DES MOINES – As Iowa’s arts and culture sector continues to rebound from a challenging year, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is granting $1 million to market the return to arts and culture experiences, while encouraging Iowans to safely re-engage with concerts, museums, festivals — and each other. The department today (Friday) announced that 118 arts and cultural groups in 47 Iowa communities will receive funding through the Iowa Arts & Culture Marketing Grant program. The department awarded a total of $1 million in grants, in amounts ranging from $1,500 to $18,000. The new, one-time grants were created with federal CARES Act funds that Gov. Kim Reynolds allocated to the department to provide economic relief to Iowa organizations that have been challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The state arts and cultural agency developed a related promotional campaign and toolkit, based on input from statewide arts and culture leaders, to encourage Iowans to “Re-imagine, Re-engage, Reconnect” with arts and cultural experiences. The list of recipients, dispersed throughout 37 Iowa counties, includes local arts councils, theaters and historical attractions, as well as some of the state’s largest museums, art centers and performing arts venues. Here are just a few from around western Iowa:

• Council Bluffs: Preserve Council Bluffs will bring back its popular Historic Homes for the Holidays Tour and produce advertisements to help residents in a five-county region reconnect with the organization’s work to promote the area’s cultural heritage and historic preservation. Grant amount: $2,100.
• Corning: Corning Opera House Cultural Center received a $2,700 grant for marketing expenses
• Greenfield & Red Oak: The Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield, and The Wilson Performing Arts Center in Red Oak, each received a $15,000 grant for marketing expenses.
• Pottawattamie County Arts, Culture & Entertainment and the Pott. County Genealogical Society, both in Council Bluffs, each received a grant for marketing expenses, in the amounts of $17,800 and $1,700, respectively.
• Other grants for Marketing Expenses include:
  • The Museum of Danish America, in Elk Horn, $17,500
  • The New Century Art Guild in Elk Horn, $4,900.

The return to arts and culture marketing grants were created to help Iowa’s arts and cultural organizations publicize their activities and new protocols they’ve established to ensure safe and healthy cultural experiences for visitors and audiences who are re-engaging in arts and cultural activities across the state.

Through the grant opportunity and marketing campaign, the department is encouraging all Iowans to:

• Renew their love of performances, film, museums and all of the arts and historical attractions that make our communities culturally vibrant.
• Re-engage with Iowa arts, culture, film, history and the humanities to support Iowa’s growing creative workforce.
• Reconnect with arts, history, film and cultural experiences for personal well-being and to strengthen communities.

In a typical year, Iowa’s creative sector contributes $4.2 billion to the state’s economy, employing more than 43,000 creative workers across more than 5,000 businesses statewide. In 2020, Iowa’s nonprofit arts and culture sector lost millions in revenue and at least 4,500 arts, entertainment and recreation jobs, stemming from event cancellations and closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For a complete list of Iowa Arts & Culture Marketing Grant recipients, visit the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs website. For more information about the Re-imagine campaign, visit iowaculture.

(Radio Iowa) – Some listeners might have thought she was crying wolf, when they heard a logistics and supply chain expert from the University of Iowa say to buy their Christmas gifts back in July. The predictions were correct from Jen Blackhurst, a U-I professor of business analytics, and we’re now seeing products ranging from video games to sirloin steaks have vanished from store shelves. “There’s labor shortages, there’s transportation shortages, you see in the ports coming into the U.S., massive backups and delays,” Blackhurst says. “It’s exacerbated and has become more severe over time.”

Many retailers still haven’t recovered from the complications of the pandemic and she says the perfect storm she warned about four months ago is hitting us now, and hard. Plus, it’s not just products we wanted to put under the tree that are hard to find. “What we’re seeing is potential shortages in packaging materials, so, do we have the aluminum, the steel, the resin, even glass bottles? How readily available are those?” Blackhurst says. “We’re seeing a variety of items in short supply.”

Prof. Jen Blackhurst (UI photo)

If you ignored the warnings and still haven’t completed — or even started — your Christmas shopping, never fear, there’s still plenty of products out there to buy, however… “You might not get the exact item that you want, but know that the retailers, the manufacturers, they’re doing everything they can to get products in your hands,” Blackhurst says. “I would say just be flexible and if you see something that you’re thinking about, go ahead and pick it up now.” She implores shoppers -not- to resort to panic buying, like happened in recent months with essentials from cleaning products to hand sanitizer.

“In terms of stockpiling and what we saw last year with toilet paper, that’s just going to make it worse,” Blackhurst says. “Stay calm and eventually, things will get back to normal, but if you see the item you want, go ahead and pick it up now.” So just when will things be “back to normal” for us? Blackhurst predicts it will be “at least well into 2022” before the supply chain again has its many links aligned.

(Atlantic, Iowa) –  Bailey Smith, Executive Director of the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, reports the Atlantic Chamber Ambassadors were hosted by GracePoint Church, formerly known as E-Free Church, on Thursday, November 4th, 2021. The Ambassadors learned about the recent name change and about the annual Operation Christmas Child program.

Paula and Jeff Osegard shared about the mission of Operation Christmas Child, which is to provide God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world. Since 1993, more than 178 million children, in more than 150 countries, have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox. The project delivers not only the joy of receiving a child’s first ever gift, but also gives the child a tangible expression of God’s love.

Ambassador’s Pictured Left to Right: Lana Westphalen, Colt Doherty, Kathie Hockenberry, Dawn Marnin, Donnie Drennan, Alden Harriman, Jim Kickland, Mike Cook, Dr. Keith Leonard, Dolly Bergmann, Kennedy Freund, Krysta Hanson, Jennifer McEntaffer, Rachel Czaja, Heidi Roland Hinman, Devon, Pastor Don McLean, Paula Osegard and Jeff Osegard. (Photo submitted)

GracePoint Church distributes specific shoe boxes to the community, individuals then fill the shoe boxes with various items like school supplies, reusable water bottles, clothing, toys, etc. Individuals choose to pack the box for either a girl or boy between three age groups: 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14. Individuals can also virtually “pack a box” and give a donation by visiting the Samaritan’s Purse website at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/.

Collection will begin Monday, November 15th and will be taken through Monday, November 22nd at Gracepoint Church, located at 1 East 22nd Street. Collection times are as follows: Monday, November 15th- 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, November 16th- 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, November 17th- 1 to 3 p.m., Thursday, November 18th- 6 to 8 p.m., Friday, November 19th- 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, November 20th- 10 a.m. to noon, Sunday, November 21st- 1 to 3 p.m. and Monday, November 22nd- 9 to 11 a.m.

For more specific times of collection or for further information on Operation Christmas Child please contact GracePoint Church at 712-243-4738.

(Glenwood) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two arrests: At around 6:45-a.m. Thursday, 32-year-old James Isaiah Donevley McFarland, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at the Pott. County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $10,000.

And, on Tue., Nov. 2nd, 19-year-old Chad Eugene Bohrer, of Des Moines, was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. His bond was set at $300.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Friday (Today) said Deputy arrested 41-year-ol Michelle Theisen, of Griswold, on Oct. 29th, for driving while barred. Theisen was taken to the Cass County Jail and was later released on her own recognizance.

And, on Oct. 31st, Deputies arrested 36-year-old Eric Huddleson, of Atlantic, for OWI 1st offense. Huddleson was transported to the Cass County Jail and was also later released on his own recognizance.