The 27th season of the Quad City Wind Ensemble continues Sunday, March 3rd at 3:00pm. The theme of the concert is "The Women's Movement," music that focuses much-needed attention on the myriad contributions of women composers to the contemporary wind band repertoire

Conducted by Brian L. Hughes, the QCWE will perform works by Anne McGinty, Nancy Galbraith, Colette Hausey, Shelley Hanson and Julie Giroux. The concert will immediately be followed by a reception with free refreshments and homemade treats.

Admission in $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and FREE for all students through 12th grade. We hope you can join us at the Galvin Fine Arts Center on the campus of St. Ambrose for this special event!

For additional information, please visit www.qcwindensemble.org, or http://www.facebook.com/qcwindensemble

SPRINGFIELD - Lt. Governor Sheila Simon will testify at a joint hearing of the Senate and House Higher Education Committees on Wednesday, presenting her findings on affordability at the state's public higher education institutions.

Simon, the state's point person on education reform, recently released "Game Changers," a culminating report on her Affordability Summits at Illinois' 12 public universities this past fall. Coupled with her first-hand experience visiting the state's community colleges, Simon will outline financial barriers to higher education access and completion, and improvements that can help make college more affordable. Among her suggestions is an income tax credit for Illinois college graduates who stay in Illinois to work.

"Higher education affordability is an overwhelming barrier to our students' achievement and our state's economic growth," Lt. Governor Simon said. "Affordable community colleges and universities prepare our students for in-demand jobs and demonstrate our commitment to fostering a highly-skilled workforce."

DATE: Wednesday, Feb. 27
?TIME: 3 p.m.
PLACE: Stratton Office Building Room D-1, Springfield

NOTE: Lt. Governor Simon will hold a brief media availability immediately following her testimony.

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Conductor Brian Hughes is going to discuss "Women Composers" on Thursday evening as an introduction to the Quad City Wind Ensembles' * upcoming concert, "The Women's Movement", featuring music by women composers on March 3 at 3:00 p.m. at Allaert Auditorium in the Galvin Fine Arts Center, St. Ambrose University.

*The Quad City Wind Ensemble has won a National Award. Please scroll below for the announcement.

About the presenter:  Brian Hughes, Conductor

Since moving to Iowa in 1983, Brian Hughes has maintained an active regional profile as a teacher, conductor, and author. His education includes degrees from Olivet College and the University of Northern Iowa and he has completed the coursework for the Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As an educator, Hughes's experience runs the gamut, with ten years in the public and parochial schools (grades 5-12) and 15 years as an Associate Professor of Music at Loras College (Dubuque). Currently he serves as a 5-8 grade string music educator in the Dubuque Community Schools while maintaining an active schedule as a band, orchestra, and choral guest conductor and clinician.

As an author, his study in wind band repertoire has been published in The Instrumentalist. He also maintains a professional blog?Score and Podium?and has written program notes for the Dubuque (IA) Symphony, the UW-Madison Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Knoxville (TN) Symphony, and his ongoing 12-year association with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls (IA) Symphony.

A very active conductor both at home and abroad, he has conducted many honor bands and festivals, as well as appearances with ensembles ranging from the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band, the U.S.A.F. Heartland of America Band, and the UW-Madison Wind Ensemble. An active supporter of community music, he was the first-ever Associate Conductor of the Bettendorf Park Band, and also founded the Tri-State Wind Symphony, a community-based ensemble that will celebrate its 19th season in summer 2013. He has also served as a Graduate Assistant and Associate Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, leading the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and the University Band.

His orchestral experience began with an eight-year appointment as Conductor of the Dubuque Youth Symphony and Assistant Conductor of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared many times with the Dubuque Community String Orchestra and his overseas travels have included guest-conducting appearances with orchestras in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Russia.

A proponent of new music, Hughes coordinated the reading/recording project at UW-Madison, and led UW-Madison ensembles in no fewer than four world premieres, including Alex Nohai-Seaman's 50-minute Requiem for soprano and chamber orchestra. Since 1998 he has led 15 first performances of works for wind band and orchestra, most recently in 2011 with the Quad City Wind Ensemble and the Tri-State Wind Symphony.

Garnering conducting prizes from two regional Czech orchestras, Hughes is a two-time winner of the Richard and Agatha Church Conducting Prize, presented by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In recognition of his "outstanding contribution to the arts," he was presented the 2005 Elisha Darlin Award, given by the Dubuque County Fine Arts Society. In his spare time, Hughes can be found in both the kitchen and his wine cellar, dreaming up the perfect pairing.

Independent Scholars Evenings. 7.00 p.m., Thursday.
1530 Fifth Avenue. Moline. Illinois 309-762-9202
Doors open at 6.30 p.m.
Free and open to the public.
Dress code: business casual.

Elevators are located through the 16th Street entrance. For security reasons, this door is open from 6.45-7.00pm : after that, please call if you need it opened. The 5th. Avenue entrance door is open for the evening.

The Institute for Cultural and Healing Traditions, LTD is a 501(c)3 at State and Federal level organization under US laws since 1996.

Statement Released by Transportation Equity Network Director Laura Barrett, part of the Gamaliel Network.  Laura Barrett has helped organizations win millions in public transportation funding, and has negotiated community benefit agreements and positive workforce development policies at the local, state, and federal levels of government. She holds a Master's in Social Work from Washington University and lives in Missouri

(St. Louis, MO.)  --Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is right to bring up the effect that a sequester would have on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and air traffic safety in this country.  But the untold story is more serious because cuts to transit, bus and train service will first impact low income people on their way to work.

Indeed, low-income people will be hurt by cuts to human services programs like Medicaid, but cuts to Amtrak, the New Starts  program, which funds public transit projects and TIGER --the groundbreaking program that funds important sustainable transportation initiatives --will hurt working people, forcing many to skip work, pay for taxis out of limited budgets or lose their jobs altogether because of absenteeism or tardiness.

In addition, nearly $1 billion of the $8 billion added to the highway trust fund in 2013 will be cut - impacting job-creating highway programs.  When we look ahead to 2014, these bone-chilling cuts will be extended to all transit programs as well as highway programs.

These cuts promise to be draconian in nature and will hurt working families and the middle class first.