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Plans laid for art programs in Butte

Big dreams wafted through the air of the Arts Chateau’s fourth-floor ballroom Thursday as around 30 people gathered for a planning session on how to transform Butte into a vibrant arts center.

By Roberta Forsell Stauffer of The Montana Standard

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/10/01/newsbutte_top/hjjfijjijigheg.txt

Butte-Silver Bow Arts Foundation Director Glenn Bodish started off by leading a brief "time travel" to the year 2015 when Butte has a state-of the-art museum to house world-class exhibits. Art camps thrive. Artists and artisans live and work in historic Uptown buildings. Thousands come each year for the "experience of a lifetime."

"We have an opportunity to make Butte, Mont., a city again," Bodish said. "It’s a one-in-a-million chance, but we have to step forward."

Bodish envisions visitors signing up for art classes and outdoor experiences in much the same way as they now order Dell computers. A Web site would lay out a smorgasbord of options — classes from pottery to jewelry-making, journaling to photography, and recreation from golfing to horseback-riding, rock-climbing to fly-fishing — and people would tailor their visits according to their interests. They could also choose lodging and meal options online and make arrangements for side trips — to the sapphire mines in Philipsburg, for example, or the Archie Bray Institute in Helena.

Realizing this vision can be achieved only by working with numerous other artists, arts organizations, businesses, government offices, schools, and civic groups, Bodish invited a wide range of people to the planning session.

Anaconda’s Copper Village Museum and Arts Center was represented, as was the Montana Artists Refuge in Basin and the Orphan Girl and Mother Lode theatres. The Montana Arts Council was there to express support, as was the governor’s office, the Clark Fork Coalition, local artists, and representatives from Montana Tech, Headwaters RC&D, and the Butte Local Development Corp.

Ideas tossed out during brainstorming sessions include:

# programs that would involve tourists and graduate students in hands-on historic preservation work on Butte buildings;

# classes that would merge art with high-tech manufacturing technology available through Montana Tech;

# attracting name artists such as wildlife painter John Banovich to teach classes; and

# starting a factory to manufacture mosaics.

While most of the dreaming was long-range, the short-term focus is on small pilot projects —possibly offering one youth camp session next summer, one family camp session where both parents and their children would take classes, and one arts immersion course for college credit (see sidebar). All three types of camps would mix coursework with recreational opportunities.

As for the future hope that a portion of William A. Clark’s collection from the Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery might someday be loaned to Butte, curator Laura Coyle said the biggest barrier is Butte’s lack of a state-of-the-art facility to house the collection.

Butte has already met the other major requirement for the loan, and that is a compelling reason to bring it here, Coyle said.

Having extensively studied Clark, Coyle said she’s always wanted to come to Butte and has been most impressed with her experience. She said she was honored to participate in the planning session and is excited to see "so many people involved at the community level in saving their community."

"Senator Clark may have taken away the ore and the money, but he didn’t take away the spirit of Butte," Coyle said.

Reporter Roberta Stauffer may be reached via email at [email protected].

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