The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About06-19-25 Correspondence - MT Arts Council - ARTeries_ News from the Montana Arts Council for Late June 2025From:Montana Arts CouncilTo:Bozeman Public CommentSubject:[EXTERNAL]ARTeries: News from the Montana Arts Council for Late June 2025Date:Thursday, June 19, 2025 4:11:30 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 Shakespeare in the Parks performance with female and male actors in Elizabethan dress How many small towns could host Montana Shakespeare in the Parks without public funding? Advocate for the NEA Right Now Congress has begun budget deliberations in earnest for FY2026. The White House “Skinny Budget” recommends eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This next few weeks will be a critical time to reach out to your Congressional delegates as they make important decisions. Rep. Ryan Zinke sits on the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which plays a key role in formulating the NEA’s budget. And the hardworking staffs for all four of our Congressmen will continue to engage with constituents and stakeholders throughout the drafting process. Now is the time to reach out to board members, business owners, mayors, community leaders, and particularly the conservative voices in your community who can speak most clearly about why arts and culture are important to Montana. Engage the voices your lawmakers will listen to. The best advocacy is informative, factual, helpful, and respectful. I look to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies for a helpful library of talking points. They have data on why public funding for the arts matters, even though public funding comprises 9% or less of overall funding of arts and culture. And here is a great paper on why the arts have always received bipartisan support. Public funding is not about making art. It’s about who gets access to arts and culture experiences. The arts strengthen the fabric of Montana’s communities, boost brain development, contribute to economic vitality, promote health and mental health, and help us celebrate and preserve our state’s unique heritage. No other sector provides that five-fold return on investment. Public funding brings arts education and life-expanding experiences to every corner of Montana—not just the coasts and big cities where the money is centered. And—as we learned in the Covid years—nobody wants to live without art. I want to emphasize that this is not a fight. It is a puzzle. I believe we as a nation are puzzling over who we are, and what kind of nation we want to live in. We now have these few days to advocate for a nation that is strengthened and inspired by its art. Be brave. Krys Holmes Executive Director krys.holmes@mt.gov Poet Laureate Nominations for Montana's next poet laureate are now open! Updated guidelines and nomination form are available here: Montana Poet Laureate. The poet laureate is chosen among Montana poets whose work inspires Montanans, enhances the state’s cultural life, and demonstrates worthiness of recognition. Each poet laureate has defined the role in different ways, but the goal is to engage people in poetry—spoken and written —across the state throughout the two-year term. Nominations are considered by the Arts Council, and the final selection is made by the governor. Deadline for nominations is June 30. Image: Poet laureate Chris La Tray Make a Nomination Artists Spotlight Site #1: Happy Flying Objects, by Corwin Clairmont Site #1: Happy Flying Objects, by Corwin Clairmont. Road trip! It’s a great time to head to the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, to catch their exhibit of The Corwin Clairmont Collection. Clairmont, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, whose artistic career spans five decades, is one of Montana’s most significant living artists. He’s renowned for his thought- provoking printmaking, mixed media, sculpture, and installation art, which explore the cultural and environmental impact of European settlement on Indigenous lands. Clairmont also sits on the Montana Arts Council. Check out the exhibit: Exhibitions – C.M. Russell Museum then hit the road. Arts In the News 1.4 million arts experiences across Montana were supported by MAC in FY2024 -- 365,000 of them to children and students. This number includes one-off experiences and repeat attendance by faithful patrons, to all 161 MAC grantees last year. That’s a lot of devotion to arts and culture experiences of all kinds. Meanwhile a recent study shows that 86% of Americans believe that “arts and culture improve my community’s quality of life and livability,” and 79% believe “arts and culture are important to my community’s businesses, economy, and local jobs.” Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray’s memoir, Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home has won the 2025 Reading the West Book Award for memoir and biography. He stands alongside Louise Erdrich in this honor, which is bestowed annually by the Mountains & Plains Independent booksellers Association. If you haven’t read Chris’s book, jog on down to your local indie bookseller and snag yourself one. Congratulations to Montana artists Joshua Taira and Bruna Massadas, recipients of the 2025 Creative West Artist Fund awards. These grants are no-strings funds to meet a wide range of needs so artists can focus on their work and professional growth. Taira is a Missoula graphic designer and is art director at the Roxy Theater. Massadas is a Bozeman painter. Learn more about Creative West’s grants for artists: Grants & Awards - Creative West (formerly WESTAF) Bozeman artist Bruna Massadas. Resources For Artists Harvesting Agnes Denes' "Wheatfield," the focus of Tinworks' 2024 exhibition season Call for art at Tinworks: The Bozeman art instigator invites ceramic artists to submit works to their 2025 season exhibition, “A Kin to Clay,” celebrating the remarkable legacy of clay in Montana. More info here: Tinworks Art Call for Montana Clay Artists or you can email them at: clay@tinworksart.org. PEN America, the 100+-year-old organization that supports writers, offers financial support to U.S. writers facing short-term financial emergencies. Next deadline is Tues., July 15th. Learn more here: PEN-writers-aid-initiative Blackfeet artists: The Blackfoot Confederacy Public Art Project, in Calgary, is recruiting Blackfeet artists for a project next summer. The goal of the project will be to connect the Blackfeet Pikuni band in Montana with the three other bands in Canada, and to tell the Blackfoot stories through art. The call for artists will go out in early 2026 and every artist from the Blackfoot confederacy is invited to submit for the call. Find more info here: Calgary Arts Development or email project director Jared Tailfeathers at: jared.tailfeathers@calgaryartsdevelopment.com For Arts Organizations Blue Avocado logo White Divider Got a nonprofit board? Do you struggle with resources and tips for managing them well? Blue Avocado is an online mag publishing knowledge about how to run a nonprofit business, providing info on board management, leadership, fundraising, and more. This one seems timely for a lot of arts nonprofits these days: Successful Nonprofit Board Management Strategies & Top Tips. Like Monana Nonprofit Association (Home - Montana Nonprofit Association), Blue Avocado can help EDs not feel they’re struggling alone. Got an executive search on your hands? Leadership transition can be vulnerable times for arts organizations, especially if they come at a pivotal moment, a crisis, or a time of uncertainty. This article from Arts Consulting Group lays out the steps organizations can take to prepare for a successful transition: From Leadership Transition to Transformation: Preparing for a Successful Executive Search Want to engage young adult volunteers? Shelby Rogala at Montana Nonprofit Association recently shared some strategies here: Engage and Retain Young Adult Volunteers . Check it out, then review all MNA’s helpful resources for nonprofits. They have a lot to share. 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 Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe. - H. G. Wells 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