2026 Grantees
Vuelo del Colibrí: Cuando el corazón escribe
Vanessa Espinoza
Vuelo del Colibrí: Cuando el corazón escribe is a community-based storytelling project that uses music as a culturally rooted tool for healing and creative expression among Spanish-speaking adults in Johnson County, Iowa. Over 12 months, the project will engage a cohort of 15–20 participants through a series of 12 healing circles. Each session integrates drum, rhythm, and sound as grounding practices to support reflection and emotional expression.
In the project ("Flight of the hummingbird: When the heart writes," translated to English), music serves as a catalyst for storytelling, helping participants access memory, reduce stigma, and explore experiences related to mental health, migration, and identity. Participants will develop original written narratives that will be compiled into a bilingual community anthology. While the project centers a core cohort, its impact extends beyond participants through a public reading event and the distribution of the anthology, engaging broader community audiences in dialogue around mental health and cultural identity
Support from Rapson Collaborative will fund the purchase of instruments for the group, helping to create an accessible, music-centered space where marginalized voices are supported in transforming lived experience into creative work and community connection.
Sunset Salsa
Edwin Valladeres
Sunset Salsa is a multidisciplinary Latin music and dance experience founded in 2012, designed to bring diverse communities together through rhythm, movement, and shared cultural expression.
Hosted at the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall, the 2026 Sunset Salsa series features six free public events throughout the summer, each combining live music, DJ performance, and inclusive dance instruction. Expanding beyond traditional performance, the series integrates original and improvised music with cultural storytelling. Artists such as Parranderos Latin Combo will present original work like “El Inmigrante,” exploring themes of migration, identity, and belonging. This approach transforms the event into an immersive artistic experience that reflects the evolving cultural identity of Latino communities in Iowa.
At its core, Sunset Salsa promotes diversity and inclusion while supporting physical and mental well-being through accessible dance experiences that encourage movement, connection, and community engagement. Support from Rapson Collaborative will directly fund artist stipends, enabling fair compensation for musicians and expanding access to free, high-quality cultural programming. This support ensures the continued growth of a proven platform that fosters artistic collaboration, cultural visibility, and meaningful community connection.
By combining artists and audiences in a shared, participatory space, Sunset Salsa fosters collaboration and cultural dialogue while centering marginalized narratives, making it both artistically meaningful and socially impactful.
We Are Not What You Think: A Musical Journey of Truth, Work, and Belonging
Mazahir Salih
“We Are Not What You Think: A Musical Journey of Truth, Work, and Belonging” is a live, community-based musical and storytelling performance that challenges common stereotypes about immigrants and refugees through artistic expression.
The project brings together immigrant musicians, cultural dance groups, and Iowa-based artists to present traditional and contemporary music paired with short personal narratives about migration, work, family, and rebuilding life. Each segment will introduce a common misconception—such as, “Immigrants take more than they give”—followed by music, movement, and stories that humanize and counter these narratives. The performance will feature diverse cultural traditions including Sudanese, Congolese, and Latin American music and dance, alongside collaborative pieces with local musicians.
As part of the experience, audience members will contribute to a collective artistic reflection through a live installation. Support from Rapson Collaborative will fund artist stipends, matched by funds from South of 6 Business District in Iowa City--helping to ensure that underrepresented artists are compensated and the project remains accessible to the public.
African Festival of Arts & Culture
Brady G’Sell
A Rapson grant will support the third annual African Festival of Arts and Culture, taking place September 26, 2026, in downtown Iowa City.
A joyful celebration of African arts and culture, the festival celebrates the vibrant presence of Africans in Iowa and highlights the rich cultural traditions they have brought with them. Africa is a hugely diverse continent with 54 countries, hundreds of languages, and thousands of ethnic groups—and African Fest showcases some of the cuisines, musical traditions, fashions, and art of African people who call Iowa home. The festival creates a joyous context in which Africans of many nationalities can gather in one central space and where other Iowans of various origins can join them in community, learning about and enjoying African art and culture.
More than 34,000 African-born people call Iowa home. However, African immigrants rarely appear in dominant narratives about Iowa. Many African immigrants have expressed that they don’t feel spaces like Iowa City’s Downtown are for them. In fact, for many African Iowa Citians, the first African Fest in 2024 was the first time many of the vendors and attendees had been to Iowa City’s iconic pedmall—even some who had lived in the area for decades.
Many Iowans don’t realize how large our African immigrant community is, or they hold misconceptions about Africa as a single country with a single culture. The African Festival of Arts and Cultures seeks to change these narratives by celebrating the Africans from many countries and highlighting the rich and multiple cultural traditions they have brought to Iowa.
Support from Rapson Collaborative will help maintain the African Festival’s high quality of artistic performance, providing funds to help pay musicians for their performances.