Sometime between chemo and radiation, John Rapson was struck by inspiration. It came in the form of a  New Yorker  article. The long piece,  "Citizen Kahn"  by Kathryn Schulz, is as meandering and rich as its subject: Zarif Kahn. After reading the article last June, Rapson, a jazz professor in the School of Music, immediately knew that he'd found the subject for a new piece. Not only would it include jazz compositions, but it would be a vehicle for connecting the music of two of Rapson's friends, one a troubadour of western ballads, and the other a player of the mandole, a North African instrument. 

On April 20, Rapson and his musical collaborators will reprise the magical concert that they first performed last fall. The story has something for everyone: love, money, the Wild West, legal battles, family feuds, good food, religious bigotry, and, to Rapson's ear, music.

Michael Rohd , Artistic Director of the  Center for Performance and Civic Practice  and the  Sojourn Theatre , will speak about his experiences collaborating with arts councils, service organizations, artists, community agencies, and local governments around the country to make space and context for meaningful, arts-based partnership practice at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 5, in UI Art Building West, Room 240. His talk, "Devising Civic Practice: Listening is the New Revolution," is part of the  Creative Matters lecture series  sponsored by the UI Office of Research and Economic Development in collaboration with the UI Arts Advancement Committee.

Just as news was breaking that the proposed federal budget could zero out the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, I joined representatives from nearly 200 colleges and universities in Washington, D.C. for the 2017 National Humanities Alliance Advocacy Day. As the current secretary of the NHA Board of Directors, I know firsthand what great work the organization does on behalf of universities like ours.