This spring, Iowa will host one of the world’s most recognized Holocaust-era cultural exhibitions as Violins of Hope launches a rare, two-month residency spanning multiple Iowa communities, an opening event for the program taking place at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center on February 17.

The next performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah at Augustana College will be extra-special for its conductor and performers, as Jon Hurty – the school’s director of choral activities since 1996 – is retiring at the end of this school year. He will lead the classic oratorio on February 22 at 3 p.m. in Augustana College's Centennial Hall.

Nearly 49 years after first forming, the pop-rock band Toto is still going strong, and brings its national tour to Davenport’s Capitol Theatre on February 19.

A high-energy ensemble boasting some of the sharpest musical talents the area has to offer, 10 of Soul headlines a February 13 engagement in the Rust Belt's "Winter Jam 2026" concert series, their East Moline set sure to boast classic tunes from the genres of soul, funk, and blues, as well as a few funky arrangements of their own.

An evening of classic '80s rock is promised at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center on February 14 when the venue treats fans to a night with Bad Medicine, the exhilarating touring musicians who will deliver a first act of Bon Jovi hits and a second act of "Non Jovi" smashes, featuring favorites by the hard-rocking likes of Poison, Van Halen, and Guns N' Roses.

With the works of both Iowa-based artists boasting vivid colors and expressive storytelling qualities, the dual exhibition Laber & Mullins will be on display in Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center through March 20, this showcase of local talent boasting evocative, thrilling paintings by Phillip Laber and Rachael Mullins.

On February 18, patrons of Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre are invited to discover a prehistoric world of astonishing and remarkably lifelike creatures of the past in the touring sensation Dinosaur World Live, with the astonishing sights on display including a Triceratops, Giraffatitan, Microraptor, Segnosaurus, and every child's favorite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex,

With River Action sponsoring a rare double feature in its QC Environmental Film Series, the fascinating program for February at St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center features a pair of short documentaries: Kelp!, the Jury Award winner of the 2024 Wild & Scenic Film Festival, and The Green Buffalo, which details how the biggest strides in hempcrete construction are going down on one of the smallest Native American reservations.

The top three Democratic U.S. Senate candidates faced off twice last week. The first debate wasn’t televised, so the live audience was quite small. The second debate was televised, so the audience was bigger. However, these debates don’t attract even a smidgen of the audience of presidential debates, when half the country often tunes in.