- [Announcer] Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT, has been serving Quad City families since 1889.

They now have livestream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service.

- [Announcer] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.

- We're at the RiverCenter for Festival of Trees, but why are we really here?

Plus, raising money, funding the arts, one group's commitment in The Cities.

(upbeat music) Welcome to the RiverCenter in downtown Davenport at the closing days of Festival of Trees.

You know, the sights around me are absolutely beautiful, but there's a lot more to it than just the decorations.

The RiverCenter is decked out once again with thousands of lights and hundreds of decorations on two floors of the building.

What I'm saying is that there's an awful lot to take in, but you're also giving when you're here, you're giving to Quad City Arts.

Quad City Arts says it has reached almost 25,000 kids in the Visiting Artists Series.

It's awarded $90,000 in the arts dollars program, funding more than 20 art projects.

And it has featured more than 260 artists in its various gallery shows.

And we're joined by the Executive Director and CEO of Quad City Arts, Kevin Maynard.

Festival of Trees going on still, huge impact for Quad City Arts.

- Yes, Festival of Trees, obviously with the amount of people that come through the floor, it's a good time to showcase the arts in our community.

But it also, obviously, everything that you buy at Festival, when you bid on trees, buy ornaments, table trimmings, all of those things go to support Quad City Arts, which supports the arts into our community.

- What we were talking about earlier is that the bidding process is different this year, easier than ever is that it's more online.

- Yes, so you can get on your phone, your tablet, your computer, be able to monitor your bid, or if you haven't had a chance to come down yet to see everything, you can get on there to look and bid and then come see it in person later.

- The thing that you must love about public art is that when you, it's the way people react to it, whether it's at the airport or if it's in Rock Island at the gallery, or anywhere, Festival of Trees, you can watch people and you see their eyes light up.

That has to have a special meaning for you who loves art, but also loves presenting art.

- Yeah, it is, it's a little bit of magic when you get to watch a family like walk through and kind of look at their designs and it's even more so when it's the kids being able to see and just being, seeing something that they recognize from a, you know, they're popular culture, whether it's, you know, a Harry Potter room here or, you know, Rudolph or the Grinch, or, you know, when they recognize that and they get to see that, like their faces light up, their eyes light up, and it's from that moment you know that you kind of have them right there.

- And we talk about these great displays that you see all around us, but there's also, you know, it's two levels of artwork and there's also like student contributions.

I mean, it's a big deal for the entire community.

- Yeah, yeah, I mean, there is, obviously it gives an opportunity for people who, you know, arguably may not view themselves as artists and may just kinda be like, "Oh, I just, you know, good at designing things and putting things together," but that is an art form.

I mean, that is them flexing that muscle.

And then we also have the high school art exhibit here so it gives an opportunity to highlight our local schools and see, you know, what they're teaching in the schools and see just the incredible talent that we do have here.

- I'm hoping there's going to be a day that I don't ask you this question and I hope it's very soon is that COVID has had such a huge impact on the arts, whether it's performing arts or all the other versions of it.

Tell me what it's been like over the last 18 months.

Let's start in two different ways.

First off, for a person who is actively involved in getting the arts to the community.

- That's been hard.

I mean, you know, because we spend so much time or spent so much time telling people like you have to experience this in person because it's never the same.

And then basically overnight we were telling people like, "Please get online, look at our online content, like help engage with us so we can engage with you."

And, you know, through that, we learned a lot.

We learned things that we're gonna continue to do in the future and be able to present things online.

We also still realize and reinforce the fact that it wasn't the same.

I mean, it was, you know, for some, it was a good stop gap to be able to still experience the art and be able to put art into people's homes.

But it was a challenge.

You know, we spent so much time bringing people together and wanting to interact with them and share, you know, really incredible art forms, whether that's visual arts or performing arts, so it was hard.

And then, you know, then that kind of spirals into the financial aspects of it.

So with an event like this, like Festival of Trees, it has a significant economic impact and not just for Quad City Arts.

It has a significant economic impact for the city of Davenport, as well as the entire Quad Cities.

This, you know, small little 10-day event in downtown Davenport is an economic impact of about $1.3 million and that's not the money that's being brought in here, it's money that's being spent in restaurants when the people go out to eat, or some of the folks that are staying overnight or just buying gas or visiting all the other shops.

So, I mean, it wasn't just us that felt that, it was the entire community.

- And also the artists who oftentimes want to be out in the public.

And I wanted to point out that until December 3rd, sadly ending very soon, you have on display art on lockdown.

And I saw some of the illustrations that were done.

There are some really powerful, personal pieces of artwork linked to the pandemic.

- Yeah, yeah, that exhibit is really incredible.

It has artwork from over 67 artists in our community and I think just shy of 90 pieces on display there.

You are right, I mean, a lot of those, they were drawing and painting, you know, their feelings, their emotions, and using it to pass time and kind of reflect on what this time was like for them because artists arguably were hit the hardest.

I mean, there was a lot of relief that came for a lot of businesses, but the artists really didn't come until much later and they rely on, you know, selling work and the gig economy, so it was a challenging time for them.

- And you almost see it here at Festival of Trees, which is supposed to be a happy time.

It's supposed to, you know, show a lot of joy, but you could tell that there is a lot of pent-up energy and that people really wanted to make this a big deal.

- Yeah, you know, that's been really, it's been pretty incredible.

I mean, especially spend some time walking around Festival and you get to see some really great displays.

And just, I mean, honestly, I think that this has some of the most creativity on display here this year.

I mean, it's just absolutely incredible what people can come up with.

- And of course, as we've said over and over again, Festival of Trees helps fund all the programs and projects at Quad City Arts and one of them that I know that, it was able to survive through the pandemic is the Visiting Artists, not necessarily visiting in the past.

That was kind of interesting, visiting remotely, virtually, but now are you able to get more into the schools?

- Yes, it's been really great.

I mean, obviously we're still facing some challenges.

Schools aren't ready to put a, you know, big assembly or all of the kids into a gym at one time, but schools are being really clever with this, you know, so a lot of schools will go that they'll have, you know, a quarter or half of their students in the gym or the auditorium, and then they'll be doing a remote broadcast to the other classrooms.

And then they'll kind of switch in the spring and you know, and then the other half gets to experience that in person.

And so they're using it in unique ways, but I can tell you that the interaction that we've had based on in-person events is completely different than the interaction that we got through virtual things, whether that was educational resources or virtual visits, so it's been incredible to see that happen again.

And I know the artists are just as excited because it is a powerful experience for them as well.

- There are organizations that did so much more on social media and virtually.

They reached out and they found audiences far from the Quad Cities.

They found audiences that they could reach.

Have you as well and is there something to be learned from what you had to do that you now want to do?

- Yeah, we did a lot of, we did a lot of online content.

We also increased our web presence and increased our website, so now we're selling our work online more regularly.

We're doing some programming online where people can, you know, interact with artists or see performances.

And what we've learned from that is, you know, is that the high school art show is a great example of it.

So we're able to put those artworks on display.

The past two years, we haven't had an opportunity to be able to do the big award ceremony in the gallery, so instead we've created a video to recognize these students and all of their hard work, and what we found out is that more people are viewing that video than can fit inside our gallery so they're able to also share it with their friends and family who aren't local.

The other thing we're seeing is that we're selling artwork all across the United States.

It's not just, you know, being bought locally.

You know, we're shipping to Seattle and Denver and Colorado, like just all over the place and it's been really great to be able to share our artists' work with the rest of the country.

- Our thanks to Kevin Maynard, who is the president and CEO of Quad City Arts.

Well, it's more than just a tree here.

Take a look.

It is an avalanche of sugar plums created by first-time designer, Jill Wilson and Lindsey Zapata.

When you get here, make sure you take a look at these sugar plum trees.

It is spectacular here at the RiverCenter.

And still to come, there is one Festival of Trees benefactor who is instrumental in funding several arts groups and a whole lot of projects in the Quad Cities.

What's the reason for that commitment?

We'll talk about that.

But first, Laura Adams wants to put you in the holiday spirit and give you some ideas for you and your family when you go out and about.

Thank you, Laura.

Well, it's now time to take a walk into the Gingerbread Village.

This thing is at the entryway of the Grand Hall of the RiverCenter and you can't miss it.

It is filled with delicious creations, small homes, a homemade version of the botanical center, and even, yeah, take a look, King Kong dominating a gingerbread Empire State Building.

We got it all here, a great place to visit, and when you get here, it smells pretty darn good as well.

Well, the holidays are really a great time to revisit old friends and that includes here at WQPT.

The Westbrook Singers decided to retire a few years ago, but the songs from the First Family of Quad City Gospel Music live on, they are timeless, in fact, especially their arrangement of the holiday classics, so here's the Westbrook Singers with "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

♪ Said the night wind to the little lamb ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Way up in the sky little lamb ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ A star, a star, dancing in the night ♪ ♪ With a tail as big as a kite ♪ ♪ With a tail as big as a kite ♪ ♪ Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Ringing through the sky shepherd boy ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ A song, a song, high above the tree ♪ ♪ With a voice as big as the sea ♪ ♪ With a voice as big as the sea ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ In your palace warm, mighty king ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ A child, a child, shivers in the cold ♪ ♪ Let us bring him silver and gold ♪ ♪ Let us bring him silver and gold ♪ ♪ Do you see ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Do you see ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Do you hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Do you know ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ Do you know ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ People everywhere ♪ ♪ Listen to what I say ♪ ♪ Pray for peace ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ Everywhere ♪ ♪ A child, a child, shivers in the cold ♪ ♪ Let us bring him silver and gold ♪ ♪ Let us bring him sliver and gold ♪ ♪ Let us bring him silver ♪ ♪ And gold ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ The Savior is born ♪ ♪ Do you hear it ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is born ♪ (audience applauding) - The Westbrook Singers with "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

Well, we love the trees here, but we also love some of the beautiful displays that are among the Hearth and Home Creations.

This one is called I'll be Home for Christmas.

It's a salute to the military, just decked out just beautifully by Denise Durbin.

Festival of Trees is among so many other things, a major fundraiser for Quad City Arts.

It is the reason why Festival was created 35 years ago back in 1986.

And for the past several years, the Regional Development Authority, which allocates a share of the revenue from gambling receipts from the Rhythm City Casino has granted money to community groups such as this, Festival of Trees, and that includes a lot of other art projects as well, so we wanted to talk to Matt Mendenhall with RDA.

Why is the RDA a major sponsor for Festival of Trees?

- Well, I went back and looked at our history with that, and actually we've funded this event for the last almost 26 years since 1995, and I think it's an easy one for us because it's regional, reaches a lot of people, it's volunteer-driven, showcases local talent and it helps us to create a vibrant community so it fits, really ticks all the boxes for us in that way.

- Well, I think lot of people don't necessarily know what the Regional Development Authority is or what it does.

So the key is it's basically gambling receipts that are being used to make sure that the community is a better place.

- Yeah and Iowa actually is the only state that does it this way.

So each casino in Iowa has to have a license through a nonprofit organization like RDA and the contract between the two, the operator of the casino and the nonprofit, spells out what those revenue sharing agreements will be.

So in Iowa, those dollars are earmarked towards local leadership.

So we have a local board that knows the community and is able to distribute those dollars in ways that we feel like make the biggest difference.

- And you do two grant what disbursements.

- Yeah, we have a spring cycle and a fall cycle, so the due dates for the grant applications are typically March 30th and September 30th, and then the grant cycle goes through that process.

- And it's not an inconsequential amount of money.

We're talking a little more than $2 million that you gave in the fall grant cycle alone.

- Yeah, and this year is a little bit different.

I mean, the pandemic has kind of confused everything, but in some fashion, our contract with the casino changed last July in 2020 and so we got a larger share of those revenues and that was built into the contract that was formed several years ago.

So we have both a better contract and then also the casino's just doing really well and, you know, people will say, "Well, even during the pandemic?"

And, yes, even during the pandemic.

I think they do the gaming, but they also do entertainment, the restaurants.

They do a lot of actually additional charitable work themselves, so it's just a great business overall.

- So of those $2 million that was just given out, it went to about 60 different organizations.

How do you pick the organizations?

- Well, there's an application and each application then is scored by the board members.

And so we take all of those scores, rank them out, and then we do the best we can to distribute the money in the fairest way we can.

- Well, I thought it was interesting is that you do have specific areas that you do want to compliment and one of them is arts and culture.

Why is that important?

- Well, if you look at a well-rounded community, you have the economic development and RDA actually started because economic development needed a shot in the arm, you know, back in the '80s.

And so RDA- - Well, let's be honest.

That was the big point of bringing the casino boats here the very first one to align with was to revitalize the downtowns and to get spirit in the community.

- So a lot of the things we're really economic-development driven, but then if you look at a well-rounded community like I said, you know, arts and culture, education, and human services, it takes all of those things to make a good community.

- We've been talking about there's a lot of organizations that do fundraising or foundations, and they are looking for specific areas to help the community.

A lot of times it is education or it's the children or it's healthcare.

RDA is also like that.

I mean, you really do allocate percentages to make sure that the money is spread out appropriately.

- Yes, we do, and I think funders overall are really looking at the community in a different way because of the pandemic.

You know, I'm sure that at some point we'll get back to a more balanced approach of funding arts and culture because I think, you know, I've heard from several places that arts and culture funding is more hard to come by, so we recognize that, but at the same time, when you have food and shelter needs that are right there in your face, it's important to recognize and respond to that.

- Because about 48%, I think, I gotta get this right.

48% for human services, affordable housing, things like that.

'Cause that seems to be, the creation of a social safety net has never been more important right now because of this pandemic where people were looking for help, who may not have been looking before, those are agencies you are also trying to help out.

- Yeah, and if you think about it, it's two things.

One is it's the services they provide, you know, and those service needs are up, of course.

But on the other hand, you know, we needed to look at the agencies themselves and their own sustainability, because if the revenues didn't flow for them well enough and we lose some of those safety net services, that would be bad.

So I think there's looking at, you know, the common current need, but also looking at wanting to maintain a healthy, vibrant human services sector as well.

- RDA also, I mean, the money that you give, you also want to fund programs that have a future, so to speak.

I mean, whether it's a group that's trying to expand, or it's a group that's kind of changing what it wants to do, you're looking at that as well.

It's an investment in the future.

- It really is and it's in a sense, sometimes I talk to the people that I work with, you know, that we really look at this as a venture fund in some fashion, really looking innovation, you know, things to make the community better.

You know, we know that there are some standard things, well, like Festival of Trees is something that, you know, is an important tradition like we talked about, but being able to continue looking at new things as well, you know, the RDA funding, many communities don't have anything like this so it gives us the advantage of being able to look at new things.

- And our thanks to Matt Mendenhall, who is the CEO and President of the Regional Development Authority.

Hey, let's get one more view of another Hearth and Home Display.

This is a setting with chilled champagne and a mix of gold and silver.

Isn't this beautiful?

It is called Making Spirits Bright.

It's created by Penny Branner, Laura Polling, Liz English, and Brenda Schwartz.

One of the Hearth and Home Displays that you could see at Festival of Trees.

So we hope you make it out to Festival before the doors do close on Sunday, and of course, we want to thank our hosts, everyone involved with Festival of Trees for making us so welcome here at the RiverCenter and we do hope that you have a great holiday.

Everyone from WQPT is giving best wishes to your family on the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer.

Thanks once again for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

♪ Joy to the world ♪ ♪ The Lord is come ♪ ♪ Let earth receive her King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ To the Lord in the highest ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ To our newborn King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the newborn King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ To the Lord in the highest ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ To that newborn King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ He is my King ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is King ♪ ♪ Joy to the world ♪ ♪ The Lord is come ♪ ♪ Let earth receive her King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ To the Lord in the highest ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ To that newborn King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ He's my newborn King ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ He's the Lord in the highest ♪ ♪ Glory ♪ ♪ He's King of Kings ♪ - [Announcer] Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, a proud supporter of WQPT, has been serving Quad City families since 1889.

They now have livestream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service.

- [Announcer] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health, and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.