Boasting unforgettable show tunes including "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Rose's Turn," "Together (Wherever We Go)," "If Mama Was Married," and "Let Me Entertain You," the musical classic Gypsy enjoys an April 17 through 19 run at the Coralville Center for the Arts, this production of Iowa City Community Theatre featuring timeless music by Jule Styne, a trenchant book by Arthur Laurents, and wickedly smart lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

The co-editor of the Pitt Poetry Series and a professor of creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College, esteemed author Jeffrey McDaniel will be the featured guest in the latest SPECTRA Reading Series event hosted by the Midwest Writing Center, his April 23 engagement at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox treating literature lovers to an evening of poetry, an open-mic event, and a community writing hour.

With the in-person event held in conjunction with the monthly meeting of the Rooting Out Poverty Book Club, Augustana College graduate, former Moline teacher/coach, and Superintendent of Rock Island-Milan Public Schools Dr. Dave Markward will discuss his memoir at the Moline Public Library on April 22, From Dubuque to Selma & Beyond: My Journey to Understand Racism in America available by request through PrairieCat, Libby, or Hoopla.

With Masterworks' moving 2025-26 season finale presented in partnership with Violins of Hope, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra will present Johann Sebastian Bach’s beautiful Concerto for Two Violins and Gustav Mahler's gripping Sixth Symphony on April 11 and 12, the respective concerts at Davenport's Adler Theatre and Augustana College's Centennial Hall finding members of the QCSO – including soloists Emily Nash and Sabrina Tabby – performing on historic violins that serve as symbols of resilience, hope, and remembrance.