Missoula Cultural Council

Programs: The main activities of the missoula cultural council, dba arts missoula for fiscal 2017 (july 1, 2016-june 30, 2017) were:arts missoula coordinates the sister city program for the city of missoula. The core mission of the sister city program is to promote citizen diplomacy, one individual and one community at a time. At present missoula has two sister cities, neckargemund, germany and palmerston north, new zealand. The main events surrounding the two established partnerships are germanfest in september and new zealand days in may. These community awareness events give great exposure to ongoing student and faculty exchanges at the high school level as well as between the university of montana and its corresponding universities in heidelberg and massey. First friday gallery night is one of the most popular downtown events. Each month, from 5-8 p. M. On the first friday, galleries and other retail establishments open their doors to the public to show the months art exhibits. Thousands of missoulians participate in this event. It is the biggest night of the month for local restaurants, and many retail shops have reported increased sales during this time. For many years this organic event had no organization. Arts missoula publishes a digital calendar of information updating all first friday activities. Arts missoula also publishes a brochure of all art galleries and museums, distributed to all the hotels and tourist information centers in town. Arts missoula produces a weekly e-mail newsletter to nearly 1200 subscribers. This covers news and events in missoula, in the northern rocky mountain region, and also covers news stories and trends nationally and internationally. It is a comprehensive account of the artistic and cultural news, and valued by its subscribers. The web site contains a listing of the artists, organizations, events, venue sites, galleries and museums in missoula. First night missoula, the community-wide, alcohol-free new years eve celebration of the arts, is now the largest single event produced by arts missoula. On december 31, 2016, missoula celebrated its 23rd consecutive first night, with nearly 7,000 in attendance. This community-building activity brings together artists, businesses, government organizations, individual volunteers and festival attendees in a celebratory yet safe new years eve community gathering. More than 80 arts events and activities take place in over 35 venues throughout downtown, on the university campus, and at southgate mall. This is a celebration for the community, for art and for the passage of time. Each spring arts missoula hosts the annual arts & culture awards lunch for over 200 community members. This event celebrates the work of selected individuals who have made significant contributions to missoulas art and cultural community in their lifetime, and also recognizes businesses that have made substantial contributions to the arts. This years award winners were the recently retired missoula art museum curator steve glueckert (cultural achievement); musician chuck florence (individual artist); music and vocal teacher karen callen (arts educator); downtown missoula partnership (business support for the arts); and the roxy theater (cultural vision). Arts missoula coordinates the community event calendar with missoualevents. Net, as an effort to help organizations with long-term planning for annual and special events. Spark! Arts ignite learning is missoulas chapter of the kennedy centers any give child initiative. This collaborative with the missoula county public schools (mcps), the city of missoula, university of montana, and a broad range of local artists and arts organizations to ensure equity and access in arts education for any given child in missoulas k-8 schools. Arts missoula is the administrative home for spark! And acts as the nonprofit entity for this collaborative effort. Spark! Has embarked on an ambitious program with its own fundraising, programming and marketing. In 2016 the governing board of spark! And mcps agreed to expand this initiative to grades 9-12, and as such is the first kennedy center any given child community to do so. Arts missoula coordinated the gathering of statistics for arts and economic prosperity 5, a report on the economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences led by americans for the arts. Missoula was one of 380 study groups nationally. Throughout the calendar year of 2016 arts missoula collected information from 34 arts organizations and over 800 audience members at 21 distinct nonprofit events and performances. In june americans for the arts released the national study at their annual conference, and for the remainder of fiscal 2017 and well into fiscal 2018 arts missoula has presented the findings at various public settings and in the media. The findings for the city of missoula are impressive, as our nonprofit arts sector is a $54 million industry, roughly three times that of the national average for cities our size. In addition to this study, missoula was also ranked #4 nationally for mid-sized cities in the national council for arts research (ncar) arts vibrancy index for 2017. Both these national studies are available at www. Artsmissoula. Org. In recent years arts missoula has offered itself as an umbrella organization for groups seeking a nonprofit fiscal sponsorship. Arts missoula assumed fiscal sponsorship of the montana book festival in 2015, and in 2016 assisted with a local native american group in the production of the honoring our missoula community powwow. Both festivals have been financially solvent, and this part of arts missoulas programming has potential for growth in the coming years. Arts missoula has been the administrative arm of the city of missoulas public art committee since february 2016. This partnership has increased the citys commitment to arts missoula with additional funding, and now the organization has a long term contract with the city.