The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About02-28-25 Correspondence - MT Arts Council - ARTeries_ news from the Montana Arts Council Early March 2025From:Montana Arts CouncilTo:Bozeman Public CommentSubject:[EXTERNAL]ARTeries: news from the Montana Arts Council Early March 2025Date:Thursday, February 27, 2025 4:16:50 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. ARTeries - The Lifeblood of Arts In Montana White Divider News in the Arts Legislative action: Many of you have heard that the Cultural and Aesthetic Trust grant program (HB9) has attracted a lot of legislative scrutiny in this session. This program allocates 0.6% of the earnings of the Montana Coal Tax Trust Fund toward arts and culture efforts statewide, including small grants to nonprofit organizations large and small. If your organization applied, you may have seen your grant award increase or decrease in committee action in the past few weeks. The Arts Council knows how important this program is to communities of all sizes and geographies. Public investment, though a small portion of arts revenue, is critical in making sure all Montanans have access to high-quality arts experiences. Let’s let the legislative process work, and we will keep you posted. Meanwhile, if you feel compelled to let your legislators know how Cultural & Aesthetic grants benefit your community, send them a thank-you letter and a personal story, or give them an encouraging call. Democracy is hard work, and a little thanks goes a long way. Krys Holmes Executive Director krys.holmes@mt.gov Poetry Out Loud It's the 20th year of Poetry Out Loud! If you're in Helena March 8th, stop by the state finals to watch 15 high school student finalists and 6 alternates compete in this nationwide poetry recitation contest. The state champion will represent Montana at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, D.C., in early May. It's a thrill to watch young people embody the spirit of verse, one of mankind's oldest art forms. It's free, and the public is welcome! Semi-finals start at 10:00 am; finals start a 1:30. Grandstreet Theatre, 325 N. Park Ave., Helena. Poetry Out Loud is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts Bill Kautz Portrait in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. Image: 2024 Montana Poetry Out Loud Champion Molly Ogan of Butte. Artist Spotlight What I did with my MAC grant: Bill Kautz premiered new work A new work for chamber quartet premiered at Missoula’s Zootown Arts Center last October, transforming one composer’s journey through grief into beauty. Missoula composer/trumpeter Bill Kautz, supported in part by a MAC Strategic Investment Grant, composed and presented the piece, called “And the Light From Which You Came is Now the (Love) Work We Must Do” The piece expresses Kautz’s own experience losing an infant son, and moves from silence into discordant energy, interconnected cadences, finally resolving in a surprising lightness and calm. “This experience prepared me to know what I am capable of, and how art and a story can be felt deeply by a room full of people,” Kautz said. “This Strategic Investment Grant has given me courage and faith in myself that I did not have before.” Just one example of how a small, quick-turnaround MAC grant can help bring a new work to life. View this amazing performance at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlWIgn76Fo4 Photo credit: Dónal Cían Lakatua Deadlines and Opportunities Our Public Value Partnership grants are currently open for applications. These grants provide operating support for the artistic and educational mission of Montana arts organizations. Deadline is March 27, 2025. Apply for PVP Grants White Divider Our Statewide Arts Service Organization grants are open for applications as well. These grants provide support for organizations with statewide membership and a statewide board of directors, and are designed to assist organizations and artists with programs and services at greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness than they can supply on their own. Deadline is March 27, 2025. Apply for SSO Grants White Divider Resources For Artists Photography award contest: Earn up to $1,500 from the National Council on Aging’s photography contest. They hope to redefine aging as a period of vitality, purpose, and connections. Our goal is to dispel stereotypes about aging in America by showcasing portraits of older adults aged 60 and above who are actively engaged in life. Deadline March 15th. To Apply go here: CaFÉ and search for 2025 NCOA Photography Award Contest. Help with Taxes: Minnesota’s Springboard for the Arts offers a free webinar March 5th called “Tax Basics for Artists,” covering rules and issues involved in filing taxes for creative people. The workshop will also include the essentials for filing your tax return – tax deductions, recordkeeping, setting up your books, and tax planning. The webinar will not be recorded. Register here: Tax Basics for Artists - Springboard for the Arts Help with Taxes, Part II: Arts Missoula is hosting a tax prep workshop covering the list of deductions you should be taking and what records you'll need to collect. March 4th, 2025 6:30-8pm at the Missoula Public Library's Cooper Room 4th Floor A limited number of partial scholarships are available. Please email heather@artsmissoula.org with a request by stating the basis for your needs. You do not need to fill this form out at this time to make this request. Register here: https://artsmissoula.org/artist-resources/ Native Arts + Cultures Foundation offers funding and support for emerging and upcoming Indigenous artists through its LIFT: Early Support for Native Artists program. Awards are $15,000 plus important resources and guidance to help your art business shine. Deadline: April 8. Apply here: LIFT - Early Career Support for Native Artists | Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Nonprofit News Echo from the NEA: If you missed it last week, you can listen to the recorded NEA webinar with NEA staff covering new grant guidelines for their Grants for Arts Projects. This link has current information; feel free to call us at MAC if you have questions. New deadline for Part 1 of applications is March 11. UPDATED FY26 Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) Guidelines Webinar Also helpful: Last Friday Mary Anne Carter, Senior Advisor at the NEA, sat down for a comfy chat with Nina Ozlu Tunceli (Americans for the Arts) to help answer even more questions. Listen to that conversation here: Office Hours with Our Arts Advocacy Team | Arts ActionFund Great blogs: Our friends at Grantstation recently assembled a list of useful blogs for nonprofits where you can find tips about finance, leadership, legal issues, communications, and how to run a capital campaign. Check out the list: Ten Best Nonprofit Blogs for 2025 | GrantStation Preserve Montana Logo Good To Know Care about our historic spaces & places? Preserve Montana, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to preserving the historic places, landscapes, and cultural heritage of Montana, seeks your insight. They’re running a survey to help shape their future, and encourage all to participate. Survey takes about 10 minutes; here's the link: Preserve Montana. Mental health from the stage: Some performing musicians are teaming up with mental health practitioners to amplify awareness and remove the stigma around mental health challenges. An organization called Sound Mind Live works with dozens of performing artists, from Allison Russell to Jewel to Big Boi, developing effective methods to address mental health issues from the stage. A new report just published in Health Promotion Practice found that concerts where performers speak adroitly about mental health (with training) can help demystify mental illness and encourage audience members to be more supportive and get help themselves. The report is here: Live Music for Mental Health: A Pilot Study of How Concerts Influence Mental Health Stigma, Empathy, and Resource Utilization - Tasha L. Golden, Clara C. Sandu, Emily E. Edwards, 2025. More info about Sound Mind Live is here: About — Sound Mind Live ARTeries is produced by the Montana Arts Council. If this email was forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe, visit us at https://art.mt.gov/enews Art is the stored honey of the human soul. - Theodore Dreiser MAC Logo Teal This email was sent to comments@bozeman.net using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: MontanaArts Council Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe All | Help | Montana Arts Council | 830 N. Warren Street | Helena, MT 59601 | art.mt.gov