical history, Neil Simon's timeless Barefoot in the Park enjoys a February 10 through 19 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this Tony-winning stage sensation – and inspiration for the Robert Redford/Jane Fonda movie – lauded by Life magazine as nothing less than “one of the funniest comedies ever.”

A literary classic adapted for the stage by a remarkable trio of professional talents, author Kenneth Grahame's beloved The Wind in the Willows enjoys a student-performed rendition at Davenport Junior Theatre from February 11 to 19, its creators including the Olivier Award-winning Mary Poppins team of composer/lyricists George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and its book writer Julian Fellowes, the Academy Award and Emmy winner responsible for Gosford Park and Downton Abbey.

The evening of February 11 is sure to be “Some Kind of Wonderful” at the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center as the Davenport venue hosts a night with Grand Funk Railroad, with the chart-topping, platinum-selling rockers currently celebrating their 53rd year of professional performance and a discography that boasts 13 studio album, four live albums, a dozen compilation albums, and more than two dozen singles.

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