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Home My WebLink About10-15-26 Correspondence - Montana Arts Council - ARTeries_ News from the Montana Arts Council for Mid October 2026From:Montana Arts CouncilTo:Bozeman Public CommentSubject:[EXTERNAL]ARTeries: News from the Montana Arts Council for Mid October 2026Date:Thursday, October 15, 2026 3:51:57 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 State arts council staffers from across the country meet in Washington, DC's historic Heurich House for a round-table session at this year's NASAA conference. Photo by Eric Heidle What happens when 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies get together? At the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) last week, we learned a few things and chewed over some great ideas. First, the federal government is ramping up its scrutiny of grants—in the arts and everywhere—which translates into more stringent requirements and reporting for MAC and all of our grantees. We learned about A-Corps, a new corporate structure for artists, launched in Colorado this year, that may open up opportunities for capitalization and growth of arts-based businesses. We learned how Free Minds Book Club is uniting incarcerated writers with the outside community, and transforming the lives of incarcerated youth. We came home inspired, exhausted, and energized to take a fresh look at the work we do. But that doesn’t happen without you. We’ll follow up by hitting the road over the next few months to hear your concerns and ideas. It’s great to hear from colleagues across the country. But I love hearing from each of you the most. Krys Holmes Executive Director krys.holmes@mt.gov Does the government spend too much on the arts? This graph shows government support of arts and culture as a percentage of GDP across 38 countries; the US ranks #37. International comparisons are complicated and notoriously difficult to measure well. This table comes from OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Our source here is the National Endowment for the Arts, where you can turn for reliable information. Email research@arts.gov for more info. Anna Lund, of Helena's Holter Museum of Art, leads a group of Poetry Out Loud finalists in a project combining poems and visual art. Arts education reduces school absenteeism Chronic school absenteeism has been trending upward recently. In Montana, nearly 36% of public school students were chronically absent in 2022-23—far above the national average of 28%. Now a new study in Rhode Island, released in September, found that sustained arts or music classes reduced absenteeism up to 37%. Researchers studied every grade in the state over a 6-year period. Among the five arts disciplines they studied—music, visual art, theater, dance, and media arts—four years of music courses had the strongest and most consistent association with lower absenteeism. Across all art forms, the more exposure students had to arts classes, the higher their school attendance was. Read more and download the report here. Many similar studies are available online. Together these studies show that students who study the arts have better attendance, lower dropout rates, and higher math and reading scores, giving students a leg up in workforce preparation—and in life. Even the keys are handmade in Missoula artist Ben Simon's instrument workshop, created to play this all-wood pipe organ. Instrument building is one of the largest forces in Montana’s $2.4 billion creative economy. Economic impact of the arts in Montana Arts and culture production contributed $2.4 billion to Montana’s economy in 2023 and employed 20,269 Montanans, accounting for 3.34% of the state’s economy. Arts and culture industries comprise the 6th largest sector in Montana—and rank #3 in number of jobs (above transportation, education, mining, or agriculture/forestry.) This is good info to know when talking to your legislators. Data comes from this source (NASAA). If you want to know how data is compiled, and all the geeky statistics behind such studies, see the National Endowment for the Arts Guide to Economic Data about the Arts [arts.gov]. Missoula-born artist Amanda Browder, now living in New York, comes home this month to host a series of public art events at Missoula Art Museum—including Halloween Sewing Day on Saturday, Oct 31, 11:00-4:00. Stitching the world together If you’re in Missoula over Halloween weekend, stop by Missoula Art Museum, where artist Amanda Browder will host a community-wide Halloween Sewing Day, inviting folks to help create two monunumental textile installations that will be draped across local buildings. No sewing experience necessary! The event is part of Browder’s residency—with lots of events starting today!—culminating in the unveiling of the final work, Soft Monuments. Find out more here, and show up. A rare view of veteran Montana photographer Chris Jorgensen in front of the lens while working an event. Blue Sky PNW photography exhibit Montana photographers are invited to apply for the Blue Sky PNW Drawers program, featuring work by up to 60 artists from the entire Pacific Northwest region. In this unique exhibition, artists can exhibit 10 prints in accessible drawers for a year at the Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, OR. Artists keep 50% of sales from this exhibit. Deadline Dec 18, 2026. Learn more and apply here. Read about how food arts are taking root in Pondera County schools—and other communities across Montana—in the new MPECH blog, “Harvest to Health.” Photo courtesy of the MPECH website. Cooking is an art, too The culinary arts are spreading across Montana’s school districts, and may offer opportunities to culinary artists in every region of Montana. Our friends and collaborators at Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger (MPECH) are working with school districts to bring more local food and food skills into our students’ lives. MAC was an early partner in the MPECH project to produce six short films about their work. View them all here. Now MPECH has started a blog, “Harvest to Health: Stories from Montana,” celebrating community through food traditions. You can’t be too careful Concerned about how to keep your nonprofit’s financials safe when you have a small staff? Montana Nonprofit association (MNA) offers a 2-part webinar this month on “Practical Internal Controls for Nonprofits.” Learn how to prevent fraud, theft, and inadvertent leakage of your resources in practical ways scalable to the size of your staff. Register here—and while you’re at it, think about renewing your MNA membership. Are you hiring? Montana’s arts organizations struggle to find qualified staff to work the magic required to make art happen. Here’s a hiring resource, free to employers: Check out the Arts Admin Jobs website, where you can post your job, edit your listing, and be free of syndicated feeds. Who knows? Your next great arts leader just might be itching to move to Montana. You’re making art happen. Now build the audience. Where can you reach 800,000 viewers a month for free? By listing your season, your events, or your organization on VisitMT.com, Montana’s official events website. MAC is collaborating with VisitMT to expand their Arts and Culture listings to help promote your events and activities. It’s easy, fun, and free. Hint: If you have dozens of experiences to offer this season, list your arts center or museum, write some compelling text, and drive traffic directly to your own website. Add Your Event Here The newest State of the Arts newspaper is 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! “You have to go the way your blood beats. If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other live. You won’t live any life at all.” —James Baldwin This email was sent to comments@bozeman.net using Granicus 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