By Bri Brands 

Faculty across six departments are collaborating to bring the intersection of humans and the Iowa River to life. 

The project, known as “Meandering River,” involves seven faculty members across different departments and colleges. To help fund the work, Stephanie Miracle, an assistant professor in the Department of Dance, recently applied for and recieved $6,000 through the Grants for Arts Project. 

Support for the project is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council, which exists within the Iowa Economic Development Authority. 

“The project is a multimedia, interdisciplinary performance that brings audiences outdoors beside the Iowa River and leads them on an immersive journey alongside the Iowa River, encountering or being invited to consider its past, its present, and its future,” Miracle said. 

The Grants for Arts Project supports funding for public engagement in the arts and arts education, the integration of the arts into initiatives that promote individual and community well-being, and the strengthening of the arts sector’s overall capacity and capabilities. 

The grant funding will cover artist fees, sensors along the river that collect data on nitrate levels, and the use of equipment, including a packet of printed material the audience will use to engage and follow along with the performance, as well as silent disco headphones that will guide the audiences along the journey. 

Miracle said the project aligns well with the values established by the National Endowment for the Arts.  

“This kind of project — that is in a nontraditional space and merging so many different kinds of disciplines — is exciting, but also the content itself is absolutely vital to this community,” she said. 

Miracle said receiving the grant was both validating and exciting, as it provides an opportunity to test and share ideas publicly, with a hope to build towards larger projects eventually. 

Miracle, whose research focuses on how dance can collaborate with other spaces, was approached by Jenna Supp-Montgomerie, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Communications Studies, to create the project together. 

Participating in an opportunity through the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, they were able to contact faculty in the College of Engineering and begin work on the project. 

The project involves seven University of Iowa faculty members: Miracle, Montgomerie, Elizabeth McTernan, School of Art, Art History, and Design; David Cwiertny, Department of Chemistry and the College of Engineering; Eric Gidal, Department of English; Heather Parrish,  School of Art, Art History, and Design; and Larry Weber, College of Engineering. 

“We started to vision a performance that could happen this spring,” Miracle said. “Now it’s a year later, and we're really seeing it as a multi-year iterative. This is one chapter of several chapters that we're hoping to explore.” 

The first performance will take place on Sunday, May 18 at 6 p.m. Audiences will gather at the Lagoon Shelter House and travel along the west side of the river. The performance will include dancers, soundscapes, and interactive prompts, designed to enhance the audience’s awareness of the river’s existence and importance.  

Miracle said Joshua Weiner, associate dean for research and infrastructure in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, helped point the team in the direction of helpful resources for the project.  

“[He] has been really great in working with us on this project and helping us secure permissions for working outdoors on campus,” she said. 

In addition the support from Weiner, Miracle said she has felt encouragement from the college. 

“I just feel very encouraged by the CLAS team to dream big in how I’m thinking about interdisciplinary collaboration,” she said. “I feel the support of being given permission to do that, but also an encouragement to do so, as opposed to sticking to traditional dance on a stage.”