Immerse Yourself in the Vibrant Cedar Rapids Arts Scene

Residents don’t have to venture far for live entertainment, art attractions and immersive history in Cedar Rapids.

By Amy Antonation on January 8, 2024

Jonathan David Sabin

For a community its size, Cedar Rapids has an impressively varied arts scene. Residents can find everything from intimate theaters and music venues to an art museum that houses nearly 8,000 works. 

Find Plenty of Live Music in Cedar Rapids

Options are especially broad for live entertainment. Theater choices alone include Theatre Cedar Rapids, which welcomes 60,000 guests per year, and CSPS, a theater, performance art, music venue and gallery space. The Paramount Theatre, which seats 1,700 people, is housed in a historic building dating to the late 1920s. The Mirrorbox Theatre’s mission since its 2018 founding has been to present Iowa premieres of contemporary plays. 

Cavan Hallman, Mirrorbox founder and creative director, originally hails from Florida. When he moved to Cedar Rapids with his wife, a native Iowan, he was not sure what to expect.

“My own biased expectation moving here was that Iowa City, with the University of Iowa, was going to be where the art was. … I did not expect arts in Cedar Rapids to have as much support – in terms of not only philanthropy, but also attendance and participation – as it does. This place loves art.” 

In fact, Mirrorbox raised the funds to purchase and renovate an automotive garage into an 80-seat theater in the city’s Time Check neighborhood in late 2022, which Hallman believes is a catalyst of community pride and economic development. 

Kasey Hempstead

Also contributing to the entertainment scene is the Ideal Theater & Bar, which opened in 2022 in a popular neighborhood called The District: Czech Village and New Bohemia. 

“The Ideal building was built in 1914 and served as one of six theaters in The District, and it was known as the only one that showed films and newsreels in the native Czech language of local immigrant residents,” says Jim Miller, executive director of The District.

The Ideal is just one of the spots to catch live music: In addition to the already mentioned spots, there’s also the Olympic South Side Theater, which has been operating in New Bohemia (NewBo) for decades, as well as Cedar Rapids Opera and Orchestra Iowa. 

Get Art Smart

Music and theater aren’t the only mediums thriving in the city. Cedar Rapids Museum of Art comprises over 7,800 individual works, including a permanent collection by Iowa native Grant Wood of “American Gothic” fame. The museum also manages Wood’s Cedar Rapids home and studio, which are open to the public. 

DKW Art Gallery, owned by Deb and Mark Weiser, is also dedicated to promoting local artists. Of the 18 artists represented by the gallery, only a couple reside outside Linn County. 

“Why show art from Kansas City, L.A. or Chicago when we have artists here that are phenomenal? Deb and I both feel it is best to help new and emerging artists,” Mark Weiser says. “Just as in music or other disciplines, there is a plethora locally of young and old that need and want their creativity shown.”

DKW also sets itself apart by upending the perception of art galleries as uptight, offering special attention to kids as well as classes and monthly meet and greets highlighting both DKW’s and outside artists. 

John Richard

Enjoy the Museums of Cedar Rapids

A number of institutions in Cedar Rapids are dedicated to preserving the area’s past, such as the History Center, which documents the cultural and economic history of Linn County; Brucemore, a historic 19th-century mansion; and the African American Museum of Iowa, which is undergoing a $5 million renovation. 

Then there’s the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML), a 50,000-square-foot facility dedicated to the history of those Eastern European immigrants that is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024. 

In 1914, 44% of Cedar Rapids’ population was Czech, says museum President and CEO Cecilia Rokusek. Immigrants were drawn by the promise of land and jobs, and many remained in Iowa because its rolling plains reminded them of their homeland. 

Now, the museum is one of just three Czech and Slovak art centers in the world, and prior to the pandemic drew up to 70,000 visitors per year, thanks to its mix of oral histories and artifacts, traveling exhibits and annual events like the Old World Christmas Market. 

Courtesy of DKW Art Gallery

City Supports Emerging Artists

Because Cedar Rapids has so many well-established arts organizations, it’s no surprise that the city supports emerging artists, too. In addition to DKW Art Gallery, where owners Deb and Mark Weiser support local artists – especially those early in their careers – there are plenty of opportunities for artists of all stripes to develop their craft, hone their business acumen and find community. 

Cedar Rapids Opera (CRO) launched its Young Artist Program two decades ago with the mission of training the next round of opera singers in the U.S., says Thaddeus Ennen, CRO general director. Each fall, several hundred undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate vocalists audition for the program, which selects two cohorts of up to 22 singers each to return in January and June for performances and education. 

“While they’re here, we offer education, clinicians, coaches and managers,” Ennen says. “We try to attract and provide opportunities for all age groups. We have the unique ability to offer employment to younger singers in our chorus and more experienced singers in main stage roles.” 

A newer program designed to attract and retain artistic talent in Cedar Rapids is NewBo City Market’s artist-in-residence program, which was launched in January 2023. 

“When I was picturing the artist-in-residency program, I was wondering how we could foster an artist here and see how we could get an artist to stay in Cedar Rapids long term,” says Sarah Blais, senior director of market operations at NewBo City Market, who spearheaded the program.

Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the marketplace offered free rent to artist-in-residence Missa Coffman for a year to sell her work. 

Coffman also works with local at-risk students to help them create an art project – in this case, an augmented reality video game with clues in the form of art pieces scattered around the city.

Going forward, Blais hopes to be able to take on new artists in residence annually while switching up the artist’s concentration. “This year was heavily focused on working with students,” she says of the future of the program. “What if we bring in performance artists, literary or theater artists in residence?”