Mission Creek Festival - April 3, 2025

Let's Make This a Creek to Remember❤️

Passes still on sale for this weekend!

Let's Celebrate Twenty Years of Mission Creek!

With this being The Englert’s final year producing Mission Creek Festival, we want to take a moment to reflect, celebrate, and most importantly, thank you. Below, our Executive Director, John Schickedanz, shares a heartfelt message about the festival’s impact, the people who made it possible, and the exciting future ahead.

This isn’t just the end of an era, it’s a tribute to the artists, audiences, and community who have made Mission Creek so special. Read on, and let’s make this Creek one to remember!

For over a decade, it’s been The Englert’s absolute privilege to produce Mission Creek Festival. What started as a spark of an idea from our former Executive Director, Andre Perry, grew into a vibrant, soul-stirring celebration of music, literature, and community. It transformed The Englert and helped shape Iowa City’s cultural landscape.

Thanks to Mission Creek, our organization was able to take bold artistic risks, build relationships with incredible artists, and bring a wider diversity of voices to our stage. It’s been a labor of love—countless hours of planning, production, and collaboration, alongside a deep financial investment—all driven by the desire to create something truly special for this community we love.

In 2024, we made the bittersweet decision to sunset our role in Mission Creek to make way for an exciting new experience: the Iowa City Songwriters Festival, launching this fall. While we’ll miss the magic of Mission Creek, we’re thrilled for this next adventure and can’t wait to see where it takes us—all with you by our side.

We want to take a moment to share our deepest gratitude:

To Mission Creek’s founders—Andre Perry, Tanner Illingworth, and Jeff Ray—your vision and dedication made this dream a reality.

To the festival’s creative forces—Nina Lohman, Brian Johannesen, Rachel Yoder, Elly Hofmaier, Grace Merritt, and the late Chris Wiersema—your passion shaped unforgettable experiences.

To our amazing Englert staff past & present (marketing, development, front of house and of course, our incomparable production team), our partners at Hancher, and everyone behind the scenes who made it all possible – It takes a village.

To all of our partners and partner venues: Hancher, Trumpet Blossom, Riverside Theater, Gabes, Prairie Lights, Spare Me, Public Space One, Voxman, and many more Iowa City creative spaces and small businesses who have housed events, partnered, and supported the festival through sponsorship.

And most importantly—to YOU. Whether you were front and center at a show, discovering a new favorite author, or simply soaking in the festival’s magic—you made it all worthwhile. Thank you for your trust, your curiosity, and for being part of this incredible journey.

While we say goodbye to Mission Creek, we carry the memories with us—and we’re just getting started. Here’s to the next chapter. We can’t wait to share it with you.

With heartfelt thanks,
John Schickedanz
Executive Director

Now let’s make this a Creek to remember!

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