URBANA – University of Illinois football and basketball fans will hear a new fight song joining the traditional music during the upcoming season. The Illini will be marching to a hip-hop beat. The “Illini Anthem” is a song composed by Lamont Holden, University of Illinois instructor of music production, who is also a music producer,…
Editor’s Note: A prior version of this story, Jones was identified using the incorrect pronouns. The story has been updated to reflect their gender identity. We regret the error. URBANA — This summer, Champaign-Urbana teens who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are getting free weekly training in all aspects of theater…
MONTICELLO — Theater companies around central Illinois are gearing up for summer shows and new seasons, but some directors say they aren’t sure what they’ll do after their summer shows as Illinois reopens. Paul Strain is president of the board of DLO Musical Theatre in Danville. He says his company is producing their youth and…
MONTICELLO — Live music is coming back to the University of Illinois’ Allerton Park and Retreat Center outside Monticello for the center’s annual concert series. But this year’s concerts are a little different than the ones guests might have experienced before the COVID-19 pandemic, says Allerton Event Coordinator Ashley Sims. The series began in 2013,…
URBANA — The Boneyard Arts Festival came back for an in-person showcase of local artists’ work at more than 50 venues in Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding area this weekend. Before the pandemic, art exhibitions would be displayed in over 100 venues around the county in April, but after a virtual showcase in 2020, organizers decided…
CHAMPAIGN – Artists from the Champaign-Urbana area will once again be showcased at the 19th annual Boneyard Arts Festival, June 18-20, named for the creek that runs through Champaign and Urbana. It’s a comeback for the festival, which was limited to a virtual edition last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists will be showing…
URBANA — Things haven’t been easy for community theaters in Champaign-Urbana this past year, according to their leaders. Kelly Nowlin, executive director of the Champaign Urbana Theatre Company (or CUTC), said they’ve been unable to do any live shows since they canceled their March 2020 show in the middle of its run. “It was…
URBANA – In a small room on the second floor of local drag king Spank Knightly’s house lies a homemade production space. It includes a green screen, lights clamped onto broomsticks that are taped onto chairs, and a prop he calls a “bleeding canvas” because it turns red when it comes in contact with water. Listen…
URBANA — Weekend listeners to WILL-FM may have noticed the exciting sounds of jazz returning to our airwaves last weekend with the debut of NPR’s Jazz Night in America. Grammy-award winning bassist, composer and bandleader Christian McBride is the host of Jazz Night. Illinois Newsroom’s Brian Moline spoke with him earlier this week. Hear the…
CHAMPAIGN — After a long year with virtually no live, indoor music performances, we’re beginning to see a few green shoots of hope this spring. Next week, musicians from Sinfonia da Camera are holding three chamber music performances at University Place Christian Church at 403 S. Wright St in Champaign. They are scheduled for Monday…
CHAMPAIGN — The Kennedy Center announced it will honor Dick Van Dyke, an actor and comedian who grew up in Danville. Van Dyke is known for goofy facial expressions and other physical humor. He starred in his own TV show in the 1960’s and danced on rooftops in the movie Mary Poppins. The 95-year-old has…
PAXTON — The organizer of Paxton’s Grand Old Flag project hopes that 2021 is the year that their flag start flying. Denny Kingren has set the dedication ceremony for this coming Memorial Day. Listen to this story here. The Grand Old Flag’s 150-foot flagpole went up last summer, on the west side of Paxton-Buckley-Loda High…
A plan for addressing issues related to the University of Illinois’ use of Chief Illiniwek as a mascot includes formation of a student council to look at the development of new traditions for the Urbana campus. Chancellor Robert Jones released the implementation plan on Friday. The plan draws from input from a series of community-wide…
URBANA — Vocalist and composer Somi grew up in Champaign-Urbana, and her mother still lives here. Somi was in St. Louis working on a theater project when the pandemic forced it into hiatus. Rather than fly back to her home in New York City, the early epicenter of the pandemic, she drove three hours to…
Champaign’s 20th annual Parade of Lights went before the public for the first time, Saturday evening. But instead of a procession on downtown streets, the parade features miniature floats on your computer screen. (Watch the parade at this link). The virtual “shoebox edition” of the parade was created due to COVID-19 precautions, which have led…