Missoula Cultural Council – news and upcoming events for the week of July 5, 2004

In Missoula…

The Business Committee for the Arts (represented by the logo above and to the right) is a national organization dedicated to bringing business and the arts together for their mutual benefit. The national BCA, located in New York City, has recently opened an affiliate in Missoula in partnership with the Missoula Cultural Council. Charter members include Beaudette Consulting Engineers, Boyle, Deveny and Meyer, Dollar Rent-a-Car, Gateway Printing, Gordon Construction, Rocky Mountain School of Photography, U.S. Bank, Webscribe and WMQ Strategic Studio. To learn more about Missoula’s BCA, visit http://www.missoulacultural.org or call 721-7621.

Missoula’s sister cities Neckargemund, Germany and Palmerston North, New Zealand, are featured throughout the month of July in a display at the Missoula Public Library, 301 East Main. Photographs of Neckargemund are courtesy of Dr. Gerald Fetz at the University of Montana. Among the featured items from Palmerston North is the croquet trophy captured this spring by the Missoula team captained by Mark Martin! Also there is a Palmerston North Tribune front-page photo of Missoula Mayor Mike Kadas and Missoula artist Monte Dolack in a tight croquet match. Another Tribune news story announces Palmerston North as the host of a “satellite” International Wildlife Film Festival. Call the library at 721-2665 or e-mail us at [email protected] for more details on the exhibit.

Century of Change: Lewis & Clark Up Close, a special presentation of two murals that depict the Lewis & Clark Expedition in this region, is on view at the Missoula Art Museum, 335 North Pattee Street, Friday, July 16 through Saturday, July 24, 2004. The Art Museum exhibition will be the only time the murals of “Lewis & Clark at Travelers’ Rest” and “Captain Lewis Crossing the Clark’s Fork River,” normally installed high in the stairwell of the Missoula County Courthouse, can be viewed closely.

For only the second time in 90 years, the two murals featuring Lewis & Clark will be removed from the Broadway entrance of the old Courthouse for three weeks in July. The Missoula Art Museum, caretaker of the Missoula County Art Collection, will transport the 6×10’ paintings to the Art Museum for professional photographic documentation by Carl Basner, former Chief Photographer of paintings and prints at the Art Institute of Chicago. The murals were first moved in 1980 when a conservator cleaned the paintings and mounted them on innovative aluminum stretchers. Because of the difficulty of removing these relatively fragile and valuable paintings, their presentation at the Art Museum will be the first and last opportunity in the foreseeable future for the public to view them up close.

This exhibition is part of Century of Change, an exciting interpretive project supported in part by a $15,000 grant awarded to the Art Museum by the National Park Service Challenge Cost Share program. Century of Change is designed to explore the cultures of the Bitterroot, Missoula and Flathead valleys as seen in a series of murals Edgar S. Paxson created for the County Courthouse just shortly after the Lewis & Clark centennial. Starting with the historic expedition, Paxson depicted significant national, tribal and local events that unfolded in western Montana in the following 100 years. Visit http://www.missoulaartmuseum.org or e-mail [email protected]

James Lee Burke and daughter Alafair Burke will both be reading from their new novels at Fact and Fiction, 220 North Higgins, on Tuesday, July 6, beginning at 7 p.m.

The Big Sky Amphitheater, created by Big Sky Brewing, has its grand opening concert Tuesday, July 6, with John Fogerty, the original leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Big Sky Amphitheater is located at 5417 Trumpeter Way, west of Missoula. Call 800-965-4827 or visit http://www.ticketswest.com or http://www.ticketweb.com . More concerts are planned throughout the summer. Good Luck to Big Sky Brewing and this new endeavor!

Elsewhere in Montana…

This summer, Glacier National Park continues to offer a variety of educational programs about local Indian culture. The “Native America Speaks” program returns for its 23rd season at the park. The popular Blackfeet dancers and drummers will perform contemporary and traditional Blackfeet dancing and drumming demonstrations, and musical programs will be provided by Gen Huitt and Jack Gladstone.

In addition to the dancers and drummers and multimedia programs, the various campfire talks allow for discussion of the beliefs, stories, and customs of the Blackfeet, Kootenai and Salish cultures. The Blackfeet Drummers and Dancers and Ray Croff, and narrator Joe McKay, will perform at St. Mary Visitor Center every Wednesday evenings through August 11 beginning at 7:30. This season’s Native American speakers include: Kenneth Eagle Speaker, a Blackfoot from southern Alberta and Browning; Jack Gladstone, a Blackfeet singer/songwriter from St. Mary and Kalispell; Ernie Heavy Runner, a Blackfeet singer/songwriter from Browning; Darrell Norman, a Blackfeet artist and historian from Browning; and Curly Bear Wagner, a Blackfeet from Browning. The “Native America Speaks” programs take place at Apgar Campground Amphitheater and Lake McDonald Lodge Auditorium on the west side of the park, and at the Many Glacier, Rising Sun and Two Medicine Campgrounds on the east side. Jack Gladstone, will also present his popular “Native Reflections” program at the Lake McDonald Lodge, using slides and live music to discuss and honor Native American contributions to American culture. Call 888-7906 for a detailed schedule of all events.

It’s Summer Festival Season throughout Montana and the rest of the country. The July issue of Lively Times is in two sections rather than the usual one, due to all the summer activity. For a full schedule of Montana summer arts and cultural events visit http://www.livelytimes.com or phone 644-2910.

Nationally….

The National Endowment for the Arts…

John Ostrout, former director of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, has been appointed the Arts Endowment’s Director of State and Regional Partnerships. In this position, Ostrout will be responsible for state and regional partnership initiatives and grants, which make up 40 percent

of the NEA’s grantmaking budget. For more information, please go to http://www.arts.gov/news/news04/Ostrout.html

As part of Black Music Month, President George W. Bush hosted "A Salute to NEA Jazz Masters" concert at the White House on June 22.

Please go to http://www.arts.gov/news/news04/WHJazz.html

Americans for the Arts…
Americans for the Arts, a national non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the arts in America, recently released its first national Creative Industries Study. One key finding is that 11 different U.S. metropolitan areas are home to more than 10,000 arts-related businesses. Research has shown that 4.3% of all U.S. businesses are creative industry businesses. Montana is home to 2,028 arts-related businesses, ranking 44th out of 50 states plus District of Columbia. Visit MEASURING THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES http://www.americansforthearts.org/press/prcontent.asp?id=97 for a full report.

For links to several calendars of events in western Montana, visit http://www.missoulacultural.org/calendar.html

E-mail us at [email protected] or call 721-9620