Julien Baker and TORRES | LA LOM | Rachel Kushner
An evening of music and literature
- 4:30 p.m. – Doors open to the public
- 5:00 p.m. -- Lobby bar open
- 6:00 p.m. -- Stanley Café concessions open
- 6:00–7:00 p.m. – Reading and Q&A with Rachel Kushner in conversation with Kim Gordon.
- 7:30–8:15 p.m. – LA LOM
- 8:50–10:00 p.m. – Julien Baker and TORRES
Hancher Auditorium is again thrilled to host the opening ceremonies of Mission Creek Festival 2025 on Thursday, April 3! Mission Creek Festival celebrates its 20th edition of music, literature, and community April 3 through 5. Mission Creek continues to embrace independent voices, and Hancher is honored to welcome revered, rising, and remarkable artists to our community and the University of Iowa.
Full details, as well as rolling artist announcements, can be found at missioncreekfestival.com.
For Mission Creek's opening day, Hancher will transform into a single-site festival venue and present a multidisciplinary program opening with a reading by acclaimed novelist and essayist Rachel Kushner who will be in conversation with Kim Gordon. The trio LA LOM will bring an instrumental multi-era and multi-influence take on party music—including music from the band’s latest record, San Fernando Rose—to the stage. The evening closes with the electrifying collaboration of Julien Baker and TORRES. The duo has released two songs from a rumored country album. Their Mission Creek performance follows their appearance at the Big Ears Festival and precedes a date at the High Water Music Festival.
Julien Baker and TORRES: Julien Baker and TORRES (Mackenzie Scott) merges Baker’s introspective, soul-baring songwriting with TORRES’s fierce style and raw intensity infused with a touch of country twang. Together, they weave a sound that’s intimate yet rugged, blending indie and Americana into a powerful, poignant tapestry. Musical forces in their own right, the collaboration creates something truly inspiring and unforgettable.
LA LOM: The Los Angeles League of Musicians, known as LA LOM, is an instrumental trio formed in Los Angeles in 2021. The musicians blend the sounds of Cumbia Sonidera, 1960s soul ballads, and classic romantic boleros that emanate from radios, backyard, parties, and dance clubs of Los Angeles with the twang of Peruvian Chicha and Bakersfield Country.
Rachel Kushner: Rachel Kushner is among America’s most exciting writers. She is a participant-observer with a mind-bending range. Her novels explore big ideas and themes, from the Cuban revolution, to art, speed, modernism and revolutionary politics, to contemporary California and homicide and prison, to her newest, Creation Lake, about an undercover agent spying on a commune of anarchists in contemporary France.
Kim Gordon: Kim Gordon is a founding member of the band Sonic Youth and the author of Girl in a Band: A Memoir. Gordon and Kushner are friends and have appeared together in a variety of venues to discuss a range of artistic topics—and Mission Creek is the perfect place for that conversation to continue.
TICKETING:
All passes for the Mission Creek Festival will be solely available from The Englert Box Office—both online and in person. Full festival passes are on sale now online and at The Englert’s box office.
Single-day Thursday passes will go on sale on February 7.
Note: All seating for the events at Hancher Auditorium will be general admission.
Mission Creek Festival website
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Paris Young in advance at (319) 467-4849 or at paris-sissel@uiowa.edu.