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Home My WebLink About09-12-25 Correspondence - MT Arts Council - ARTeries_ News from the Montana Arts Council for Mid September 2025From:Montana Arts CouncilTo:Bozeman Public CommentSubject:[EXTERNAL]ARTeries: News from the Montana Arts Council for Mid September 2025Date:Thursday, September 11, 2025 3:44:48 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 Cowboy poet Henry Real bird speaks with passion about how art changes lives and communities at the 2025 Montana Circle of American Masters induction ceremony. We’ve heard from school boards, counties, legislators and congress members that cutting arts funding is a sad but necessary move, here in the wealthiest and most- resourced country on the planet. Our most intractable problems—poverty, addiction, environmental degradation, crises in education, healthcare inequities, the loneliness epidemic—are intertwined complexities that will not get better without imagination and creativity, without tenderness and courage. Yet we repeatedly defund the centers and programs that teach the skills and disciplines that develop the creative mind. It’s the arts that teach us how to imagine, picture, articulate, build, workshop, tear down, refine, share, and try again, relentlessly forging a vision and refining our inner discipline. Without the prophetic imagination that drives us to have faith in what we can’t yet see, we are mired in our woes and ever shall be. Without imaginative skills and discipline, lacking the rigor that creative work develops, we rely on might and force—the least effective and most expensive approach to problem solving (also the method we learned, in kindergarten, to outgrow). This is why the prophecies speak in poetic language. When our problems rise all around us, when politicians’ speeches drive us apart, it’s through poetry—art—that we will imagine a new way, and find that we can build it together. Krys Holmes Executive Director krys.holmes@mt.gov Arts Are Essential "The arts are essential to any complete national life. The State owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them. The country possesses in the Royal Academy an institution of wealth and power for the purpose of encouraging the arts of painting and sculpture … ." – Winston Churchill, 1938 Leaders need to know: Towns thrive because of the arts. As the director of the Knight Foundation says, thriving towns are those that "are vibrant and walkable, with public spaces pulse with creativity and care ... don't treat arts as a bonus feature, they treat them as infrastructure, as essential to community and economic well-being as roads and schools." The Knight Foundation supports community development, education, research, and journalism. Read the full article here: The Arts Are a Blueprint for Thriving Cities Heads Up Poetry Out Loud finalists participate in a redactive poetry exercise during this year's state finals. Poetry Out Loud seeks a statewide coordinator for part-time work, Oct-March, in support of MAC’s statewide program to engage high school students in the life- changing art of public recitation. Some travel, lots of enjoyable work, and the opportunity to collaborate with MAC’s Poetry Out Loud director, Monica Grable. It's a perfect job for a writer or theater artist looking for a deeply meaningful side gig. $24.50/hour. Apply here: Job Description - Poetry Out Loud Outreach Coordinator Got news? The deadline to submit information to the quarterly State of the Arts newspaper is Sept 15th. This issue’s theme: “Thinking different to create differently.” To submit, email: eric.heidle@mt.gov White Divider Spotlight Montana Actors’ Theater (MAT) of Havre is going Off-Broadway! Cast and crew will hit the road in a few weeks to take director Jay Pyette’s original play, “The Harvest,” to a mid-town Manhattan theater for a 6-week run. The whole truckload—the play, the actors, and the set—will make their Off-Broadway debut, telling the story of a Hi-Line farming family grappling with changes after the death of their patriarch. It’s a tremendous opportunity for Pyette as a playwright, for MAT, and also for Montana, so often misrepresented and so seldom portrayed with such gritty, loving authenticity. The opportunity comes with a peculiar challenge: The set, built in Havre, will be trucked across country in pieces that can fit in a New York elevator. Want to see the show before it goes big-time? MAT will perform “The Harvest” Oct 23- 25 at the MSU Northern Theater in Havre. Tickets here: The Harvest - Havre The cast of “The Harvest” takes a piece of authentic Montana culture to an Off Broadway theater in November. Photo courtesy of Montana Actors’ Theater. Artists Spotlight For many artists, travel is integral for professional development. To support travel, Strategic Investment Grants (SIG) help artists cover eligible costs to attend events like workshops, festivals, residencies, and performances. Recent SIG awardee Anne KM Ross used her SIG grant to invest in her booth setup and to drive to the Gresham Festival of the Arts in Gresham, Oregon. Anne KM Ross is a painter from Billings who specializes in “not-so-western” themes. At the festival in Oregon, she connected with buyers in a new region and received feedback that helped her refine her presentation and marketing. She’s already applied lessons learned at subsequent festivals. “I see this grant not as a one-time opportunity, but pivotal turning point—anchoring me in a more aligned, sustainable path as an artist,” she says. Learn more about the art of Anne KM Ross here: Anne KM Ross, and more about SIG grants here: MAC Strategic Investment Grants Anne KM Ross in her revamped festival booth. Photo by Erin Steuer Resources For Artists New from Creative West: Check out the National Arts Futures Fellowship, launching Sept 15th, a 6-month virtual leadership development program to help build strong arts leaders across the West. CW (formerly Westaf) will fund up to 25 Fellows this year. More info here: Creative West NAFF For Arts Organizations TourWest changes: Presenters and venues applying for TourWest grants probably already know there are changes afoot. The process is streamlined, and all awardees will receive $2,000-3,000 (depending on number of applicants) with bonuses going to small and rural presenters. TourWest supports presenters across the West to bring touring performing & literary artists into their communities. Deadline Sept 15. Info here: TourWest - Creative West It’s MNA time! Montana Nonprofit Association’s powerhouse annual conference begins online next week, and live in Billings Sept 25-26. If you’re an arts nonprofit in Montana, you need the support, camaraderie, and resources MNA offers. If you haven’t registered yet, go here: MNA Annual Conference. Board struggles? Is your board filled with champs? Stanford Social Innovation Review magazine posted a great article on ways to bring in superlative board members: How Nonprofits Can Recruit Better Board Members. It’s a good read. Learn how to advocate better: If you rely on state or federal funding, it's critical to tell your story to leaders and lawmakers. Creative West now manages an Advocacy Blog, which Cynthia Chen keeps fueled with expansive information: CW Advocacy Update For Arts Educators Teaching artists wanted at the Holter Museum of Art in Helena, to teach workshops at the Holter, in local schools, and also in their Holter Healing Arts program with military personnel—which take place at the museum and also at Fort Harrison VA Center. To find out more, email the Holter’s executive director, Christina Barbachano: executive@holtermuseum.org. Holter Museum of Art Education Director Anna Lund, at center, leads students in a visual poetry workshop. Poetry teachers: Already thinking about next summer? Here’s an opportunity to put on your radar: Poetry Foundation’s Summer Poetry Teachers Institute, a free and meaningful professional development opportunity, planned for Chicago in Summer 2026. Applications won’t open till February, but it’s best to put the pieces together early. Participants pay only for transportation, lodging, and some meals—but MAC may be of help, if you apply to the Arts Council’s Strategic Investment Grants. It's National Arts in Education Week (Sept. 14–20), a nationwide celebration of the transformative power of the arts in every life. Research shows that students engaged in the arts achieve higher academic performance and develop the creativity today’s employers demand. Your advocacy this week is essential. If you don’t advocate for arts education, it will go away. Download this Advocacy Toolkit, from Americans for the Arts, here: National Arts in Education Week | Americans for the Arts. Bad Ideas Turning jails into centers for art? A great idea—if we fund them. Yellowstone Art Museum transformed the old County Jail into the art museum, education center, and creative community hub that attracts 25,000 visitors per year, and provides critical arts education to thousands of Billings-area students. It’s ironic, then, that the Yellowstone County Commission recently redirected 75% of county funding to YAM to expand the current county jail. Research shows incorporating the arts in crime prevention is far more cost-effective than incarcerating more people. Good Idea! What if, instead of focusing on our disagreements, we focused instead on staying in relationship in the presence of our disagreements? Theater artist/community facilitator Michael Rohd, creator of State of Mind, writes eloquently here (Theatre, Civic Health and Challenging Conversations) about how his statewide touring project has brought communities together to address local issues. There’s a skill to making community conversations safe and fruitful. We should all learn and practice that skill. Michael Rohd, of the UM Center for Civic Imagination, is a theater artist and facilitator whose work brings communities together to address issues important to them. Traditional arts are American culture: Next week the NEA honors the 2025 National Heritage Fellowship, celebrating some of the folk and traditional arts that make up American culture. The ceremony, hosted by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, will be livestreamed here: National Heritage Fellowships. Meet Elaina! Say hello to Elaina Tenter, the new business specialist at the Montana Arts Council. She has taught English in Italy and South Korea, teaches jazz dance at a local dance studio, and loves Audrey Hepburn and Frank Sinatra. As the newest member of the MAC team, Elaina will make sure everyone gets what they need: grants get paid out, readers get their newspapers, bills get paid, final reports get submitted, council meetings get arranged, phones get answered, and the staff stays organized. Obviously, we're thrilled to welcome Elaina to the team. 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