Arts and Culture

On this week’s episode of Out and About, host Jenn Gordon talks with George Stelluto about the Peoria Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming concert “John Williams Strikes Back.” The concert takes place on Sunday, Jan. 16, at 3 p.m. at the Peoria Civic Center Theatre and will feature iconic selections from John Williams’ expansive cannon of cinematic scores including Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Jurassic Park, and more.For tickets and more information, visit Peoria Symphony Orchestra.

On this week’s episode of Out and About, host Jenn Gordon talks with George Stelluto about the Peoria Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming concert “John Williams Strikes Back.” The concert takes place on Sunday, Jan. 16, at 3 p.m. at the Peoria Civic Center Theatre and will feature iconic selections from John Williams’ expansive cannon of cinematic scores including Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Jurassic Park, and more.For tickets and more information, visit Peoria Symphony Orchestra.

After a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Penguin Project is back with a live performance featuring the Penguins in Disney’s Newsies Jr. this weekend.

Soon, an artist will be among the book shelves in the Peoria Public Library's McClure Branch.

In addition to her private practice criminal and civil work, Yolanda Riley assists families of Peoria Public Schools through The Wraparound Center.

On this week’s episode of Out and About, Kerri Rae Ryan and Taylor Porter join host Jenn Gordon to talk about Corn Stock Theatre’s production of "These Shining Lives."In this drama centering around Catherine Donahue and her three coworkers, the new financial independence of women working in the post-war 1920s is both liberating and exciting. The women earn a comfortable living, painting watch faces using a radium compound that glows in the dark. This new vision of freedom is shattered when one by one the women begin to fall ill to mysterious ailments. They discover the source of their sickness is the radioactive paint used for the watches, and decide to seek retribution in the form of a class-action lawsuit against their employer, Radium Dial Company. Though the women are doomed to die, their struggle to fix what is broken demonstrates the power of the female spirit, despite the curbing of women’s newly won social freedoms during the Great Depression. Corn Stock Theatre's production of "These Shining Lives" opens Jan. 14 at the Theatre Center at Upper Bradley Park and runs for two weekends.For tickets and more information visit Corn Stock Theatre.

On this week’s episode of Out and About, Kerri Rae Ryan and Taylor Porter join host Jenn Gordon to talk about Corn Stock Theatre’s production of These Shining Lives. In this drama centering around Catherine Donahue and her three coworkers, the new financial independence of women working in the post-war 1920s is both liberating and exciting. The women earn a comfortable living, painting watch faces using a radium compound that glows in the dark. This new vision of freedom is shattered when one by one the women begin to fall ill to mysterious ailments. They discover the source of their sickness is the radioactive paint used for the watches, and decide to seek retribution in the form of a class-action lawsuit against their employer, Radium Dial Company. Though the women are doomed to die, their struggle to fix what is broken demonstrates the power of the female spirit, despite the curbing of women’s newly won social freedoms during the Great Depression. Corn Stock Theatre's production of These Shining Lives opens on January 14, at the Theatre Center at Upper Bradley Park and runs for two weekends.For tickets and more information visit Corn Stock Theatre.

Lebanese immigrants Antoine "Tony" and Loreece Haddad founded the beloved restaurant in the early 1980s.

On this week’s episode of Out and About, Jenn Gordon talks with Bill Conger and physician and pianist Dr. Tony Karam about the special upcoming concert and exhibition "From Peoria to Lebanon."One year ago, a massive warehouse explosion rocked Beirut, Lebanon, killing hundreds of people and displacing 300,000. Among the most prominent local populations of central Illinois are thousands of Americans whose family members immigrated from Lebanon.On this anniversary, the Peoria Riverfront Museum presents an unprecedented contemporary art exhibition featuring donated art from artists of Lebanon and a piano concert in partnership with the Scottish Rite Theatre. The concert features Karam, a renowned Lebanese physician and classical pianist. The concert will take place Sunday, Dec. 19, at 2:30 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Theatre. For tickets and more information visit From Peoria to Lebanon Concert.

Lincoln Branch manager Cynthia Smith has seen the library's service to the South Side neighborhood grow tremendously over the past decade, aided by a renovation and expansion project 10 years ago.

A Peoria hip-hop duo is concerned about the influence of "drill music" on the city's youth. So they're counterbalancing that subgenre with their own message.

Peoria Public Library's Lincoln Branch on Friday celebrated a 10th anniversary of the expansion project that tripled the size of the historic South Side branch.