Round 1
Conrad Depot Society, Conrad, $5,000. A railroad/train museum that teaches how important the railroad was in settling the Conrad area of MT and shows the continuing importance of the railroad to our rural state through exhibitions of loaned items and a permanent collection.
Miles City Convent Keepers, Miles City, $5,000. A community center and history exhibit for a historic convent built in 1902 that invites visitors to learn about this important part of early Montana history.
Sunburst Arts & Education, Eureka, $2,000. A service organization in north Lincoln County that provides a range of programs from basic classes such as GED/HiSET and ESL to talks, writing workshops, and travelogues by historians, authors, and individuals from different countries and cultures, etc.
Big Sandy Cultural Fund, Big Sandy, $5,000. A community center focused on preserving and showcasing local, rural culture, including archiving writings from B.M. Bower and Dan Cushman, photographs of local residents taken around 1918, and reels of rare home movie film taken in the 1930s and ’40s.
Alpine Artisans, Inc, Seeley Lake, $5,000. A nonprofit in Seeley-Swan Valleys that established the Norman Maclean Festival as a prominent literary, historical and cultural event in Montana.
Bigfork Art & Cultural Center (BACC), Bigfork, $5,000. An organization that hosts a variety of programs and exhibits that span the arts, culture, and history of the northwest Montana, Glacier National Park, and Flathead Valley.
Carbon County Historical Society & Museum, Red Lodge, $5,000. A historical society and museum located in the historic Labor Temple building and established in 1974 to preserve and communicate the history, both human and natural, of Carbon County, Montana and the surrounding area.
Glacier County Historical Museum, Cut Bank, $4,980. A historical museum established in 1980 on a 14-acre track east of Cut Bank to collect, preserve and interpret the history of Glacier County through exhibits, public programming and an archive.
Carter County Museum, Ekalaka, $5,000. A museum that focuses on the acquisition, preservation, management and study of a collection of items from 90 million years of history in southeastern Montana with exhibitions that follow the narrative of the landscape through the deep past and its evolving relationship between a diverse group of indigenous and ranching cultures.
Merlin CCC, Helena, $5,000. A nonprofit organization that serves individuals in the Helena and surrounding areas by providing free programs that support critical, creative thinking, the exchange of ideas, and the application of philosophy to everyday life.
Monarch Neihart Historical Group, Monarch, $2,500. A museum in The Monarch Great Northern Railway depot whose mission is to preserve the history of the area which includes agriculture, mining, recreation, and the railroad.
MonDak Heritage Center, Sidney, $5,000. A heritage center that provides arts, culture, and history resources in eastern Montana where individuals can learn stories about local history, engage with different ideas and perspectives about cultures and developments in Montana and the world, explore artistic and musical perspectives, learn new art techniques, and discover new information.
Range Riders Inc., Miles City, $5,000. A museum with displays about western history and heritage with an emphasis on pioneers, cowboys, cattle drives, horses, rodeo, and the Fort Keogh military encampment.
Ravalli County Museum, Hamilton, $5,000. A museum that focuses on art, local history and natural history to enrich the experiences of the Ravalli community through programming and educational opportunities for people of all ages.
Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Visitors Center, Seeley Lake, $2,500. A historical museum and visitors center that displays the colorful, immutable, historical and cultural artifacts of the Swan Valley region.
The Extreme History Project, Bozeman, $5,000. A public history organization whose mission is to make history relevant by providing educational opportunities locally, regionally, and statewide through historic walking tours, history-themed workshops, a popular lecture series at the Museum of the Rockies, pop-up history opportunities, a “History After Dark” experiential history program, and more.
The Stevensville Historical Museum, Stevensville, $5,000. A historical museum whose mission is to collect, research, preserve and display the documents, photos, artifacts and records regarding the unique history of the Bitterroot Valley, including the Salish ancestral history in the Bitterroot area, the settlement around Fort Owen, and the development of Stevensville.
Travelers’ Rest Preservation and Heritage Association, Lolo, $4,200. A state park with interpretive programs about Lewis and Clark, the Bitterroot Salish and Nez Perce people, and the natural history of the area.
World Museum of Mining, Butte, $5,000. A historical museum whose mission is to share the history of Butte, MT and mining to allow visitors to experience and learn the history of all the different ethnicities and cultures that made Butte what is today.
Wild Rose Center, Busby, $5,000. A Native American-led organization that serves the Northern Cheyenne and the Crow Indian Reservations as well as a surrounding area of about a 300-mile radius, focusing on Cowboy culture, land use, Native American cultures, local history and native plants and their uses.
Sun River Valley Historical Society, Sun River, $5,000. A historical society focused on the historic Fort Shaw, Fort Shaw Military Cemetery, WWII POW camp, and Indian School at Fort Shaw that provides open houses, tours, school presentations, historical reenactments, speakers, and records for historical and/or family research.
The Fort Connah Restoration Society, Charlo, $5,000. An organization dedicated to preserving and celebrating the history and culture of Native Americans and the earliest fur traders in Montana with the guidance of the Salish Kootenai college.
Stillwater Historical Society, Columbus, $5,000. A historical society housed in the Museum of the Beartooths whose mission is to collect, preserve, and share the rich history, art, and culture of the Stillwater County area through the stories, art, oral histories, artifacts, and images of residents from the past 100+ years.
Nine Mile Community Center, Frenchtown, $3,000. A community center housed in the historic Stark Schoolhouse that provides humanities programming like the annual Missoula Art Associates fundraising event, demonstrations by the Sapphire Mountain Men on historic pioneer black-powder firearms, and a community Philosophy Walk.
En-th-a-eye Nłʔay “Place of the Little Bull Trout” 4th Annual Indigenous Film Festival, Missoula Urban Indian Health Center, $1,000. The IFF incorporates multiple aspects of the arts in the story of what it means to be a contemporary American Indian, highlighting resilience, advocacy, and enduring cultural connection from a foundation of historical and intergenerational trauma and loss. The objective of this event is to acknowledge and honor the presence of the American Indian community within Missoula and Indigenous peoples across the world, and to be witness to their resilience as a people as displayed through a contemporary medium of storytelling. Films will be shown March 21 – 22, 2020, at the Missoula Children’s Theatre in Missoula.
One Book Belgrade, Belgrade Community Library, $1,000. One Book Belgrade, the first community read in Belgrade, aims to foster community connections by bringing people together to read. The series of programs will spark conversations related to WWII, love, ethics, espionage, bravery, and family, culminating in a presentation and Q&A with the author.
Hamilton High School Mock UN, Hamilton High School, Hamilton, $610. Humanities Montana awarded a $610 Opportunity Grant to Hamilton High School to fund the participation of their team in The University of Montana’s Annual Model UN High School Conference. Students from Hamilton will participate with other Montana high schools in activities that mimic the operations of the United Nations. As representatives of nations, students collaborate, negotiate, and debate with each other to gain a better understanding of current world affairs and the practices of diplomacy. Hamilton High School’s first-ever model UN team will participate in the conference on November 25th and 26th at the University of Montana in Missoula.
One Small Step initiative in partnership with NPR’s StoryCorps, Montana Media Lab, Missoula, $1,000. The Montana Media Lab is partnering with NPR’s StoryCorp to facilitate and record nonpolitical conversations between Montanans on opposite sides of the political divide as part of the One Small Step project. The goal is to break down boundaries created by politics and remember our shared humanity. All conversations were recorded at the University of Montana in December 2019 and can be listened to here.
Theatre in the History Classroom, Havre High School History Department, Havre, $300. Teaching actress Rosie Ayers will come to Havre High School classrooms to use theater and drama to enhance the content and to-role play solutions to common societal problems in America, then and now, under the direction and expertise of Rosie Ayers.
Media, Music and Activism in a Latino Context, Montana State University Billings, Billings, $1,000. Media artist and musician Gabriel Gonzalez will provide insights into a career in the arts from a bilingual and bicultural perspective. He will share his expertise in classrooms and workshops and join MSUB faculty John Roberts and Pan Blanco along with salsa instructors in a Latin Jazz concert.
2019 Indigenous Cinema Series, The Roxy Theater, Missoula, $1,000. The Roxy Theater in partnership with Indigenous Film Festival and Missoula Urban Indian Heath Center is proud to present the Indigenous Cinema Series, a weekly series in November intended to highlight indigenous stories in honor of National Native American Heritage Month.
Native Perspectives and Voices of the 21st Century, School Services of Montana, Bozeman, $300. This professional learning session will feature a roundtable discussion with Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, and Urban Indian representatives. K-12 Educators will meet at the MOR on November 1 to connect with and share stories across various American Indian tribes, cultures and generations to gain perspective and insight into contemporary Montana Plains Indian life in order to gain a heightened sense of how to integrate and highlight individual American Indian stories and cultural perspectives into their students’ classroom experience, with an emphasis on storytelling.
Celebrating Yellow Bird Woman, UM College of Humanities and Sciences, Missoula, $825. In collaboration with Diverse U’s Diversity Week and Montana’s Elouise Cobell Day, the film 100 Years: One Woman’s Fight for Justice will be shown in the UC Theatre on the UM campus November 5th from 2-3pm. The film tells the story of Elouise Cobell, a modern-day Blackfeet Warrior, who filed a lawsuit on behalf of nearly half a million Native Americans with support from the Native American Rights Foundation.
The Pink Dress Photography Project, Zootown Arts Community Center, Missoula, $750. An exhibition that showcases photos taken by and featuring young women from Mexico, New York, Los Angeles, and Two River School in Pablo, Montana. The project examines the ways in which left-over pink dresses allowed girls to break the bounds of peer defined ‘normal’ behavior. Facilitated by David J. Spear, photographer, teacher and director of A VOICE-Art Vision & Outreach In Community Education, the project also includes a forum of art professionals who created and implemented the project followed by the young photographers who made the photographs on display at ZACC. Forum panelists include: Julie Hajune, previous director of the CSKT Tribal Department; Jennifer Finley, poet and writer; Dr. Lyn Pentecost, Executive Director and co-founder of The Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York City.
Great Falls Festival of the Book, Great Falls Public Library, $3,500. An expanded four-day festival will celebrate literature and diverse author’s voices including national best sellers Laura Moriarty and Richard Fifield.
Worlds Apart But Not Strangers: Holocaust Education and Indian Education for All, Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights, $2,500. Humanities Montana will fund an experiential inquiry-based seminar for Montana educators in Billings this summer.
Copyright Workshop for Cultural Heritage Repositories, University of Montana, $1,500. This workshop will help cultural heritage professionals better understand copyright law and risk assessment.
Genocide Awareness Lecture Series, Flathead Valley Community College, $1,500. This year’s Kalispell-based lecture series will focus on genocide around the world in response to an increase in white supremacist activity in the region and nation.
The Write Question, Montana Public Radio, $5,000. The Write Question is a half-hour weekly radio program/podcast that features the literature of, and writers from, the western U.S.
2020 Lecture Series, Elk River Arts & Lectures, $2,500. This series will bring five to six authors to Park County to work with public school children and give free and easily affordable public lectures.
Native Filmmaker Initiative, Big Sky Film Institute, $2,000. Humanities Montana funds will support Native American filmmakers interacting with rural schools.
Plenary Talks: Language Reclamation and Beyond, University of Montana, $5,000. The linguistics program at UM, in conjunction with Chief Dull Knife College, will host a series of talks on indigenous language documentation and reclamation, June 15-26, 2020.
The Montana Book Festival, Arts Missoula, $3,000. The festival is a celebration of literary arts including readings, author signings, panels, workshops, special events, vendor exhibits, and a book fair, held in downtown Missoula in early fall.
The Murder of Frank Little, Death in the West, $1,500. This 10-episode crime history podcast unearths the story of Frank Little, a union organizer who was lynched in Butte in 1917.
Is This Agriculture or Technology? The Story of 1920s Montana Wheat, John Clayton, $1,000. This research fellowship will focus on the Campbell Farming Company, at one time the biggest farm in the country.
Not Guilty, Gabriel Furshong, $1,000. The author will investigate and expose the mysterious dismissal of manslaughter charges against Joseph Edward Furshong, the author’s great-grandfather, as a way of exploring race and class privileges in 1920s Montana.