Mainframe Studios

Mainframe Studios graciously thanks the the National Endowment for the Arts and the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, for supporting Mainframe Studios’ Youth Field Trip Program!

During the 2025–2026 school year, we were thrilled to welcome 702 K–12 students who engaged in hands-on arts experiences. 27 groups from 11 Iowa school districts and 12 youth service nonprofits took advantage of this free field trip experience to expand their learning and appreciate the arts.

As part of their experience, they got to tour Mainframe, see artists at work, learn about careers in the arts, and make an art project related to what they were learning in their classroom. One group explored science and the effects of heat while participating a glassblowing demonstration!

In 2025-26, Mainframe received a Cultural Leadership Partners Program Operating Support Grant to support our K-12 art experiences. This program is administered by the Iowa Arts Council which exists within the Iowa Economic Development Authority. It's funded through an appropriation by the Iowa Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, to support arts programs, services, and activities.

This support helps us inspire the next generation of creators, Mainframe tenants, art patrons, and supporters!

Iowa Arts & Culture
Iowa Economic Development Authority
National Endowment for the Arts

There will be no First Friday on July 3rd. We hope you enjoy the holiday weekend!

Looking for something to do on July 3rd? ArtForce Iowa is hosting a Silent Disco at the Cowles Commons from 7-9pm. Bring a friend and dance the night away!

Other events to check out in July:
-Art Night with Art is Rad // Every Monday 6-8pm at Big Grove Brewery
-Des Moines Art Center Social Saturday // July 11th 11am-2pm
-Reiman Gardens 2026 Garden Art Fair // July 12th 9am-3pm
-Waukee Arts Festival // July 17th & 18th
-Des Moines Tea Festival // July 26th 9am // Mainframe Studios

We are excited to see you again on August 7th for Experimental & Innovative juried by !

Let us know in the comments what you are up to in July!

Applications are open until June 30th!

Call for entries!

Mainframe Studios is proud to present EXPERIMENTAL & INNOVATIVE, celebrating artists who push beyond convention through curiosity, risk-taking, and new ways of making. Featuring work across disciplines and mediums, this showcase highlights practices shaped by unexpected materials, evolving technologies, unconventional processes, and bold conceptual thinking. EXPERIMENTAL & INNOVATIVE creates space for artists to rethink familiar ideas and imagine new possibilities for contemporary art and creative expression.

Juried by Amenda Tate!

Check out the link to learn more and apply!
https://form.jotform.com/261456207631151

When you walk through Mainframe on First Friday, you’re experiencing something special - from the the music, the conversations, and the art across five floors. What you don’t see is everything it takes to make that possible.

Bravo Greater Des Moines supports the essential, behind-the-scenes work that keeps Mainframe running: keeping the lights on, the doors open, the building clean, staffed, and accessible. It’s not flashy, but it’s foundational.

Every month, over 2,455 people gather at Mainframe to connect with artists and with each other. That kind of access to the arts only exists because of sustained public investment. Supporting Bravo means supporting organizations like Mainframe and ensuring that spaces like this continue to exist for our entire community.

We’re proud to be a cultural partner and part of Bravo’s impact!