Photos by Michael Fischer

Cyro Baptista and Beat the Donkey wrapped up their three-day stay in Spencer Tuesday night with a family concert at the old Spencer Middle School Auditorium. The musical collaboration entertained the audience with traditional, as well as homemade musical instruments. Some of the instruments used to create the music include balls, flip flops, kettle drums and a variety of other miscellaneous items. SPOT is part of the Hancher Family Arts Adventure project, facilitated by the Hancher Auditorium on the campus at the University of Iowa. SPOT residencies are funded with an $800,000 grant to Hancher from the Wallace Foundation through its "Leadership and Excellence in Arts Participation" (LEAP) program. Additional support and funding is made available by the University of Iowa, Iowa Arts Council and local collaborative partners. Chuck Swanson, Hancher director, expressed his thanks to the overwhelming local support in terms of sponsorship, viewership and participation in the SPOT programs. Swanson acknowledged that the four-year effort has been made worthwhile by Spencer's embrace of the different performers, suggesting that the community took the program to heights that were never anticipated. Swanson said that one last hurrah will take place in Spencer when Rubberbandance comes to Spencer on June 7-9 for the final SPOT visit.