Arts & Culture

Autographed scripts, vintage costumes, and movie reels. These are some of the features of "Hollywood in the Heartland," the first blockbuster museum exhibition of its kind in Iowa. The exhibit opened today at the State Historical Museum in Des Moines.

Spokesman Doug Miller says it showcases 100 years of film history, from the time when production houses started distributed films to mass audiences, until now. It shows the strong ties writers, directors, filmmakers, and producers had to the Midwest.

This month, musicians from a local school and New Orleans helped the Quad Cities commemorate the 2008 flood. The University of Iowa sponsored a performance by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Davenport's LeClaire Park. The band from New Orleans performed in seven cities across Iowa this month, to mark the 5th anniversary of the 2008 flood. And the Williams Intermediate School Hornets kicked off the evening, leading a "second line" parade, from the River Music Experience to the bandshell.