Troy Library Second Thursdays Book Club, Lincoln County Libraries -Troy Branch, Troy, MT, $500. This book club, focused on women’s social justice issues, takes place at the Lincoln County Libraries -Troy Branch the second Thursday of each month at 4:00 p.m.
Wedsworth Memorial Library Book Club, Wedsworth Memorial Library, Cascade, MT, $500. This book club, led by retired University of Great Falls Professor of English Education, Dr. Penny Hughes-Briant, meets on the second Monday of August, September, October, November, February, March, April, and May.
Daniels County Library Book Club, Daniels County Public Library, Scobey, MT, $500. This book club meets year-round at the Daniels County Library in Scobey the third Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m.
Rosebud County Book Club, Rosebud County Library, Forsyth, MT, $500. This book club convenes at the Rosebud County Library in Forsyth, MT the last Tuesday of each month at 3:00 p.m.
Thompson Falls Public Library Book Club, Thompson Falls Public Library, Thompson Falls, MT, $500. This book club gathers at the Thompson Falls Public Library in Thompson Falls, MT the third Friday of every month (except December) at 4:00 p.m.
Harlem Public Library Book Club, Harlem Public Library, Harlem, MT, $500. This book club, meets weekly on Mondays at 4:00 p.m. September through April. For more information contact, Colleen Brommer at (406) 353-2712.
Havre-Hill County All Together Now Summer Reading Book Club, Havre-Hill County Library, Havre, MT, $500. This 2023 summer book club will examine the impacts of technology on society and will meet at the Havre-Hill County Library June 15, June 29, July 13, and July 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Glendive River City Readers Book Club, Glendive Public Library, Glendive, MT, $500. This book club has been active for over 30 years and meets on the third Monday of each month, September through May in the afternoons.
Dillon Public Library’s I’ll Read ANYTHING Book Club, Dillon Public Library, Dillon, MT, $500. This book club really does read anything and everything! The club meets from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Dillon Public Library on the second Tuesday of each month from September through May, and the second Friday of every month from June through August. For more information contact, Lori Cannady of the Dillon Public Library at (406) 683-4544.
Bozeman Public Library Book Club, Bozeman Public Library, Bozeman, MT, $500. The Bozeman Public Library Book Club is meeting more frequently – twice a month! Once in the evening in the newly created Ponderosa meeting room on the 2nd floor of the Library (3rd Tuesday of the month, 6:30-8 pm) and once on a weekday afternoon at the Gallatin Valley Mall (3rd Wednesday of the month at 3-4 pm). For more information contact, Beth Boyson of the Bozeman Public Library at (406) 683-4544.
Liberty County Library Pathfinders Book Club Startup, Liberty County Libraries, Chester, MT, $500. As part of a new initiative led by the Liberty County Library and Great Falls Library, 15 libraries from Shelby to Harlem, and Cascade to Chester, will have access to new book club kit resources. Each participating library hosts book club meetings at their locations and all are open to the public. To learn more, contact any of the following libraries: Belt Public Library, Blaine County Library, Choteau/Teton Public Library, Chouteau County Library, Conrad Public Library, Dutton/Teton Public Library, Fairfield/Teton Public Library, Glacier County Library, Great Falls Public Library, Harlem Public Library, Havre-Hill County Library, Liberty County Library, Toole County Library, Valier Public Library, Wedsworth Memorial Library.
Blaine County Museum Speaker Series, Winter 2023, Blaine County Museum, Chinook, MT, $1,000. Blaine County Museum has invited Austin Haney, Blaine County historian, and Anthony Wood, author of 2022 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize finalist “Black Montana,” to Chinook to give lectures on Thursday, January 19th and Thursday, February 9th respectively.
No More Violence Week: Parent Nation Community Collaboration, , Great Falls, MT, $1,000. As part of No More Violence Week, the Parent Nation Community Collaboration project will support community book club discussions of Parent Nation by Dana Suskind. Participants will read and then engage in meaningful conversation and reflections with others.
Year of Learning: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Lincoln County Public Libraries, Libby, MT, $1,000. The Year of Learning offered as a 6-session series and hosted by the Lincoln County Public Library in Libby, MT, will discuss various topics related to equity, diversity, and inclusion as they relate to library professionals across Montana. Every other month will highlight a new focus area, with opportunities for Montana library professionals to learn, interact, and take action. Attendees will asynchronously explore selected resources and then join in live online discussions of the material.
Montana Shakespeare in the Parks and the Lewistown Art Center present: 50 Years of Costumes, Lewistown Art Center, Lewistown, MT, $1,000. “50 Years of Costumes” is a research project and exhibition showcasing the diversity, craftsmanship, and creativity of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks costuming. Produced in collaboration between the LAC and MSIP, this project features the scholarly research of Denise R. Massman, MFA. This traveling exhibition will include up to 30 costumes from the rich, 50-year history of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks along with 10 didactic panels featuring information and Denise Massman’s insights on both the costuming and history of Shakespeare and performance in Montana. The exhibition will premiere at the Lewistown Art Center during the month of April, 2023.
Terry, Montana Civics Class Educational Legislative Experience, Terry School District, Terry, MT, $989.12. The Terry, MT high school civics class will travel to Helena in March to observe and experience the 2023 legislative session. Students will learn about the history of Helena, meet their Montana House Representatives and Senators, and witness processes involved in creating and approving legislation.
High Plains Book Awards author panel discussions Oct 7, 2023, High Plains Book Awards, Billings, MT, $1,000. As part of the High Plains Book Festival, High Plains Book Awards will host panel discussions influenced by the books and finalist authors who attend the festival in October. Potential panel topics include Indigenous writers, women writers, youth writers, etc. The panel discussions will expose these groups’ issues and elevate their voices. High Plains Book Awards communicates with over 200 community readers who rank the nominations which typically number almost 300. Each book is read by four different people. The Award Ceremony is also open to the public. All events are free to the public.
NBF Presents Novels that Connect Us, Elk River Arts & Lectures, Livingston, MT, $1,000. This free public event, organized in collaboration with one of the nation’s most prestigious literary organizations, invites the nation’s most talented writers to talk about their work in ways that draw our community closer together. The event will take place in downtown Livingston on Wednesday, May 3rd. National Book Award–honored authors Tess Gunty (The Rabbit Hutch, 2022 Fiction Winner) and Tommy Orange (There There, 2018 Fiction Longlist) follow a large cast of characters in their novels—all affected in different ways by class, gender, and their environment. These two authors will talk about how interwoven storytelling builds toward a more connected, collective future in a discussion moderated by community member Shane Doyle, a Bozeman-based Apsáalooke educator, and writer.
Food for Thought 2023: An Evening of Great Conversation, Billings Public Library Foundation, Billings, MT, $1,000. This popular event, in its seventeenth year, is a gathering of community to share thoughts, ask questions, and to learn more thoroughly. Discussion topics have been selected from a wide variety of subjects, from arts and literature as well as food, public policy and popular aspects of the Montana scene. Some examples of this year’s Conversation Hosts are: Provost Pardis Mahdavi who will be discussing her Iranian heritage and the morality laws currently affecting Iran, Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Steve Running to talk about water ecosystems, and Jennifer Smith to discuss Indian Education for All.
A Post-Film Discussion at the 2023 International Wildlife Film Festival (IWFF) with David Quammen + Betsy Gaines Quammen, The Roxy Theater, Missoula, MT, $1,000. Each spring, the International Wildlife Film Festival (IWFF) hosts many festival guests who take part in Q&A sessions during the festival. One 2023 highlight is the screening & post-film discussion for RANGE RIDER. Special guests, David Quammen and Betsy Gaines Quammen, and moderator, Chris Johns, will guide a 35-minute conversation about wolf conflict, western expansion, encroaching urbanization in the West, impacts on wildlife, and other current issues in the West today.
Mullan Road Conference 2023, Friends of Two Rivers Inc., Milltown, Montana, $1,000. The 2023 Mullan Road Conference will be held June 9-11 at Fort Missoula. The annual conference is an assembly of historians, scholars and fans of stories surrounding the military wagon road built by Lt. John Mullan from Walla Walla to Fort Benton in 1859-62. A goal of the 2023 conference is to examine the ramifications of Mullan’s military wagon road in the decades just before and after construction. These were crucial times for native tribes along the route as they dealt with the effects of floods of Euro Americans into their homelands, and voices of people representing the Salish tribes from the Flathead Reservation will be heard during the conference. One of the stops on the Sunday bus tour will be at Council Grove State Park west of Missoula, where the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 was signed between Gov. Isaac Stevens and the Bitterroot Salish, Lower Kutenai and Upper Pend d’Oreille (Kalispell) tribes.
Kids History Day 2023, Big Horn County Historical Museum, Hardin, MT, $700. The Big Horn County Museum Kids History Day is an event created by the museum to encourage young minds from around the county as well as the surrounding area to learn about the rich history of Big Horn County and its homesteader past. Kids History Day is a fun and interactive experience for students to learn about the local and state history of where they grew up and live it for themselves. With over 15 stations of interactive activities, music, and food, students can really get a feel for what life was like on the plains of Montana during the homesteader days.
Crow Language for Native American Unit in Suitcases for Schools Programming, The Billings Preservation Society / Moss Mansion, Billings, MT, $1,000. This project will enable the Billings Preservation Society to include a Native American unit in their educational traveling suitcase program for urban and rural schools. Crow tribal member and drum maker Oly Hugs has been assisting with a Native American Artifact Exhibit and restoration of the Crow Warrior Shirt, including language and culture interpretation which they will adapt and incorporate into educational programming at the Moss Mansion, tour scripts, summer camps, and online material. Material created in this project will include worksheets, audio recordings, musical instruments, and lesson ideas for teachers to use in their classrooms. Classroom lessons can include writing, spelling, discussion, art, and music. Teachers will check out, pick up, and return suitcases at the Moss Mansion or access material online.
North Valley Music School Spring and Summer Music Workshops 2023, North Valley Music School, Whitefish, MT, $730. North Valley Music School’s 2023 Spring and Summer Music Workshops are free community events featuring educational lectures and discussions led by a Montanan musician titled, “Your Brain on Music.” The program explores music education from an academic and biological perspective as part of a Community Workshop.
Missoula Writing Collaborative – Ledger Art Poetry Project Anthologies, Missoula Writing Collaborative, Missoula, MT, $1,000. Following a ledger art poetry project in five elementary schools on the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Reservation in February with Salish storyteller Aspen Decker, the Missoula Writing Collaborative will print anthologies with student ledger art and poems. Anthologies will be distributed to students at schools and at a public student poetry reading on May 30, 2023, at Salish Kootenai College.
Heirlooms Writing Workshops, Missoula Public Library, Missoula, MT, $400. Molly Barari of Heirlooms Creative Life Writing will present two workshops at Missoula Public Library during Family History Month (October) 2023. The first session is “Heirlooms Family History Writing Workshop,” and the second session is “Heirlooms Creative Life Story Writing Workshop.”
The Catch of a Lifetime: Fly-fishing Literature with author John MacLean, Bozeman Public Library, Bozeman, MT, $1,000. Author John MacLean has penned a major new Foreword to the Centennial anniversary edition of Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway. Mr. MacLean is interested in discussing how this short story affected his life and inspired his love of fly fishing. Bozeman Public Library will host a reading, presentation, and discussion with Mr. MacLean on Friday, September 29 about Ernest Hemingway’s Big Two-Hearted River along with some of his own work.
Virginia City Players Research & Oral History Project, Montana State University Library, Bozeman, MT, $1,000. In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Virginia City Players in Virginia City, MT, this grant will research and capture the previously undocumented history of the longest-running summer theatre West of the Mississippi. This company has been supported and thrived in a small community of just 223. This project will collect oral histories and photographs from long-time players to patrons, compiling a cohesive history of the company.
First Voices. Three Fort Peck Stories: Assiniboine, Chippewa, and Sioux, Thresh, Inc., New York, NY, $5,000. First Voices is a digital storytelling project working with students at reservation high schools and tribal colleges to create digital (video-based) performances of ancestral stories which are published and distributed via a dedicated online portal. The students work with professional artists (Native and non-Native), tribal elders, and storytellers to produce the videos. Stories are presented in the original tribal language to create a rich archive for future generations.
Loss & Legacy: Living Forward While Looking Back, Merlin CCC, Helena, MT, $4,000. This dynamic philosophy series will examine what it means to be at the interface of loss and legacy, asking: “How do we think about grief?” and “How do we think about our ancestors?” By considering them together, our project recognizes the challenges and skills involved with navigating the uniquely connected and mutually informative space between loss and legacy. Two panel-style symposia will be supplemented by film and community conversations. All events will be free and open to the community.
Watershed People of Montana and Amazonia, Montana State University Billings, Billings, MT, $6,767. This project will focus on the relationship between rivers and people by bringing Amazonian Indigenous philosopher Rafael Chanchari Pizuri and poet, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker Juan Carlos Galeano to Billings for a number of activities and events. The focus will be on how watersheds shape communities, lifeways, and narratives, on the challenges faced by contemporary rural and urban riparian cultures, and on the role literature and folklore play in adapting to changing conditions.
Connecting Montana to the World, World Affairs Council of Montana, Missoula, MT, $5,000. The Montana World Affairs Council brings critical international dynamics, global education, cultural competency, and international expertise directly into schools and communities across the state, engaging Montanans in key global issues of the day. This program provides a suite of international distinguished speakers such as diplomats, practitioners, and thought leaders in-person and virtually throughout the year to Montanans across the state, engaging them on international issues that matter.
Annual Youth Concert, Gershwin’s Magic Key, Helena Symphony, Helena, MT, $2,500. The Helena Symphony presents the Annual Youth Concert, Gershwin’s Magic Key, a 50-minute symphonic performance in collaboration with the renowned education group Classical Kids Live. More than 2,000 fourth and fifth-grade students will experience a performance featuring musicians of the Helena Symphony Orchestra and professional actors focusing on the story of a chance meeting on the streets of New York City between a poor newspaper boy and the great American composer George Gershwin.
Gary Moulton Lecture & Dinner at the Annual Meeting of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Travelers’ Rest Preservation and Heritage Association, Lolo, MT, $2,500: From June 27 – 30, 2023, more than 150 historians, elders, and amateur enthusiasts will gather at the Annual Meeting of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in Missoula. Conference sessions and tours will address how the Lewis & Clark Expedition continues to influence Western Montana today. The Keynote Address – the Gary Moulton Lecture – will be delivered by author, historian, & retired professor Dan Louie Flores who specializes in cultural and environmental studies of the American West.
Abundant Montana 2023 Local Food Guide Grow & Tell Stories, Alternative Energy Resources Organization (AERO), Helena, MT, $3,600. Abundant Montana’s Local Food Guide is a free coffee table magazine that connects Montanans to their local food producers, purveyors, retailers, and community, showcasing over 1,100 local food producers and businesses, and offering recipes, and “Grow and Tell” stories. The stories highlight growers and advocates committed to stewardship of land, animals, and rural communities. The goal is to invite readers to think differently about food production and lean into engaging.
Poetry in the Classroom, Elk River Arts & Lectures, Livingston, MT, $7,000. Funding to support poets visiting elementary-school classrooms to share canonical poetry as well as their own published and unpublished work.
No One is Forgotten / Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Publication, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT, $10,000. Humanitarian artist Brian Maguire has been working with families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) across Montana to amplify their stories and raise awareness about this international crisis. HM funds will support publication of a catalog of the exhibit.
Listen First Podcast: Indigenous Immersion Initiative Mini-Series, Leadership Montana, Bozeman, MT, $5,000. The Listen First Podcast: Indigenous Immersion Initiative Mini-Series visits Tribal Nations and Communities across Montana to learn about Montana’s unique and vibrant Indigenous cultures.
Communities with Disabilities Oral History Project, Phase 2, Western Heritage Center, Billings, MT, $7,000. The Western Heritage Center’s Communities with Disabilities Oral History project will collect and document the history of people living with disabilities in Montana.
Stolen Waters Summit, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, $6,930. The Stolen Waters Summit centers on the cultural impacts of waterways and river basins of the Missouri, Columbia, Colorado, and Rio Grande on Indigenous peoples. Plenary speakers include UM graduate students from the Blackfeet and Navajo Nations and Shoshone-Bannock and Pueblo Tribes, Indigenous historians, philosophers, ethnobotanists, poets, storytellers, and Indigenous knowledge keepers. The conference will also hail a resurgence of traditional foods and farming and celebrate poetry and music.
Her Stories: Women of the West in Art and History – Presentation and Panel Discussion, Hockaday Museum, Kalispell, MT, $4,050. A presentation and panel discussion with visual artists Amy Brakeman Livezey, Jessica Glenn, and Tessa Heck, and guest speakers Margaret Davis and Renee Bear Medicine speaking on their work, background, and stories of notable Montana women, and ending with a timely roundtable discussion on women’s history, gender issues, and art history.
A History of Latinos in Montana, Bridget Kevane, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, $4,000. This is the first book manuscript dedicated to the history of Latinos in Montana. It is the first study to consider how this community participated in the transformation of the state’s economy during the turn of the late 19th and 20th century. It argues that although there has been a more than 200-year-old presence in the state, the population and its contributions have remained invisible to the public and to other historians. Placing Latinos at the center of the economic transformation of Montana raises important questions about state identity, immigration, race, and citizenship.
ARCO, Herbert Bayer, and the Art of Extraction, Melissa Ragain, Livingston, MT, $2,000. This art historical research project investigates the work that the architect and designer Herbert Bayer created for the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company (ARCO) from 1966-1985 to understand the role that art and design played in their corporate strategy amid an energy crisis, oil spills, superfund designations, and mounting environmentalist criticism. Not only did Bayer design their familiar “spark” logo, his sculpture, “Anaconda,” commemorated ARCO’s 1977 acquisition of the Anaconda Copper Company in Butte MT. This acquisition would be a fateful one, ultimately leading to ARCO’s declaration by the EPA as the “potentially responsible party” for superfund sites in Butte and Anaconda.
Grant awardees will be added here as they are awarded.