Iowa Presenters Network
IPN News!
Here is the latest news from the Iowa Presenters Network!
We invite you to register NOW for our IPN summer retreat near the Iowa Great Lakes --- Okoboji, IA, a true Midwest vacation destination! Sun June 29 through Tues July 1, 2025. Plan to come early and stay beyond!
Non-member organizations or individuals are welcome to attend all of Monday's activities for $50 per person or Mon/Tues activities for $75 per person.
Sunday night boat ride and social/dinner is $35 extra for all individuals!
If your org is not currently a member, consider joining now! As a member, up to 2 individuals from your organization may attend Mon & Tues activities at no charge (beyond membership dues). This is a huge member benefit and to enhance that, your membership will be good through June 30, 2026, getting you valuable access to our listserv, members-only portion of our website, virtual meet-ups, and another in-person gathering this coming December. To become a member, go here or find a membership form/invoice attached if that's easier for you: https://www.iowapresenters.net/become-a-member
HOTEL INFO: A limited block of rooms has been reserved at the Lake Okoboji Resort for 6/29 through 7/1 at a special rate of $119/night. Reservations must be made by phone by 6/15; mention the Iowa Presenters Network when making your reservation. Hotel phone number is 712.332.2161.
Thank you to our host, Pearson Lakes Art Center, and ALL who have agreed to play a role in our time together. We are very grateful!
REGISTRATION here!
SCHEDULE
Sunday, June 29 (optional pre-retreat activities)
3:00pm 60-minute narrated excursion around West Okoboji Lake on the Queen II Excursion Boat
5:00pm Dinner & Social Gathering at West O Brewery, 503 Terrace Park Blvd. West Okoboji, IA
Monday, June 30 (OFFICIAL RETREAT DAY No. 1)
8:30am Continental breakfast
9:00am Welcome & introductions & poll on roundtable topics
9:30am Official Welcome from Okoboji Tourism Officials & Surprise Dignitaries
10:00am Session on Contemporary Ticketing Issues - Led by Ticketmaster
11:00am Keynote Interview: Steve Duchrow and Chris Vallillo "Lessons from the Field" (see below)
12:00am Lunch generously sponsored by the Haggard-Twogood Charitable Trust
12:45pm Showcase: Steve Duchrow presents "Carl Sandburg's Lincoln: A Living Portrait"
1:15pm Showcase: Chris Vallillo presents "Forgottonia: A Multi-Media Love Letter to Rural America"
1:45pm Iowa Arts Council Update (David Schmitz) & Iowa Cultural Coalition Segue
2:15pm Presentation & Panel: Advocacy 101 with "Create in Iowa" Survey Breakdown
Matt McIver, Vice Chair of Iowa Cultural Coalition and Founder of McIver Communications
Panelists: Lindsay Bauer, Scott Buchanan, and others?
3:45pm Break & Travel to Iowa Rock & Roll Music Hall of Fame & Museum
4:00pm TOUR - Iowa Rock & Roll Music Hall of Fame & Museum
5:00pm Close - on your own for dinner and evening (we'll have suggestions!!)
Options: Dick Bauman Big Band at 7:00pm in Pomerantz Hall at Pearson Lakes Art Center OR Gathering at Arnold's Park Lake View Deck
Tuesday, July 1 (OFFICIAL RETREAT DAY No. 2)
8:30am Continental breakfast
9:00am Welcome & introductions / roundtable discussions TBD
10:00am Introduction to National Independent Venues Association (NIVA) --- Andre Perry, President
11:00am Pearson Lakes Art Center SHOWCASE: Commotion, Creedence Clearwater Revival Tribute Band
11:30am Box Lunch & IPN Business Meeting
1:00pm Adjourn
Contact: IPN President Tom Robbins with questions. president@iowapresenters.net
Keynote and Showcase Presenters
Steve Duchrow served thirty-five years as a director of performing arts centers in Illinois. He was awarded Arts Presenter of the Year by the North American Performers Arts Managers and Agents for national excellence in presenting the arts. His expertise is in running small to mid-size arts organizations, presenting performing arts events, rebuilding a historic theatre, curating community-based events, organizing artist residencies, and building the arts in small cities and communities. He presented such noted artists as John Lithgow, Ed Asner, Danny Glover and musicians Tommy Emmanuel, B.B. King, Wynton Marsalis and also focused on presenting developing music and theatre artists.
Steve is also a performing artist. He writes, adapts and performs works of original theatre. His newest work is: Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln: A Living Portrait. Steve has performed for the Illinois Humanities Council, The Dana Thomas Home - a Frank Lloyd Wright Historic Home, the historic Vachel Lindsay home, at the historic Old State Capitol in Springfield, IL, the State of Illinois Library, the Northern Illinois University Art Museum and Carl Sandburg College.
Chris Vallillo is a singer/songwriter and roots musician who makes the people and places of “unmetropolitan” America come to life in song. Having spent the last 30 years in the rural Midwest, he has a natural affinity for American roots music. Performing on six-string and bottleneck slide guitars, Vallillo weaves original, contemporary, and traditional songs and narratives into a compelling and ntertaining portrait of the history and lifestyles of the Midwest. Dirty Linen magazine described the music as, “vivid, original story songs”delivered with an “eye for detail and a sense of history” while Folk Wax Magazine Editor, Arthur Wood said “Vallillo’s guitar playing flows like warm honey and is a true aural delight.”
Vallillo’s music has a timeless quality about it. You can hear the strains of the Carter Family and Jimmy Rogers reflected in his writing. Its roots based original and contemporary folk with the rich acoustic textures of bottleneck slide, finger style and flatpicked guitars that echo the influences of Mississippi John Hurt, Norman Blake, Doc Watson and Ry Cooder.
Always a project oriented artist, in the early 2000’s Vallillo began creating one man shows using music as the vehicle to explore a subject or theme. His 2008 project, titled Abraham Lincoln in Song, received the endorsement of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the CD reached #10 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album Chart. In 2016, his recording, Oh Freedom! Songs of the Civil Rights Movement charted at # 6 on the folk charts and the show was staged with a band and full choir at Western IL University. That show was videoed and syndicated on Illinois Public Television.
In 2021 Chris returned to his songwriter roots with a new recording, Forgottonia featuring original songs and instrumentals written about about rural Illinois.
