Rapson Collaborative is a non-profit organization based in Iowa City, Iowa, committed to supporting the diverse voices of local artists in the creative development and production of socially-engaged musical projects.
Awful Purdies is a quintet of multi-instrumental women who create original music shared through performance, recordings and video. Since 2006, Awful Purdies has been engaging with Midwest communities and beyond, by telling stories of women, immigrants, and other marginalized groups and advocating for human and environmental rights.
The Awful Purdies song project aims to create a body of work including original compositions and some re-imagined covers, celebrating their 20th anniversary year through the production and digital distribution of 20 songs throughout 2026. This will include re-recording up to 5 particularly timely and relevant previously released original songs that have evolved since their release.
Rapson Collaborative is supporting the professional recording for the project. Over the 12 months of 2026, each completed song will be released individually as a single, via streaming music platforms and social media.
“As women,” grantee Marcy Rosenbaum said, “our rights and histories are increasingly erased from the national narrative. These songs will confront the disempowerment of women, marginalized groups, and those who fear—or dare—to speak their truth. New compositions and reimagined songs will explore struggle, resilience, and hope, resonating with diverse audiences.
“In recognition of the challenges being faced in the current political climate, we feel now is a particularly appropriate moment to amplify voices that are increasingly being silenced and promote narratives of resistance, strength and hope through song.”
Led by Manny Galvez, this project brings together talented Latino immigrant musicians from Eastern Iowa to professionally arrange and record two original songs rooted in traditional Mexican music. Like many musicians with marginalized identities, these musicians possess deep, natural talents developed in community and family settings—but rarely have access to professional production resources.
The songs will explore themes of migration, belonging, and resilience, providing a powerful artistic platform to reflect on the lived experiences of underrepresented communities, as well as preserving and sharing the musical heritage of Iowa’s immigrant community.
Once completed, the songs will debut live at the Iowa City Latino Fest on August 23, 2025. With support from Rapson Collaborative, this project amplifies the voices of underrepresented Latino immigrant artists in Iowa through original music that explores the critical social issue of migration. It preserves marginalized histories through traditional Mexican genres while creating new work rooted in lived immigrant experiences. And by engaging diverse audiences at regional cultural festivals, the project fosters meaningful connection between artists and the public, building understanding, empathy, and collaboration across communities.
“Iowa NICE, Make Iowa Nice Again” is an interactive photo and video documentary by Miriam Alarcón Avila exploring the emotional and cultural shift in Iowa, where she sees Iowans’ long-held reputation for kindness and inclusion fading. Using ice as a visual and symbolic metaphor—derived from the word NICE with its N removed—the project examines how the state is becoming emotionally and politically colder, particularly toward immigrants and refugees. This coldness is reflected in legislation that mirrors ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) tactics, threatening Iowa’s core values of compassion, solidarity, and empathy. Through interviews, community events, and visual storytelling, the project documents the lived experiences of Iowans affected and pushing back against this shift.
Support from Rapson Collaborative will help fund creating, producing, and recording an original musical score that brings emotional depth and resonance to the project. Avila will collaborate with local musicians from diverse backgrounds who will compose music inspired by the collected footage, weaving sound with image to reflect hope, resilience, and the dream that, once the ICE melts, empathy and kindness will again take root.
The final photo and video documentary will be shared through an interactive, bilingual platform that invites viewers to reflect, feel, and act to become the ICE breakers that would “Make Iowa Nice Again.”
Panamanian-Colombian duo CalleSur (Karin Stein and Edgar East) is a member of Artes Latinas, a consortium of outstanding Iowa-based Latin ensembles–also managed by Karin and Edgar. Their music ranges from Andean to Cuban, from traditional sounds to covers and original pieces, from melodic to percussive moods, and their work on stage and in educational settings is shaped by their life-long personal and professional experiences. Both are immigrants to the United States (Edgar from Panama, Karin from Colombia) who have undergone firsthand the process of adaptation to a new culture. Both are experienced teachers, and both perform expertly a broad range of Latin music styles, including traditional and popular, jazz, and salsa.
Rapson Collaborative is supporting Calle Sur in presenting a performance featuring non-professional, multigenerational Latina guest musicians of diverse cultural backgrounds from across Iowa, to celebrate unity through music. They will join with the One World Music Series, which highlights international folk musicians who happen to call Iowa home, in a concert at the James Theatre in Fall 2025. The Rapson grant will enable Calle Sur to compensate their guest artists for their participation.
“Our guests’ voices and personal stories deserve to be heard,” Karin explains, “especially in these times when many immigrants are feeling threatened. Our motivation for putting this program together is to create an experience that demystifies ‘fame’ and ‘accomplishment’ and allows other equally talented women to sing alongside career artists in the hope of inspiring our guest performers, as well as members of the audience, to pursue music to the fullest extent they desire, regardless of their culture of origin.”
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This multicultural live music series is a catalyst for social change, offering unconventional multicultural musical pairings that draw broad audiences together in celebration of diverse traditions.
A freestyle rapping/singing/songwriting workshop series at the Juvenile Detention Center of Linn County.
Esteban and the Children of the Sun is a suite of 14 songs that tell the story of Esteban, the first African to travel across North America.
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