Davenport Guide

Arts

Davenport is home to the Quad City Symphony, the City Opera Company, the Figge Art Museum with its unrivalled collection of the prints and paintings of American Regionalist artist Grant Wood who is known for his “American Gothic”. The Adler Theatre at 136 E. 3rd Street is a beautifully preserved and renovated Art Deco theater from the 1930s with an audience capacity of 2400. It is the local venue for touring Broadway shows, comedy shows, and ballet.

Two of the planned five components of the River Renaissance urban revitalization project have been completed. These include the River Music Experience and the Dvenport Sky Ridge. According to the River Music Experience website, “The mission of the River Music Experience is to present a diverse one-of-a-kind urban entertainment experience that celebrates American roots music and the role the Mississippi River played in its proliferation across the country. The RME provides and promotes a prolific live music scene in the Quad Cities and enriches the lives of its residents and visitors.” The Sky Bridge is an adjacent structure which permits safe crossing of River Drive to the Riverboat, LeClaire Park, and the bike path. This structure has made architectural virtue of something so pedestrian as an elevated walkway. The river end of the bridge rises fifty feet above the waterfront and is glassed in on all sides, with glass elevators taking visitors from the level of the bridge deck to ground level. The views of the river and riverfront attractions are stunning and, at night, the bridge, itself, becomes an even more dramatic component of the landscape, with gently shifting colored LED lights both inside and outside.