Mission Creek Festival marks 20th year in Iowa City with throwbacks to past performers, up-and-coming talent

IOWA CITY — No matter what kind of music you’re into, one of Iowa City’s most quintessential music festivals has held steadfast to a mission that everyone can groove to.

Now, Mission Creek Festival’s 20th year serves as a pivotal portal between past and future. As the celebration of big talent in small spaces continues to capture many artists before their ascent to more widespread fame, its future plans a return to its roots.

Here’s what Mission Creek’s milestone means in its last year under The Englert Theatre’s production, what’s next for the festival mainstay and how you can enjoy a full lineup of diverse talent in music and literature at intimate settings across the city.

“It represents the enduring spirit of Iowa City and its support of independent art and independent voices,” said Brian Johannesen, Mission Creek Festival director. “The throughline is just people who are creating independent art and doing it incredibly well. That’s our driving force.”

If you go:

Mission Creek Festival’s three-day lineup of music and literature happens in venues throughout Iowa City from April 3 to 5.

For tickets or more information, visit missioncreekfestival.com. Passes start at $150.

This year’s lineup

  Buy Photo

Mission Creek’s 20th anniversary programming re-engages with past talent in new ways this year.

Neko Case, an American singer-songwriter and member of Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers, returns as a literature headliner this year. Raekwon continues the festival’s legacy of bringing members of the Wu-Tang Klan to town.

Kim Gordon, a writer and musician from the disbanded Sonic Youth, will headline this year — 14 years after she played at the Mill in 2011. After performing her Thursday set at Hancher Auditorium, she will moderate a conversation with Rachel Kushner, author of the acclaimed novel “Creation Lake.”

Gordon replaced country duo Julien Baker & Torres as headliner last week, after their cancellation due to a medical incident.

Mannequin Pussy, Friday’s headliner this year, is rarely accessible to small crowds.

“Seeing Mannequin Pussy in The Englert is something you won’t be able to see again. Mission Creek is a cool opportunity to see artists that put on live performances in very intimate settings,” said Grace Merritt, Mission Creek programming coordinator. “Mannequin Pussy is playing huge festivals outside this. If you went to another one of their shows, you’d be in a crowd of 25,000 people instead of 700.”

In between big punches from headliners, the lineup from April 3-5 will feature little surprises and Easter eggs for past attendees. One set on Saturday afternoon, for example, won’t be announced until the day of the show.

In its 20th year, programming decisions were driven by a desire to continue exploring artists’ interdisciplinary talents and attract international acts. This year’s lineup features Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti, Mexican artist Diles No Que Me Maten, and Quebecois musician Flore Laurentienne.

“The basis of going to Mission Creek is an acknowledgment that we’re looking for fun, we’re looking for excitement, and we’re looking for the arts to be the thing that brings the community together,” Merritt said. “That pulls people together every year.”

  Buy Photo

How it started

In 2006, cofounder and artistic director Andre Perry and two friends spun what was first called Mission Creek Midwest Festival out of a “DIY spirit“ and a sense of community at its core. Cofounders Tanner Illingworth, a student at the University of Iowa, and Jeff Ray, who started the original Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco, helped get it off the ground.

The endeavor was first self-financed by Perry and Illingworth before they were able to partner with additional co-producers.

“It’s kind of unbelievable that we’ve arrived at year 20,” Perry said in a November 2024 statement. “I remember when we weren’t sure if we’d even make it to year five.”

But as the festival further embedded itself into Iowa City’s various venues, its growth took on a mission that wasn’t just about music and entertainment. By weaving the festival’s identity into the fabric of the community, Mission Creek became a celebration of the city itself as much as a celebration of independent art.

The festival started landing artists right before they found more widespread fame under larger spotlights: The Tallest Man on Earth’s performance in the basement of the Jefferson Building on the University of Iowa campus, Killer Mike at The Blue Moose, and Bon Iver at the Black Box Theater in the Iowa Memorial Union, to name a few.

In 2014, The Englert Theatre became the official producer of Mission Creek, taking it to new heights. Ambitious shows like its first with Philip Glass, an influential composer known for his minimalist styles, alongside experimental electronic music producer Oneohtrix Point Never, broke new ground.

It was the first collaboration between Perry and late programmer Christopher Wiersema — and somehow, Perry said, it was a hit.

  Buy Photo

“The Englert stepping in and supporting the festival led to some of our most miraculous programs,” Perry said. “I remember Chris and I were sitting next to each other in The Englert while Glass played a song in sync with a recording of Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Wichita Vortex Sutra,’ and we both had tears in our eyes.”

Over the last decade, The Englert’s partnership has helped the festival welcome voices ranging from Mitski and Rachel Kushner to Roxane Gay and John Waters in a city not on the tour routes of many well-known artists.

Defying music festival trends

Mission Creek’s start in 2006 began near the cultural peak of music festivals across the country as events like Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bonnaroo started to gain notoriety.

Smaller ones popping up across the country also continued to grow to bigger stages, Mission Creek Festival director Brian Johannesen said.

But Mission Creek, which delivers impactful talent to a small city, did the opposite by trying to stay small.

Since the pandemic, he says that festival bubble has started to burst as attendees find more difficulty spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a weekend for tickets and travel. Producing music festivals profitably has become more difficult.

Mission Creek adapted after the pandemic by moving from a ticket-based model, which allowed attendees to pick and choose individual performances, to a pass-based model capped at around 1,000 attendees that encourages all-inclusive exploration.

Even though passes are capped at a relatively small number of attendees, Mission Creek maintains a “cult-like following” for a few reasons.

  Buy Photo

Chief among them is the experience built on trust by Englert staff and a force of about 40 volunteers.

At Mission Creek, you won’t see many big names. But the curated experience audiences have come to trust continues to draw them in, no matter who’s on the roster.

“The trust we’ve built with the audience makes sure we’re focusing on really cool art that’s fun and exciting, live and often something you’re not expecting, but can relate to,” Johannesen said. “It hits you in a new way. Having that relationship is different than chasing the big names.”

That trust not only allows an audience to enjoy unknown artists, but also helps launch artists to stardom from a small city in Iowa. After 16 years with the festival, that’s a point of pride for the current director.

“Being among the first to present those artists in a festival setting is always a badge of honor,” he said. “We’re not a major metropolis. To capture that magic and intimacy before it becomes unattainable is our badge of honor.”

And it’s done on a relatively small budget. This year, Mission Creek is working with a budget of about $240,000 for talent and expenses.

The future of Mission Creek

As Mission Creek pivots away from production at The Englert, the festival endeavors to return to its roots at the helm of cofounder Andre Perry and current literary programming director Nina Lohman.

It’s a bittersweet moment for the theater’s team as it steps down from producing Mission Creek to make space for new projects, said John Schickedanz, executive director of The Englert.

“Mission Creek has been part of our identity for over a decade. The relationship has been so beneficial, and it’s really gone both ways,” he said. “Neither the festival nor The Englert would be where we are today without this partnership.”

Details for 2026’s Mission Creek are still in the works, but Perry did give a hint on where it’s headed.

“So much has changed in the music industry and the literary world since we started 20 years ago,” Perry said. “We want to build something that’s an essential space for emerging and underground musicians, writers and publishers, especially from Iowa and the Midwest.”

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.

Get the latest restaurant news, food reviews and insider tips from the Chew on This newsletter.