One year after the Englert Theatre announced it would no longer produce the Mission Creek Festival, Hancher Auditorium is bringing a new multi-venue, multi-genre music festival to Iowa City. The inaugural Stop/Time Festival will bring a variety of artists, including several jazz musicians, to venues across Iowa City April 3 - 4, 2026.
According to Hancher Executive Director, Stop/Time will be a "festival of discovery."
“It’s about opening our ears and minds to new sounds, ideas and possibilities," he said. "This festival seeks the magic of walking into a venue and hearing or seeing a new kind of art for the first time, something that opens the doors and brings us closer to our own creativity, our community and the world.”
The festival will kick off with two performances at Hancher Auditorium on Friday evening. Trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire will present his new work honey from a winter stone alongside a jazz combo, a spoken word artist and the string ensemble PUBLIQuartet. Audience members will be seated on the Hadley Stage alongside the performers for this intimate set. Jazz-leaning indie pop singer Mei Semones’ performance will also be up close and personal, happening later in the evening at Club Hancher.
The excitement will then move to the University of Iowa’s central campus and venues in downtown Iowa City all day on April 4. The Englert Theatre will host legendary jazz saxophonist and former Tonight Show bandleader Branford Marsalis’ quartet for a presentation of their Grammy-nominated album Belonging. Chicago post-rock band Tortoise will also play the Englert in support of their new record, Touch.
The university's Voxman Concert Hall will feature two jazzy performances: pianist Jason Moran, who will explore the work of a jazz giant in Duke Ellington: My Heart Sings, and brass quartet The Westerlies, who will fuse jazz with contemporary classical and folk music.
Two Iowa ensembles are playing the Iowa City Masonic Lodge: Iowa City six-piece “supergroup” Lex Leto x Christine Burke Ensemble will perform their experimental work, and Iowa City-born (and Greg Brown progeny) Pieta Brown will perform alongside the Open Field Ensemble. Grammy award-winning trombonist and composer Kalia Vandever and “cosmic country” singer-songwriter William Tyler will also play the Masonic Lodge on Saturday.
Things will get a little more rock-and-roll at Gabe’s. San Francisco experimental sound artist Evicshen is set to play, as well as LA indie garage rock band Frankie and the Witch Fingers and Golomb, a Columbus, Ohio power-pop trio deemed a “band to watch” earlier this year by Stereogum.
This festival seeks the magic of walking into a venue and hearing or seeing a new kind of art for the first time, something that opens the doors and brings us closer to our own creativity, our community and the world.Andre Perry
Four unique acts will play at the Riverside Theatre. New York City’s Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage are bringing their indie folk sensibilities, and Indigenous bassist/vocalist Mali Obomsawin’s performance will blend free-jazz, rock and roots. Renowned jazz guitarist Mary Halvorson leads her quartet, Canis Major, and Iowa City’s Samuel Locke Ward fronts the psych punk four-piece Miracles of God.
Stop/Time will feature more than just music. Information about featured authors and free community events will be announced in the new year.
Check out the full lineup and how you can get tickets below:
Lineup
Friday, April 3
Ambrose Akinmusire playing honey from a winter stone — Hancher Auditorium (Hadley Stage)
Mei Semones — Hancher Auditorium (Club Hancher)
Saturday, April 4
Branford Marsalis Quartet playing Belonging — Englert Theatre
Tortoise — Englert Theatre
Jason Moran playing Duke Ellington: My Heart Sings — Voxman Concert Hall
The Westerlies — Voxman Concert Hall
Kalia Vandever — Iowa City Masonic Lodge
Lex Leto x The Christine Burke Ensemble — Iowa City Masonic Lodge
Pieta Brown with the Open Field Ensemble — Iowa City Masonic Lodge
William Tyler — Iowa City Masonic Lodge
Evicshen — Gabe’s
Frankie and the Witch Fingers — Gabe’s
Golomb — Gabe’s
Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage — Riverside Theatre
Mali Obomsawin — Riverside Theatre
Mary Halvorson: Canis Major — Riverside Theatre
Miracles of God — Riverside Theatre
Tickets
Festival passes for Stop/Time are now on sale with early bird pricing, with discounts available for students and youth. There are three types of tickets offered: Friday night, all-day Saturday or an all-inclusive two-day pass. Passes can be purchased on the Hancher Auditorium website. All prices will increase by $15 on Feb. 12, 2026.
“From luminaries like Grant Wood and Elizabeth Catlett, to the creation of the MFA at the UI, to the building of an exemplary arts campus, creative practice has been part of the UI and the surrounding communities for over 100 years,” Perry said. “These traditions are part of who we are. We are celebrating that lineage and embracing the future of the arts.”
