Keynote Speaker: Art Cullen

Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 2017 with a series on agricultural surface water pollution. He is the author of two books: Storm Lake, and Dear Marty, We Crapped in Our Nest. His opinion essays have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Boston Globe and regional newspapers. Art worked as a reporter and editor in Algona, Ames and Mason City, Iowa, before returning home to Storm Lake to help his brother John launch a weekly newspaper in 1990. Art’s wife, Dolores, is a photographer and feature writer at the Times Pilot, and their son Tom is managing editor. Their family newspaper was the subject of the PBS documentary film “Storm Lake” that aired nationally in 2021. The Cullens also own and operate the Cherokee Chronicle Times.

Piano Accompaniment: Corey Kendrick

Corey Kendrick is a pianist, composer, recording artist, and educator currently living in Davenport, IA.  Kendrick is Director of Instrumental Music at Black Hawk College in Moline, IL.  Praised by Downbeat Magazine’s John Ephland as a “very accomplished, highly gifted jazz pianist” with “a patient, maturing voice,” Kendrick has a skillful touch that is both immediately recognizable and deeply expressive.  Kendrick released his debut album, Rootless, in June of 2016, which JazzTimes.com’s Travis Roger, Jr. called “a debut album that stands among the finest albums of the year.”  Rated 5 stars by Bebop Spoken Here’s Lance Liddle, Rootless quickly climbed the jazz radio charts, reaching #4, #5, and #35 on the CMJ, RMR, and JazzWeek charts respectively and was featured on PRI’s syndicated program “Jazz After Hours.”