There are eight dressing areas in the Capitol Theatre in downtown Davenport, on eight different levels, accessible from the stage by an elevator. One of them has a toilet at the end of a long room too narrow for anything except walking to said toilet. It's evident that they were an afterthought, put wherever there was room when the facility, opened in 1920 as a movie house, began hosting vaudeville.

Renaissance Rock Island, a consortium of not-for-profit organizations dedicated to revitalizing Rock Island, last week announced that it will reorganize staff. Under the new plan, all staff will work for all three organizations: the Development Association of Rock Island (focusing on commercial and industrial development, especially downtown), Rock Island Economic Growth Corporation (responsible for housing, neighborhood, and community marketing programs), and the Downtown Rock Island Arts & Entertainment District (which markets and organizes events downtown). Under this reorganization, Mike Thoms will resign as president of Renaissance Rock Island, a position he held since 2005. When fully staffed, Renaissance Rock Island will have 12 employees. A national search for a new president has begun.

Five teams of professional dancers from Ballet Quad Cities will spend five days delivering interactive educational outreach programs to 1,200 first-grade students in 17 Davenport schools. The outreach includes meeting professional dancers and learning about their career choice and how they spend their work day; the students then take a mini dance class and learn choreography from the ballet The Ugly Duckling. Fourteen first-grade students from Lincoln Academy were also chosen to perform in The Ugly Duckling, which was performed for the public February 16 and 17. A special school matinée for the Davenport schools will be performed at 12:30 p.m. on March 6 at the Capitol Theatre.

We started from scratch with our Best of the Quad Cities ballot this year, with the goal of breathing new life into this venerable institution.