Lift (Local Inspirations Free Tickets) Program
The Lift program provides access to Englert events to other Iowa City nonprofit workers who are doing great work in our community but may not always have access to shows. We hope that by attending these events, workers can take in a little self-care and inspiration. This is our way of saying “thank you” to those who work so hard to make our community a great place to live.
Is your nonprofit interested in partnering with the LIFT program? Email info@englert.org
Nonfiction Fellowship
Founded in 2019, The Nonfiction Fellowship was created in partnership with the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program to support one writer currently in the program by providing working space close to the theater and allowing access to the arts. Recipients receive complimentary tickets to all Englert events as well as an open seat at MERGE co-working space in downtown Iowa City.
At the conclusion of the fellowship, the author’s work is featured in the Englert’s playbill magazine, Stages, and at a public reading and discussion at the Englert.
2021 Nonfiction Fellow: Jess Kibler
Jess Kibler is a graduate of Oregon State University, where she studied English and creative writing, and before moving to Iowa City, Jess worked as a bookseller and copywriter in Portland, Oregon.
She writes about music, queerness, American evangelicalism, and growing up in the Pacific Northwest, and her essays can be found at Bitch Media and Catapult.
2021 Nonfiction Fellow: Ilana Bean
Ilana Bean is an MFA candidate in the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program, where she has received the Iowa Arts Fellowship and Stanley Fellowship Award.
Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Nashville Review, DIAGRAM, Chicago Review of Books, Speculative Nonfiction, and elsewhere.
She grew up in Virginia, and writes about biology and art.
2020 Nonfiction Fellow: Darius Stewart
Darius Stewart holds an MFA in poetry from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of three poetry chapbooks, including The Ghost the Night Becomes, 2013 winner of the Gertrude Poetry Chapbook Contest.
His essays and poems may be found in Fourth Genre, storySouth, Appalachian Heritage, Callaloo, and others.
2019 Nonfiction Fellow: Dan Cronin
Before Iowa, Dan Cronin worked in online media, TV, and documentary film in New York and Los Angeles. As a student, he was elected Student Ambassador of the Nonfiction Writing Program and he co-hosts Anthology, a reading series featuring writers from the Nonfiction Writers Program (NWP), Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and Literary Translation program.
A gay Eagle Scout from the suburbs of Chicago, Dan writes about the American culture wars and Midwestern angst. His work has been published by South Side Weekly and The Rumpus.
Writers of Color Reading Series
The Writers of Color Reading Series is an ongoing event that celebrates undergraduate, graduate, and local writers in the Iowa City community. T.Geronimo Johnson and Andre Perry started the Writers of Color Reading Series in the spring of 2015 while Johnson was teaching at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. They hoped to provide a dedicated space for local writers of color–undergraduates, MFAs, and long-term residents–to share their work in town and at the University of Iowa. Andre continues to oversee the series as an advisor; it is curated by a rotating group of MFA students. In the future, he hopes to incorporate a local writer or undergraduate as a co-curator to ensure that a wide range of local writers are both represented and connected to each other. Past curators have included writers Jeff Holmes, Jade Jones, Yvonne Cha, Sarah Mathews, and Matthew B. Kelley.
