With fall around the corner, the streets of Iowa City are bustling with crowds once again. To keep up with the oncoming busyness, The Englert Theatre has decided to put on its first-ever Iowa City Songwriters Festival.
Beginning on Sept. 4 and ending Sept. 6, the three days will include a variety of activities for attendees to enjoy at several venues across downtown Iowa City, including The Englert Theatre, The James Theater, The Black Angel, and the Trumpet Blossom Cafe.
While there are many performances littered throughout, this festival is slightly different from a typical one.
“I think this [festival] is just very focused on the craft of writing,” Brian Johannesen, the programming director for the Englert, said. “I don’t think we’ve ever done anything that melds education and performance the way that this one does.”
Alongside the regular artist shows, the event also offers several extra opportunities to learn more about the songwriting processes for each creator. The festival stands out for this, combined with the specific ticketing style that allows people to choose what festivities they would like to be part of.
With offers for single tickets to specified shows, full weekend passes, and all-access passes, the songwriter’s festival is flexible enough for anyone to join. Although they are sold out of passes, a list on their website displays the calendar of performances free for any member of the public.
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Some of the ideas for a festival surrounding songwriting, as explained by John Schickedanz, the Englert’s executive director, came from a performance given by Courtney Marie Andrews at a Mission Creek Festival and the literary scene of Iowa City.
“There’s something here in not just encountering the art as a finished product, but exploring deeper in the actual craft of songwriting and where that inspiration of human form can be in an individual artist, and seeing them as people through a process,” Schickedanz said.
This festival is unique for what it focuses on: songwriting. The combination of being a UNESCO City of Literature and having the well-known Iowa Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa makes all forms of writing stand out, but songwriting is one that those at The Englert Theatre noticed might not be as appreciated as some of the others.
“Iowa City is used to celebrating writers, and we just felt that the songwriting community was underrepresented in that celebration,” Johannesen said.
Over the past few years, The Englert Theatre has been organizing smaller events to bring the art of songwriting to similar levels as other writing styles that are more practiced within the community.
In the long run, Johannesen said he hopes that one day the university will be able to acknowledge this neglected group by adding a major for songwriting to its catalogue.