Illinois Newsroom • 20th April 2026

Ebertfest’s ‘Last Dance’ honors founder and namesake Roger Ebert after festival’s 27-year run - IPM Newsroom

CHAMPAIGN — Live organ music filled the vaulted ceilings of the Virginia Theatre in Champaign as attendees sat in wait between Ebertfest film screenings Friday evening. The organist, Steven Ball, played film scores, and in the lobby, movielovers chattered with excitement in line for popcorn, candy and soda. 
Ebertfest organizers say thousands of people turned out for the festival’s nine film screenings over two days, plus a play re-enacting an episode of Siskel & Ebert. Following the films, a pa...

Illinois Newsroom • 16th April 2026

Champaign Public Library marks 150 years of growth, access and community impact - IPM Newsroom

CHAMPAIGN —Founded in 1876, the Champaign Public Library celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. The library had a humble beginning as a single reading room and a collection of less than 300 books. Today, the library has two branches and is home to 250,000 books. 
Celebrations will take place all year long, with National Library Week being one of the biggest, from April 19 through April 25, said Salem Gebil, marketing manager at Champaign Public Library. 
“We’ll also have the actual birthday...

Illinois Newsroom • 2nd March 2026

Flyover Film Studios in Rantoul brings new growth to central Illinois’ film industry - IPM Newsroom

RANTOUL — Flyover Film Studios is named for the unique location of its soundstage: the former Chanute Air Force base in the Village of Rantoul. The space is a huge half-barrel hangar with over six acres under its roof, about four stories high. 
What used to hold massive aircraft is now filled with movie sets, including a police station, a grandmother’s living room and a prison cafeteria.
Jen Shelby, president and co-founder, said she and the other founders had been producing films together for y...

Illinois Newsroom • 13th January 2026

Honorary Alison Krauss Way recognizes renowned bluegrass fiddle-player and vocalist - IPM Newsroom

This story is part of Illinois Student Newsroom’s series: Champaign’s Honorary Streets: the Stories Behind the Signs.


CHAMPAIGN — Alison Krauss, the 27-time Grammy-Award-winning vocalist and fiddle player who grew up in Champaign, played the hallowed Grand Ole Opry at the age of 17. She went on to become one of the youngest artists inducted into the radio show.


In 2015, a portion of West Hill Street in Champaign, between Elm and Prairie streets, was designated “Honorary Alison Krauss Way.”...

CU-CitizenAccess.org • 17th December 2025

Q&A: Claudia Lennhoff on the history of the contaminated Fifth and Hill site of former Ameren manufactured gas plant

A spokesperson for the utility and energy company Ameren said in October it is a few months away from finishing the lengthy environmental cleanup of hazardous and carcinogenic pollutants in the Champaign neighborhood known as Fifth and Hill.


The site is at the intersection of Fifth and Hill streets in northeast Champaign. 


CU-CitizenAccess.org has reported on the issue since 2011 and graduate students at the time developed an interactive map showing the history of the site and where chemic...

CU-CitizenAccess.org • 17th December 2025

Ameren states contaminated gas plant cleanup in Fifth and Hill neighborhood nearly complete, but advocates question results

Read an extended Q&A with Claudia Lennhoff, executive director of Champaign County Health Care Consumers, about the history of the site and the research completed over the years.


A spokesperson for the utility and energy company Ameren said it is a few months away from finishing the lengthy environmental cleanup of hazardous and carcinogenic pollutants in the Champaign neighborhood known as Fifth and Hill.


The site is located at the intersection of Fifth and Hill streets in northeast Champ...

Illinois Public Media • 1st December 2025

217 Today: Ebertfest and beyond, how the C-U film sphere moves forward after the loss of a giant | Illinois Public Media

Monday, December 1, 2025

Today’s headlines: 

In today’s deep dive, EbertFest organizers announced this fall they won’t be coming back but there’s some discussion of a possible encore. 

217 Today is produced by Stephanie Orellana. Reporting today contributed by A. Oishii Basu, Reginald Hardwick, Elissa Eaton and Jonathan Mathew.

Monday, December 1, 2025

Today’s headlines:

In today’s deep dive, EbertFest organizers announced this fall they won’t be coming back but there’s some discussion of...

Illinois Newsroom • 4th November 2025

SNAP funds are delayed and reduced for 2M Illinoisans due to the shutdown. Here’s how C-U is affected - IPM Newsroom

CHAMPAIGN — On Saturday, SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, ran out for the nearly 2 million Illinois residents who rely on them to purchase groceries. 
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order on Oct. 30 to direct $20 million in funding for state food banks, but it will not cover the costs of the entire program.
Federal judges ordered emergency funding be allocated for the reinstatement of SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. But the Trump administration says it will...

Illinois Newsroom • 24th October 2025

The Virginia Theatre celebrates 50 years of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ with new shadow cast - IPM Newsroom

CHAMPAIGN — The Virginia Theatre in Champaign will host its annual showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Oct. 25. This year’s showing will embrace a tradition of the film and include a performance by a shadow cast. 
The movie celebrates its 50th year since its release in 1975, and its long legacy has resulted in a whole host of traditions created by its cult following. A shadow cast consists of performers lip-synching to the film as it is projected behind them
Other traditions include dr...

Illinois Newsroom • 22nd September 2025

‘Quite remarkable’: The Farm Aid benefit concert, which started in Champaign, celebrates 40 years - IPM Newsroom

CHAMPAIGN — Farm Aid is a traveling benefit concert that has raised more than $80 million nationwide to help struggling family farms across the U.S. 
The first annual Farm Aid event was held 40 years ago, on Sept. 22, 1985, in what is now Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign. At the time, the U.S. was in a major agricultural crisis. Severe inflation and lessening exports caused family farmers across the country to lose their farms and homes.



Singer and guitarist Willie Nelson took note of thi...

Illinois Newsroom • 20th September 2025

Two new sculptures join Urbana Parks’ permanent collection - IPM Newsroom

URBANA — The Urbana Park District recently acquired two marble sculptures for its permanent art display at Meadowbrook Park. 
Sculpted into a slab of swirling diverted petals, artist Jon Isherwood titled them “The Gifting Angel” and “After Giverny,” referencing impressionist artist Claude Monet’s waterlilies. 
His pieces are displayed as a part of the park district’s sculpture program, paid for by the Robin Hall Fund for Public Art. The program began in 1998 as the vision of the former director...

Illinois Newsroom • 27th May 2025

Photography book by Phillip Kalantzis Cope features the avant-garde architecture of Champaign-Urbana - IPM Newsroom

CHAMPAIGN — Phillip Kalantzis Cope was inspired to create a book featuring photos of mid-century architecture in Champaign-Urbana after a series of conversations with architect Jeffrey Poss, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Cope said he learned about “important architects that were products of the university, that worked here but also practiced here. And I saw a wonderful story of both an architectural history [and] a community history.”
The book, “Mid-Contine...

Illinois Newsroom • 19th May 2025

217 Today: Ceduxion Carrington reflects on nearly 30 years in drag - IPM Newsroom

Monday, May 19, 2025
Today’s headlines:
In today’s deep dive, we’ll learn how local drag performers are helping to inspire hope during difficult times.
217 Today is produced by Stephanie Mosqueda. Reporting today contributed by Alex Degman, Mawa Iqbal, Arjun Thakkar, Colin Hislope and A. Oishii Basu.

Monday, May 19, 2025

Today’s headlines:

In today’s deep dive, we’ll learn how local drag performers are helping to inspire hope during difficult times.

217 Today is produced by Stephanie Mosqued...

Illinois Newsroom • 16th May 2025

Art as hope: Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center takes on beautification project - IPM Newsroom

URBANA — The walls of the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center are covered with new art, created by the residents in partnership with local muralist Leslie Kimble.
Prior to beginning the project, Kimble said she sat down with the children to ask what they wanted on their walls.
“One mural we did in the dining room is a big mural of waves and sun,” she said. “That was from our interaction with one of the residents that talked about waves being like emotions — emotions come to us like waves...

Illinois Newsroom • 14th May 2025

Reflections on the life and legacy of Shozo Sato, who founded the University of Illinois’ Japan House - IPM Newsroom

URBANA — Shozo Sato, master of Japanese traditional arts and founder of the Japan House in Urbana, died at the age of 91 on May 4.
Sato was a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Japan House Director Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud said Sato was discovered in Japan in the 1960s by Margaret Erlanger, then head of dance at the U of I, while she was on a fellowship. She said Erlanger was enamored with his teachings of Kabuki theatre. She invited him as a visiting artist-in-res...

Illinois Newsroom • 27th March 2025

The Japanese Paper Film Project brings forgotten film back to life - IPM Newsroom

URBANA – The Ebert Center for Film Studies is set to host The Japanese Paper Film Project on Friday night at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana.
Eric Faden, the project lead, started working with Kyoto’s Toy Film Museum in 2019 to cultivate the film preservation project based at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. Where most film is made from celluloid, these films are printed frame-by-frame on paper in both anime and live-action formats.
Originally created in the 1930s, Faden said these films were...

Illinois Newsroom • 11th November 2024

Improvising through art: U of I students fuse music and visuals at Krannert Art Museum - IPM Newsroom

Student musicians at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign took their musical improvisations to Krannert Art Museum on Saturday, Nov. 9, in a performance about how art can inspire sound.


U of I Assistant Music Professor Jason Finkelman teaches these students in the Improviser’s Exchange Ensemble. He said these musicians are always preparing, experiencing improvisation with or without a conductor.


“With Improviser’s Exchange, it’s more about playing with sound,” Finkelman said. “So...

Illinois Newsroom • 24th October 2024

Station Theatre’s ‘The Minutes’ explores local politics and historical truths in dark comedy - IPM Newsroom

The Station Theatre in Urbana is set to open its newest production tonight. “The Minutes” focuses on power structures within a small town council. It is the latest installment in Station Theatre’s 52nd season, “The Hopeful and Broken Pieces of the American Dream.”


The show centers on a nervous new councilman and his growing suspicion of the rest of his council when a senior councilman goes missing.


The dark comedy is relevant because of how local politics has grown in importance in Champai...

The Daily Illini • 27th February 2024

Afro D & Global Soundwaves brings new variety to CU

Afro D & Global Soundwaves is a hip-hop-jazz-funk fusion band formed in Champaign-Urbana by Pete “Afro D” Shungu in 2019. 
Shungu, professor in FAA, is the band’s MC, trumpeter and bandleader. 
The band consists of Mitchell Killough, a founding member, on bass; Lawrence Parks on alto saxophone; James “Jamie” Mauck on drums; Brighton Sier on keyboard; and a new vocalist, J’Lyn Hope.
This is Shungu’s second variation of his band, with the first being a combo called “Afro D All Starz” based in Bost...

The Daily Illini • 6th February 2024

Column | ‘Coraline’ set a high bar for children’s media

Last updated on Feb. 7, 2024 at 02:14 p.m.**This review contains spoilers.**
The iconic stop-motion film “Coraline,” written, directed and produced by Henry Selick, turns 15 years old today. The film is based on the 2002 book of the same name by Neil Gaiman.
The film focuses on the many worlds of Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) and the fantastical characters of both her mundane reality and enthralling fantasy worlds. 
Coraline has just moved to a historical house called the Pink Palace far away...

The Daily Illini • 29th January 2024

Dom Flemons brings award-winning folk music to Rose Bowl Tavern

The Rose Bowl Tavern held a matinee show of Dom Flemons’ stylings of old-time music and Piedmont blues on Saturday.
Flemons, also known as “The American Songster,” grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and moved to North Carolina to learn Piedmont blues fingerpicking, a style of rhythmic guitar picking native to the Piedmont region including both a bass line and melody. Flemons would go on to join Grammy Award-winning string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops. 
The buzzing crowd sat drinking beer and eati...

The Daily Illini • 16th January 2024

Review | Kali Uchis stuns with dreamy creation ‘Orquídeas’

Kali Uchis released “Orquídeas,” her third album in four years, on Jan. 12. 
Uchis dropped the album after announcing her first pregnancy with Don Toliver the day before. Throughout “Orquídeas,”  Uchis dives into her distinct dreamlike sound while showing her Colombian culture.
Her second Spanish-language album, featuring 14 tracks and a runtime of 44 minutes, is genre-bending and holds traits from reggaeton, R&B and Latin urban.
These influences can be heard on many tracks, starting with “Muñek...

The Daily Illini • 17th December 2023

Column | ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ remains a whirlwind of emotion

Last updated on Dec. 18, 2023 at 05:54 p.m.**This review contains spoilers.**
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Oscar-nominated film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” directed by Lasse Hallström, who is famous for directing many of ABBA’s music videos. The movie was written by Peter Hedges, who authored the original book. 
The film is set in the fictional town of Endora, Iowa, and is about 25-year-old Gilbert Grape, the second oldest brother of the Grape family and the patriarch due to the ab...

The Daily Illini • 5th December 2023

Queens of Canopy hold ‘Beyoncert’ drag show at Canopy Club

Last updated on Dec. 8, 2023 at 06:28 p.m.On Sunday, the Queens of Canopy held a “Beyoncert,” a Beyoncé tribute drag show, at The Canopy Club with special guest Kelasia Karmikal.
Ceduxion Carrington, the matriarch of the Queens, emceed the event. During the show, she said that the Beyoncert was the first in a series of drag shows they are planning in tribute to artists who have shown longstanding support to the LGBTQ+ community.
Champaign-Urbana showed out, with many audience members wearing bla...