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Now providing live stream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service at their chapel in Rock Island.

- A holiday tradition that's downsized, the impact of a very different Festival of Trees on the Arts in the Cities.

(upbeat music) Well, this is the week of Thanksgiving and it should be the closing days of Festival of Trees.

But this year, no grand parade, no convention hall that's filled with trees, and wreaths, and decorated doors, and no big fundraiser for Quad City Arts.

Instead, Quad City Arts is trying to fund its program and keep the festival alive by hosting a re-imagined festival.

It's based at Quad City Arts' Rock Island Gallery in the District.

And although it's a new way to mark the start of the holidays, it still has the same purpose, to raise money for the Arts in the Cities.

And joining us is Festival of Trees Administrator, Kaleigh Trammell.

The point of Festival of Trees this year is Festival of Trees re-imagined.

That re-imagining had to start quite a while ago.

- It sure did.

We plan Festival of Trees year round.

And so over the summer, we had to make a pretty tough decision.

And we said to ourselves, looking at the fall, we don't know what it's gonna look like.

So we decided to go ahead and try to re-imagine what Festival of Trees looks like in this year, where so much was unknown going into the Festival of Trees season.

So, but we were able to make this decision over the summer.

And so had a good few months to kind of make it happen and try to figure out how we can still bring holiday cheer to the Quad Cities this holiday season.

- I like the theme which seems to be so important this particular year, believe.

- Yeah, when we chose that, we had no idea.

We choose the theme at January, February every year.

So we chose the theme believe.

We thought it would be a great theme for our 35th anniversary.

And then as we continued on through the year, it just became our anthem, believing in the spirit of Festival of Trees, believing that the community would come around and surround us, and boy, have they.

- So tell me what festival is this year.

We're so used to it taking over the entire River Center, if not all of downtown Davenport at times.

This is much smaller and it's mostly in Rock Island.

- It is, so unfortunately, we weren't able to have the big event at the River Center.

And so we chose to have it at Quad City Arts Gallery in Rock Island.

So a Festival of Trees supports Quad City Arts.

And so we thought it was, it made sense us to try to do that.

So by having our pop-up gift shop in our gallery and our tree designs, door designs, and handcrafted stockings right in our gallery, we can, number one, be able to make sure that everyone stays safe and socially distance.

But number two, still be able to bring some holiday cheer to everyone this season.

So it's much smaller, but it's compact and it still packs a punch.

- And there are certain traditions that live on as you said, 35th year, there's still these designer trees that are absolutely gorgeous and artworks in themselves.

- Absolutely, we still have a small number of designer trees, designer wreaths, and handcrafted stockings that folks from around the Quad Cities generously donated.

And they are available for auction through Sunday, November 29th.

So there's still time to place a bid on those and have a nice designer tree for your holiday season.

- The other tradition of course, is that you always team up with Isabel Bloom and you get an exclusive Isabel Bloom sculpture that's part of Festival of Trees.

- Yes, and this year it's especially special because it is the Festival of Trees logo.

So it's a beautiful Isabel Bloom tree with a gorgeous red ribbon.

And it's commemorating the 35th anniversary of Festival of Trees.

- The fact that it's scaled down, does that worry you at all as far as, as you said, the mission really is to fund Quad City Arts?

- You know, it's a challenge to be able to find ways for the community to continue to support us, but I am confident and always blown away by the generosity of Quad citizens.

And so it will be different, but I am confident that folks will come around us and continue to support Festival of Trees and Quad City Arts, as we try to, you know, fund our programming into 2021.

- When I think of this going full circle in a way that in the 35th anniversary of Festival of Trees being founded in 1985 at the depth of the farm crisis, the Quad Cities hitting some of the hardest times it's ever seen in its history, and there comes Quad City Arts and Festival of Trees in an attempt to bring a little light to the community, try to inspire people and also to help fund the Arts, it's almost full circle now.

You're doing the exact same thing, 35 years later.

- It's an honor to be able to be part of Festival of Trees this year especially, because you're exactly right.

Festival of Trees, the very first Festival of Trees was in 1986.

They planned for a whole year starting in 1985.

And we were in an economic recession here in the Quad Cities and the group of women who chose to take this on worked hard.

They talked to businesses, they talked to friends, and family, and coworkers, and they were able to pull it together and really bring holiday cheer to the Quad Cities at a time when we really needed it.

And then also, we were able to support the Arts.

And so that mission has grown over the years, and to be able to provide that same type of holiday cheer even on a smaller scale this year when we need it the most is really special.

- The other part of Festival of Trees each year, of course, is that little exhibit.

I shouldn't say little, it's a growing exhibit of course, that really kind of features artwork from students, from young people as well.

Because this is scaled back so much, that type of exhibit must be much smaller, but still significant?

- We actually, we're kind of trying to direct our high school students towards our high school art exhibition in the spring.

- Absolutely.

- So, so we have high school students who are interested and teachers who reached out to us and we said, "We hear you and we would love "to be able to feature your artwork," but with everything else that we have going on and trying to pack it all into our small space, we didn't want their work to get lost.

- And it would have, would it not?

And it would have been, 'cause you want more people to participate and for it to just be shunted to a small little area where you could only show like five or six... - Right, exactly.

- That wouldn't be fair either.

- Exactly, so we're hoping to be able to do a nice, big high school art exhibition in the spring.

We do a competition every year.

And so we're hopeful that high school students will have their work ready for us and be able to display it center stage for them on that day.

- Because it's been such a tough time for students.

That is a great idea to do it that way.

We are always talking about how Festival of Trees helps Quad City Arts, that's not the only charity you help.

The other one we always think about is the Toy Tree and the giving of Toys for Tots and the US Marine Corps Reserves.

You're making sure that they're not forgotten this year as well.

- Absolutely.

Remax River Cities is our sponsor for the Toy Tree and they reached out to us and they said, "We wanna make this work because this year, "and now more than ever, "we wanna support families who may be struggling "this holiday season."

And so we are still doing our Toys for Tots toy drive.

Drop off locations are open through Sunday, November 29th.

So there's still time to make a difference in a family's holiday season.

You can do a drop off at the location or you can order on Amazon and have it delivered there so it can be completely contactless.

- That's a great idea.

- Yeah.

- I don't wanna dismiss 2020.

I don't wanna dismiss this year's Festival of Trees, but I have a feeling that in the back of your mind, you're sitting there going, "All the things we had to shelve in 2020, lookout 2021."

- We are excited for 2021.

We're planning some exciting changes, some things to sort of make Festival of Trees pop, especially as everyone's missing it this year and really wishing that they could be there and seeing all of the beautiful designs and displays.

- You can look at 2020 almost as a bridge from one, maybe generation of the Festival of Trees to the next.

I mean, this could be a real good pause.

- That's what we're hoping for.

It's a time when everyone is able to reset and realize how much Festival of Trees really does mean to their holiday traditions.

And hopefully we'll see a good turnout in 2021.

We're really excited about starting that planning process.

- But 2020, what you wanna tell people, don't ignore us this year.

This year, more important is to think of the Arts.

- Exactly, now more than ever, Festival of Trees is an important aspect for Quad City Arts.

It's important for our community and we're still here.

We've got items for purchase.

We have items by local artists.

We have designer trees, wreaths, and stockings.

So there's still plenty to do and plenty to see.

And the nice thing is that if you're staying at home not wanting to get out, you can look at it all online, and make purchases, and do curbside pickup, and not ever have to step foot in the store.

- Kaleigh Trammell with Festival of Trees.

In a moment, I'll look at the health of Quad City Arts with its executive director, but first Laura Adams, that's making sure that we can all safely enjoy our community when we go out and about.

- [Laura] This is "Out and About" through November 30th.

This year's Festival of Trees looks different.

Join them on KWQC, the 21st to 10th, or visit their pop-up gift shop and window display November 21st through 29th at Quad City Arts in Rock Island.

Celebrate Thanksgiving early with the virtual "Kids in the Kitchen Class" November 25th, from 10 to 11.

Be sure to register at Hy-Vee.

Register for WQPT's online screening of "The Gene, An Intimate History."

And a discussion with the film's director, November 19th at 6:30.

The Figge Art Museum showcases their "Haitian Masterworks" through January 24th, while the Smith Studio and Gallery in Geneseo present "Paintings by Pat Bradley Bereskin" through the 28th.

The 2020 "Gone Farmin' Fall Premier" auction takes place the 19th through the 21st at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.

And there's music at Rhythm City.

Frank Martin Busch, the 20th, Tightrope the 25th, and soul blues legend Johnny Rawls the 27th.

A handwritten copy of Abraham Lincoln's most famous speech, the "Gettysburg Address" will be on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library through November 30th.

And prepare for the holidays by attending Julmarknad or Christmas Market in Bishop Hill, November 27th through December 6th.

Check out the holiday lights at Fejervary, November 28th through January 3rd.

while the Quad City Botanical Center's Winter Nights Winter Lights exhibit runs through January 10th.

For more information visit www.wqpt.org.

- The holidays are of course, a great time to spend with family and friends.

And we have some great friends here at WQPT including the Westbrook Singers.

They've retired, but they did perform a number of times, sometimes holiday classics here on WQPT.

And we get to share with you one of their true classics once again.

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 ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ A song, a song, high above the trees ♪ ♪ With a voice as big as the sea ♪ ♪ With a voice as big as the sea ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see, what I see ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ 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 ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Listen people everywhere ♪ ♪ Listen to what I say ♪ ♪ Pray for peace ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ Everywhere ♪ ♪ Do you know what I know ♪ ♪ A child, a child, ♪ ♪ Shivers in the cold ♪ ♪ Let's us bring him ♪ ♪ Silver and gold ♪ ♪ Let us bring him silver and gold ♪ ♪ Let us bring him silver ♪ ♪ And gold ♪ ♪ Do you see what I see ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ The savior is born ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ Do you hear it ♪ ♪ Do you hear what I hear ♪ ♪ The Christ is born ♪ (audience applauding) - The Westbrook Singers with "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

Festival of Trees was to mark 35 years here in the Quad Cities this year, but of course, because of COVID-19 they had to make big changes and it's actually sad to see a big portion of this holiday tradition come to an end, but it also does give Festival of Trees and Quad City Arts some new opportunities.

And we wanted to talk about that as well.

So joining us is Quad City Arts Executive Director, Kevin Maynard.

Let's be honest.

One thing about artists and art is it's supposed to inspire.

And perhaps this is the time that people need Quad City Arts more than ever before.

- I would say so, yeah.

You know, this is a unique time in history and it gives our artists an opportunity to create and really almost document everything that's happening right now, but even more so, being able to see that art and experience that art and interact with it is inspiring.

I mean, we're seeing a lot of really great things come out of this.

Obviously we would prefer to not be in this position, but... - But isn't that also the point of Festival of Trees as well because it is really the unofficial start of the holiday season.

(laughing) The show must go on, as the kids say.

- Exactly, exactly.

So, you know, that is the kickoff to the holiday season here in the Quad Cities.

And obviously when we're not doing it in the large fashion that we had intended to, as we started planning last year.

But this year we're able to kind of scale things down, doing what I'm calling festival light in our gallery, to be able to bring people in to see some great arts, see some great designs and handcrafted stockings, and trees, and wreaths, to be able to kind of inspire their holiday season.

And the added benefit is that every dollar spent there helps support the Arts here in the Quad Cities.

- And let's talk about that because Festival of Trees has been a major benefactor for Quad City Arts.

Is it worrisome right now?

Because the scaling back must also mean that you're fearing a scale back in funding, and then the dominoes start to fall.

- You know, yes and no.

I mean, obviously, we want to raise as much as possible throughout our Festival of Trees to be able to deliver on all the programs that our community has grown accustomed to.

And we obviously wanna be able to grow those programs as well.

The benefit that we have at Quad City Arts is that we're able to scale a lot of these things up and down, but the other added benefit is that, you know, we also do get funding from the Quad Cities Cultural Trust.

And so this is a great opportunity that highlights the importance of organizations like that.

Being able to keep arts and cultural organizations afloat during this, but also giving them the dollars to be able to innovate and deliver on their mission throughout this tough time.

So we have been in a very lucky position to be able to do that during this.

- And so what do you think is going to happen in 2021?

I mean, the crystal ball for 2020 really could be thrown out the window.

(laughing) So I'm gonna make you do it again for 2021.

- You know, as of right now, one of our big focuses is that we keep telling people that we're kind of aiming for June to be back in person and really do a big kickoff.

Obviously we don't know whether that will be the case or not, but we do know is that we're gonna continue to deliver on our mission in whatever platform necessary.

So for instance, when 2020 kind of kicked off, we had all these big plans.

We're gonna do residencies, we were gonna have all these shows in our gallery.

Obviously things didn't go that way.

So we pivoted pretty quickly.

We, this year, we launched two new websites, www.quadcityarts.com is all completely redesigned.

And you can see the works that are on display in our gallery.

You can also purchase those works.

So for our local artists, that is key.

They're still able to showcase their work and sell their work.

Www.qcfestivaloftrees.com also brand new, but it gives people an opportunity to interact with Festival of Trees and also buy and bid on things for Festival of Trees from the comfort and safety of their own home.

The other things that we did is like the Visiting Artist Series is obviously a huge impact into our community.

And typically in a traditional year, we put artists into the public schools and they are seen by over 30,000 students.

Obviously that is unable to happen this year.

So we created and launched the Visiting Artist Series Educational Resources, which is curated by our Performing Arts Director, Margot Day, working with artists to create short videos, about eight to 12 minutes long, as well as some documents.

So to give people a flavor of, you know, what they would have seen in the schools, a little bit of performance, a little bit of demonstration, and also some educational components with that.

The best part about that is, you know, when we looked at all of our programs and the things that we're changing right now, we kept 2021 in mind saying that these are things that we wanna be able to continue on in the future.

So when we're back to putting artists into public schools, hopefully in 2021, we will still have the Visiting Artist Series Educational Resources for those artists and for teachers and students to be able to participate with.

- And that's what I wanted to talk about because the Visiting Artists Series is actually in its 47th year.

You really had to rethink something that's been established for so long.

But what we found in other organizations is that by going online, they have found different audiences, and they've actually gotten rid of the geographic scope of Quad City Arts perhaps, and that you're actually opening it up worldwide, and definitely nationwide and regionally.

- Yeah, so that has been pretty interesting in our office, 'cause you know primarily, obviously we have a heavy focus here in Scott Rock Island County just because of our geographics.

We also do other things in some outer counties throughout the year, but now we're able to really engage those communities, engage those students at a larger level.

And so we're seeing schools and teachers log in from places that we hadn't ever visited before, which is a really cool thing to see.

We're also figuring out, what has been most fascinating about this is we're rethinking the concept of accessibility in the arts.

So accessibility, we've always talked about ADA compliance and what's the cost as the two major factors to accessibility.

The pandemic has highlighted the fact that we have people in our community who are unable to leave their home for whatever reason.

Obviously right now, we've got a lot of people due to the pandemic, but in a regular time, it may be, you know, it may be health concerns, but it also might be childcare or just a number of other things.

So by moving some of these things to a virtual platform and continuing that on the virtual platform, we're really able to reach more, and really highlight true accessibility in the arts by taking away some of those barriers.

- One of the most important areas that you want to deal with of course, is with kids and youth arts.

And I know two of your biggest programs, Metro Arts Youth Apprenticeship and your high school competitions as well, how does that move forward in 2021?

- Well, we were able to adapt the program Metro Arts for 2020.

We obviously put in a lot more safety standards.

We required facial coverings when people were on site.

So we were able to, and we also limited the number of students participating so we could give a good social distancing on these sites.

Moving forward, if we're still social distancing for future Metro Arts Project, we will still continue to do that, require masks to be able to offer that opportunity.

I mean, for a lot of these students, this is the first paid arts experience for them.

And it's also, you know, it's a way to hone their craft, and see that this is a way for them to be an artist in the future.

For the high school Art Invitational that we host every year at our gallery, last year, it was we were setting up that competition, that Invitational when we went into a shelter-in-place.

So we, I think we pivoted that show, I think four times to figure out what it would end up looking like, but it became an online gallery.

We still gave out scholarships.

We still gave out the prizes.

It just shifted to a virtual setting.

And so this year, it's likely to do the same.

We hope that we will be able to have people in the gallery to experience that artwork, to be able to showcase that.

But as far as the award show when we typically pack the gallery with a hundred to 200 people, that won't happen.

That'll go completely online.

- Well, there is that old phrase of the starving artists, and let's be honest, this has been a tough 2020 for artists.

Art is of course creativity, it's culture, but in so many different ways, it is also still a business.

Tell me, at least as far as you are concerned, the artists that you run into, is the vibrancy still there?

Is COVID-19 actually a source of inspiration for artists?

I mean, do you expect something to come out of this pandemic in the arts community?

- Yes, the short answer is yes.

I mean, our arts and culture are really taking a hit right now.

You know, obviously we've seen performance venues that are just completely shuttered.

Where obviously galleries are unable to have as many people in and, you know, people just aren't out as much, and rightfully so, we understand that.

But for artists who rely on this income, it's a really difficult time.

And we also know that when the economy takes a downturn, the first thing that gets cut is really arts and culture.

I mean, it's typically discretionary income in this country.

But I will say that we are encouraging artists to create during this time.

You know, coming up in 2021, hopefully at a time we're able to gather back together, we have our quarantine art exhibit, which is a group show that we're encouraging everybody to submit a piece that they either created or finished during this time to highlight and almost document this time period here in the Quad Cities.

But the other thing, I think that we're just seeing a large, a large surge of creativity for delivering these arts and culture.

I mean, we talked about how a Quad City Arts is going online and so are a lot of artists.

I mean, we're watching, you know, you can now log onto Facebook and YouTube and see an artist streaming something at almost any time.

And, you know, we have some really, really big artists who are putting out some concerts that you can either pay a donation to see and really be able to deliver some really cool content right now.

I will say I think just everybody agrees that it's not the same as being there in person, but it is something that's helping us get through this time.

- Our thanks to Quad City Arts Executive Director, Kevin Maynard.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer, thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on "The Cities."

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

Now providing live stream capabilities for viewing your loved one's funeral or memorial service at their chapel in Rock Island.