IC HBA Directory2018
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COMMUNITY PROFILE<br />
Annual Downtown Events<br />
Enjoy a variety of art and cultural options throughout the year, including<br />
• Mission Creek Festival<br />
• Free Movie Series<br />
• Friday Night Concert Series<br />
• Iowa Arts Festival<br />
• Iowa City Jazz Festival<br />
• Iowa Soul Festival<br />
• Taste of Iowa City<br />
• Top Chef<br />
• Landlocked Film Festival<br />
• Iowa City Book Festival<br />
• Celebrate the Season<br />
A UNESCO City of Literature Designation<br />
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural<br />
Organization (UNESCO) recognized Iowa City as the<br />
world’s third City of Literature in November 2008<br />
joining Edinburgh, Scotland, and Melbourne, Australia. The work of so many has earned Iowa<br />
City recognition as one of only twenty UNESCO Cities of Literature in the world. The designation<br />
provides additional international luster to the community and serve to validate the area’s long<br />
history of nurturing the literary arts and those who appreciate them.<br />
For some 70 years, the University of Iowa has maintained the world’s foremost program in<br />
creative writing—the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. For the last four decades, the Workshop’s<br />
companion organization, the International Writing Program, has attracted authors from around<br />
the globe to participate in its revolving residency program. As a consequence, the area enjoys<br />
a longstanding, international reputation as a center for literary creation that is much out of scale<br />
with its population. Workshop alumni have won 12 Pulitzer Prizes for Literature and four alumni<br />
have served as U.S. Poet Laureate.<br />
The Iowa City, Coralville, and North Liberty community boasts 13 museums, 10 literary presses,<br />
nine programs offering regularly scheduled readings, at least five writing outreach programs, and<br />
seven community and professional theater companies. By one estimate, there are 300 places to<br />
buy a book in the area.<br />
Arts & Culture<br />
Iowa City has often been referred to as the Athens of the Midwest because of its rich cultural and<br />
educational offerings. Two of Iowa’s certified cultural and entertainment districts are positioned<br />
in the heart of Iowa City. The University of Iowa campus, intertwined with Downtown, showcases<br />
the Old Capitol Museum, the Pentacrest Museums, and other cultural attractions throughout our<br />
community.<br />
Why our community?<br />
A bold assertion: Pound for pound, this area constitutes the most literate community in the world.<br />
14 2018 MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY
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