Hannah Bonner

The Strengthen, Grow, Evolve Campaign at The Englert is in full swing. On Saturday, June 22nd, I arrived at the SGE tent for the Downtown Iowa Block Party. Despite the calls for rain all day, the sky was clear and the air breezy. At the tent was Grace, an employee of The Englert, as well as Joe Tiefenthaler, the Executive Director of FilmScene, and Andrew Sherburne, the Marketing Director of FilmScene. I was heartened to see not just volunteers for the tent, but the leadership for the campaign present and engaged with the community.

On Saturday, June 15th I walked through downtown Iowa City in the early afternoon. Post-parade, Pride was in full-swing as dancers and performers prepared for the afternoon show and pedestrians wandered from venue to venue, table to table. In front of The Englert Theatre was a table tent for the Strengthen, Grow, Evolve Campaign, a joint venture shared by The Englert and FilmScene to "build the greatest small city for the arts in America."