Joise Lowder has always been around the music scene, she carries on the family vocation with the release of her first album, Here to Love. It both involves and reflects on her family.

This summer the Edgar Lee Masters Memorial Museum is hosting a lecture and music series called Masters Back Porch Chautauqua. All events in the series take place on the 3rd Sunday of May through September. Dr. Ethan Stephenson and board member Terri Treacy spoke to Community Voices about the series, the history of Chautauqua, and how visitors can view the Edgar Lee Masters home.For more information visit: https://elmhome.org/https-elmhome-org-event/

Jane Cutright is the owner of the Petersburg Observer, a newspaper catering to the Menard County area. Cutright spoke to Community Voices about how she joined her family’s business and the challenges her paper faces in an increasingly digitalized world.

Sid Stanton and Ed Gonet are the cofounders of Soil Food, a local business out of Cantrall and Petersburg, which produces natural fertilizers made from word castings. Stanton and Gonet explained how the quality of their product stands out among competitors and how their pet tortoise Erma led to the development of their organic worm farm.For more information about Soil Food visit: https://soilfoods.com/

With the shrinking media landscape, many communities are underrepresented in the media. To hear from these communities, NPR Illinois hosts an event called LISTEN. The Petersburg, Ill. community was chosen for the March LISTEN event and with the help of Broadgauge, a local restaurant and event space, NPR Illinois spoke to several area residents and learned about the joys, challenges and media usage in the community. Community Voices co-hosts Vanessa Ferguson and Randy Eccles listen back to the event recording and provide analysis of the topics discussed. LISTEN in Petersburg was funded by a grant from the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln.