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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Founded by two University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band alumni, Iowa Pride Ensembles debuted over the weekend with 70 marching musicians from across the state. -
Pride Month celebrations across the nation are seeing sponsors reduce their support or withdraw it entirely in response to political pressure from the Trump administration. But organizers in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Iowa City say that, at least this year, they're finding ways to make up — and even exceed — the lost funds. -
The rule from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services prohibits groups from holding more than one event per calendar year, which has forced the Des Moines Metro Concert Band to relocate its summer series. -
The mural created by students from the University of Northern Iowa’s Interactive Digital Studies program had sustained storm damage shortly after it was installed in 2020. -
The nearly mile-long light sculpture titled Evanescent Field covers the museum's exterior. It will light up the museum each night at sunset. -
Rainbow Kitten Surprise is back and better than ever. The band is working their way through a lengthy tour of their 2024 album, Love Hate Music Box, with another record on the way. -
The Eastern Iowa Arts Academy, once split between three locations, is now united under one roof in the historic Arthur Elementary School building. -
There's never been a better time to be a local bookworm. From cozy neighborhood nooks to sleek, modern spaces built for browsing, a wave of new independent bookstores has arrived to breathe fresh life into the state’s literary scene. -
Hundreds of arts groups across the country saw their National Endowment for the Arts grants suddenly revoked on May 2. The Trump administration has proposed new priorities for arts funding and has suggested eliminating the agency. -
Senate File 146 would prohibit the use of automated bots to purchase online tickets at concerts and sporting events.
