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Home My WebLink About07-23-26 Correspondence - Montana Arts Council - ARTeries_ News from the Montana Arts Council for Late July 2026From:Montana Arts CouncilTo:Bozeman Public CommentSubject:[EXTERNAL]ARTeries: News from the Montana Arts Council for Late July 2026Date:Thursday, July 23, 2026 3:37:55 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. The latest from Montana's state arts agency ARTeries - The Lifeblood of Arts In Montana White Divider A group of people sits along East Rosebud Creek listening to an author's reading Roscoe, Montana—south of Fishtail along East Rosebud Creek—has an official population of 30, but regularly attracts 3-4 times that many for poetry readings, music and cultural events. Photo from River Arts and Books. They’re worth a visit. Get out there It’s the season for rodeos, music festivals, art in the park, back-yard poetry readings, and driving to the hinterlands to be surprised by Shakespeare in the Parks. Together all 56 counties are presenting hundreds of activities of all kinds, for all ages. This weekend alone, it’s Fire in the Mountains, an all-heart rock festival designed to curb teen suicide on the Blackfeet Reservation; Red Ants Pants Music Festival, the women-run gathering to discover your next favorite artist (Molly Tuttle plays Saturday night); and over in Roscoe, River Arts & Books presents Our Side: Apsáalooke Stories from the Land. Bozeman has the Sweet Pea Festival, and Shakespeare in the Parks will be in Columbus and Big Sky. To find out what else is happening go to VisitMT.com or LivelyTimes.com. Because there’s too much going on in every area to list here. This is how deeply Montana loves getting together under the Big Sky to live a fuller life through art. So get out there and let art have its way with you. Krys Holmes Executive Director krys.holmes@mt.gov We loaded 175 arts and culture centers into AI and asked it to create a map of arts hotspots across Montana. Apparently this AI everyone’s talking about was blown away by the sheer variety: this is the map it produced for us. We advise no one to follow it. Meanwhile the MAC staff is vacationing in Foo Dorta, on the banks of the mighty Vloerntoln. (Click image to enlarge the craziness.) Spotlight The Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners helped attract hundreds of visitors to the William Bateman exhibit at the Montana Museum of Art and Culture. Small quick-turnaround grants with a big impact Even for well-established organizations and events, a small amount of funding for marketing can make a big impact. Last month, the Montana Association of Weavers and Spinners (MAWS) Conference featured special access to an exhibition of the weavings of Dr. William Bateman. A retired chemistry professor from the University of Montana who passed away in 1965, Dr. Bateman’s prolific output and exhaustive research still inspires and informs weavers today. Given the significance of the exhibition to Montana’s weaving community, MAWS wanted to expand their marketing efforts this year. With a $1000 Strategic Investment Grant from MAC, MAWS was able to send out 1000 postcards as well as produce posters and banners. The conference brought together 150 weavers, spinners, and craftpeople, and over 6,000 people are expected to view the exhibit over its lifetime at the Montana Museum of Arts and Culture. Strategic Insvestment Grants are also available to individual artists for professional development. They’re awarded on an ongoing basis, till funds run out. Find out more here. News Cultural and Aesthetic projects provide funding for a wide range of important efforts. Want to help us select Cultural & Aesthetic projects? You have till tomorrow to apply to the Cultural and Aesthetic Project Advisory Committee, a statewide panel that reviews Cultural Trust grant applications and forwards its recommendations to the legislature. It’s a 4-year term, which includes reviewing up to 100 grant applications and attending a two-day panel meeting every other year. This is work that makes a difference. Interested? Please email a letter of interest and a resume or bio to Kristin Han Burgoyne at kburgoyne@mt.gov by Friday, July 24. Apply for Cultural and Aesthetic Grants Now! August 1st is the deadline to apply for Cultural and Aesthetic Trust grants for projects and programs that that further Montana’s rich cultural heritage. These grants are funded by income from the Montana Coal Trust, established to return a portion of the value of our natural resources to the people of Montana. Go here for more information. A group of dancers on stage raise one arm over their heads in sequence. Bare Bait Dance used their Experiences grant to pay teaching artists at WestFEST: New Works Festival and Intensive in Missoula. Photo by Neva Oliver. Experience Arts Now with our Arts Education Grants! The next deadline is coming up to apply for MAC’s Arts Education Experiences grants. The Experiences grant expands access to arts learning across our state, addressing a wide array of needs. Nonprofit arts and non-arts organizations can get support for projects like multigenerational field trips, in-person experiences with art and artists, Creative Aging workshops, the purchase of printmaking supplies—you name it. Grants range from $250 to $2500, require no match, and grantees are notified quickly. Learn more here. Questions? Ask Monica Grable, Arts Education Director, (406) 444-6522 or Monica.Grable@mt.gov. Mary Anne Carter, smiling with shoulder length blonde hair and wearing a black top National Endowment for the Arts Chair Mary Anne Carter NEA Chair visit postponed Mary Anne Carter, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, has rescheduled her visit to Montana until the fall. We’re excited to introduce to you this amazing federal official who passionately supports the arts and deftly navigates the needs and priorities of the federal administration. She’s wise and wonderful, and we can’t wait to show her Montana. We’ll announce her visit when we know more. Register early for the Montana History Conference in Billings this year. Tours fill quickly and registration prices go up Aug 25th. Register now for the Montana History Conference Our sister agency, the Montana Historical Society, has opened registration for the 53rd annual Montana History Conference, Sept 24-26 in Billings. At Culture Keepers, Catalysts, and Cowboys: Exploring Billings and Eastern Montana, MTHS will host three days of workshops, tours, and lecture/panel sessions all aimed at bringing new and old topics on Billings and Eastern Montana history to light. See the full agenda and register here. White Divider Get State of the Arts in your mailbox, inbox...or right from the source at our Helena office. Newest State of the Arts newspaper out now Keep up on news, ideas, and people in the arts world across Montana. It’s free, statewide, and fun to read. You can subscribe here to get one in your mailbox. Or stop by and grab one out of our iconic news stand, designed by B.T. Livermore of Butte. Subscribe Now! Cool Quotes “And how should we behave during this Apocalypse? We should be unusually kind to one another, certainly. But we should also stop being so serious. Jokes help a lot.” —Kurt Vonnegut, 1984 Rectangular horizontal shape in red-purple color Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe All | Help Montana Arts Council | 830 N. Warren Street | Helena, MT 59601 | art.mt.gov This email was sent to comments@bozeman.net using Granicus Communications Cloud on behalf of: MontanaArts Council