Josie Fischels
Arts & Culture ReporterExpertise: Performance art, visual art, Iowa life
Education: The University of Iowa
Favorite Iowa Destination: Dunnings Springs, Decorah
Experience:
- Covered local and statewide arts, news, and lifestyle features for <i>The Daily Iowan</i>, <i>The Denver Post</i>, NPR and currently for IPR
- Has written features on Iowans participating in the Hollywood writers’ strike, the nation’s largest historic theatre backdrop collection – housed in Iowa, the reopening of the African American Museum of Iowa and an ‘inside-the-culture’ feature on local drag kings, among others
- Is an award-winning reporter, including a retrospective of Iowa’s first poet laureate, Marvin Bell, following his death in 2021
- Writes regularly for IPR’s internationally award-winning newsletters
- Covered the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, climate and the Kabul takeover by the Taliban in 2021 for NPR’s news desk
- Served as an editor and mentor for multiple projects with NPR’s Next Generation Radio
- Created IPR’s weekly news quiz and launched IPR’s TikTok (follow us!)
My Latest Stories
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After filming at iconic Iowa City landmarks and including locals as extras, the feature film will move on to Dubuque next. -
Kat Schmidt from Des Moines was named Grand Champion of the 2025 Fiddling Competition Sunday at the Iowa State Fair. -
"Iowa Artists 2025: Ben Millett," now on display in a landmark exhibition at the Des Moines Art Center, marks the art center's first solo show dedicated entirely to quilt making. -
Beyond the classic blue ribbon pies and livestock showings, the Iowa State Fair offers a schedule of weird and wonderful events that prove just how much Iowans love a good spectacle. -
Hinterland celebrated its 10th anniversary in an expanded location in St. Charles this year, bringing headliners Tyler, the Creator, Kacey Musgraves and Lana Del Rey. -
When Tiger Lily Cafe opened just weeks before Iowa’s biggest music festival, its owners didn't anticipate the crowds — or the chaos. Now, one year later, it’s thriving. -
The U.S. State Department announced this week that the United States will once again withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, effective Dec. 31, 2026. -
Organizers say demand has fallen for the self-supported program and priorities have shifted to focus on other student arts programs. -
After Des Moines Oktoberfest event organizers moved the event from its Water Works Park location to Ankeny for the foreseeable future, the Des Moines Biergarten announced its own celebration. -
The initiative encourages Johnson County residents to donate or pick up new and gently used art, craft, school and upcycling supplies at no cost.
