A South Carolina native boasting more than a million InstaGram followers, the red-headed, frequently shirtless comedian Ginger Billy brings his Midwestern tour to East Moline venue The Rust Belt on October 13, his debut video netting the performer nearly a million views on YouTube alone.

On October 17, the author of more than two dozen books, all of which are written for young and middle-grade audiences, will be the highlighted speaker when the Rock Island Public Library hosts the virtual Illinois Libraries Present program Food, Family, & Folktales: A Conversation with Grace Lin, with Evanston Public Library children’s librarian Brian E. Wilson joining the lauded and awarded writer in conversation.

Hailed by the Irish Times as "a dauntingly comprehensive and beautifully filmed study," director Aoife Kelleher's 2014 documentary One Million Dubliners serves as the third screening in the Bettendorf Public Library's Global Gathering Ireland film series, the October 11 screening exposing viewers to the national necropolis that is Ireland's Glasnevin Cemetery, the final resting place for 1.5 million souls.

On display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through January 8, the arresting historical exhibition Art & Activism at Tougaloo College will explore the inception of this distinctive collection at the intersection of modern art, education, and social justice, and in doing so, will highlight Tougaloo’s evolution as a center for vanguard European and American art shaped by interracial collaboration and the pursuit of civil rights.