Iowa’s culture-savvy cities embrace their creative side, with venues that showcase the best in local and national music, art and performance. In addition to giving groups ample options for post-meeting entertainment, these art-rich spots also do double duty as engaging meeting venues.
Iowa City
The first city in the United States to be named a UNESCO City of Literature, thanks in large part to the world-renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, Iowa City is a haven for art in all forms.
“In 2022 the state of Iowa designated our downtown as a cultural and entertainment district,” said Stacey Houseman, vice president of sales for Think Iowa City. “Our community stakeholders are deeply committed to prioritizing arts and culture in our community.”
Visitors can explore the city’s rich literary tradition through a self-guided “Lit-Walk” tour, which features bronze-engraved quotes celebrating authors with ties to Iowa City and/or the University of Iowa. Highlights include the Iowa Writers’ House and Prairie Lights Books, one-time hangout of Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost and other literary greats. The 231-room Graduate by Hilton Iowa City plays on its location with a literary theme throughout, including its 12,000 square feet of meeting space.
Downtown, the 740-seat Englert Theatre and the University of Iowa’s Hancher Auditorium offer a steady calendar of concerts, performances, and Broadway-series plays and musicals. Both also double as meeting spaces. A host of bars and smaller performance venues offer live music every weekend, and the city’s many local art galleries make it easy to enjoy the work of area artists.
The city is also home to Refocus Film Festival, a celebration of the art of adaptation — transforming one creative medium into another. With films inspired by literature, journalism, music, visual art and even podcasts, the festival shares the spotlight with the Iowa City Book Festival, tying back to the community’s enduring love of the written word.
Iowa City’s new X Marks the Arts campaign promotes its thriving downtown arts scene. “We want to capture and share just how much art and entertainment there is to experience right here in Iowa City,” Houseman said.
Ottumwa
With residents who represent more than 40 nationalities, Ottumwa boasts an uncommonly rich blend of international culture, a fact trumpeted by the city’s tagline: “Where Iowa Meets the World.”
At the state-of-the-art, 92,000-square-foot Bridge View Center, a 664-seat theater, meeting rooms, an expo hall and a grand lobby with panoramic views of the nearby Des Moines River serve both performing artists and meeting groups.
“At certain times of the year, you can watch several dozen American bald eagles nesting from the center’s grounds, which is so fun,” said Laura Carrell, executive director of Meet Ottumwa.
The city of Eldon, 20 minutes from Ottumwa, claims fame as home to the house that inspired Grant Wood’s painting, “American Gothic.” Guests flock to the American Gothic House Center to re-create the iconic image, and this year, the city has special events planned to commemorate the artwork’s 95th anniversary.
Each Labor Day, Ottumwa attracts hundreds of antique airplanes from throughout the nation for its Antique Airplane Association’s Air Power Museum flyover, a favorite for aviation buffs.
Fans of the TV series “M*A*S*H” will appreciate the city’s Radar O’Reilly M*A*S*H Exhibit. Ottumwa was fictional character Radar O’Reilly’s hometown, and exhibits feature quotes about Ottumwa from the series and insights into the inspiration behind the stories.
“The author of the M*A*S*H novel, Richard Hooker, based the character of Radar on a real person named Donald Shaffer,” Carrell said. “He actually was from Ottumwa.”
Davenport
As the largest metro area in the Quad Cities, Davenport — population 103,000 — plays a central role in the region’s thriving arts community.
“We are very arts and culture-centric in the Quad Cities, from live music and theater to our 20-plus museums, which are very diverse in their focus and what they have to offer,” said Dave Herrell, president and CEO of Visit Quad Cities.
Davenport museum must-stops include the Figge Art Museum, a striking glass artwork itself, next to the Mississippi River. More than 4,000 works date from the 15th century to the present and include works by American, Colonial Mexican and Haitian artists. The museum is also an elegant setting for corporate meetings, events and weddings.
The German American Heritage Center highlights the region’s German immigrant experience and features a fourth-floor event venue that can accommodate 150 guests. The Putnam Museum and Science Center is family friendly, with hands-on exhibits on history and the natural world and event space for 250 attendees.
Davenport is also home to the Quad City Symphony Orchestra — one of the longest-running symphony orchestras in the country — and two vibrant live performance venues like the Capitol Theatre and the Adler Theatre, the Art Deco-inspired, nearly 2,500-seat theater that’s part of Davenport’s RiverCenter.
Downtown at the newly opened Last Picture House, a boutique independent theater, groups can book event spaces and watch movies and enjoy views of the city and the Mississippi River in a rooftop cinema.
“Our downtown is just so vibrant, and we have a wonderful nightlife scene here with great restaurants and so many interesting places to connect,” Herrell said.
Cedar Falls
Cedar Falls’ vibrant downtown district includes one-of-a-kind stops like the Behrens-Rapp Filling Station, a historic gas station turned visitor center with old pumps still in place, and the Cedar Falls Ice House Museum, the only museum dedicated to ice harvesting in the U.S. Throughout the year, groups can rent the museum’s historic ice house as a meeting venue.
“During specific years, the Cedar Falls Historical Society hosts an early February Ice Harvest Festival,” said Adam Bolander, sales and marketing coordinator for Cedar Falls Tourism. “They bring in people to harvest ice directly out of Big Woods Lake, so visitors get to see how all that is done.”
The city-run Hearst Center for the Arts offers arts and cultural events, including educational programming and live performances. The center’s Hearst Sculpture Garden is among the stops on the self-guided Cedar Falls Public Art Tour, which incorporates some two dozen colorful, three-dimensional pieces that are peppered throughout downtown.
The Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, on the University of Northern Iowa campus, seats 1,600 guests and offers a full schedule of performances, from Broadway touring shows to classical music, dance and comedy. A recent $14 million renovation updated the lobby and added a VIP lounge.
“The facility is a performing space that doubles as a high-end meeting space, where all the lighting, sound and visuals are handled by a professional team,” Bolander said. “The lobby has a beautiful grand staircase and is an ideal space for receptions.”
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Clear Lake
True to its name, Clear Lake is big on water fun of all types, from boating and fishing to jet skiing. Visitors can catch some sun or swim at Clear Lake State Park Beach, explore the 14-mile path around the lake on rented e-bikes, or tour the lake in style on a double-decker boat with Lady of the Lake Cruises, whose boat can also double as an event venue.
“The lake, which our town is named after, is definitely our number one attraction,” said Libbey Hohn, director of tourism for the 1.
The city’s famed Surf Ballroom — etched in history as the last concert location for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper before their tragic plane crash in 1959 — is still in operation, with a steady calendar of live performances and plans to expand.
“The Surf is undergoing a $35 million project to add a new Music Experience Center, where they will hold immersive events similar to The Van Gogh Experience,” Hohn said. “It will be very high tech and focus not just on rock or music of the 1950s but all genres.” The new center will also have event space, capitalizing on the Surf Ballroom’s popularity with groups.
The city’s downtown, about five blocks from the Surf district, includes the Clear Lake Arts Center, with meeting space, a public garden, and shops and dining. “We’re a small town, so everything’s very walkable here,” said Hohn.
Fairfield
Though small in size, with a population of under 10,000, Fairfield is home to a vibrant community of creatives, from musicians and painters to writers, actors and poets.
“Our creative community is over 300 people strong, and they have really put a positive stamp on our town,” said Terry Baker, executive director of Visit Fairfield. “That has led to a wonderful mix of galleries, like the Icon Gallery and Freeform Art Gallery, which have popped up to support and promote local artists. These spaces — a little unexpected for a community our size — have expanded people’s access to and experience with art in a beautiful way.”
Downtown, the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center is home to the Fairfield Art Association Art Gallery and doubles as a 500-seat performance venue and a convention and meeting space. The facility brings in national and international touring musicians and performers, including a Broadway series.
Once a month, the First Fridays Art Walk, a themed, guided art tour, often highlights student art at local schools.
Pop-up musical performances — from folk and Celtic to hip hop — are often on the menu at Café Paradiso, a local coffee shop that also hosts poetry and spoken word exhibitions. Throughout the summer, free musical performances entertain during Live on the Square events and occasional street concerts outside the convention center.
“We’re all about offering places for everyone to come together here,” Baker said.
