News and Events
September 21, 2015
In This Issue
In Missoula...
Elsewhere in Montana and the Region...
Nationally...
Internationally...
SPARK!
Any Given Child Missoula
First Friday Gallery Walk
Missoula Events
Visit our New Website
MCC Arts & Cultural Directory
Art & Economy
Join Our List
MCC Members
MCC's
Facebook page
MCC 2015 Calendar
Missoula's Sister Cities
The Missoula
Cultural Council

 In Missoula...



It's Homecoming Week  at the University of Montana, featuring a full week of activities and events, including the University Center Art Fair and the Homecoming Parade.  




It's also the 24th annual Bike Walk Bus Week, with several events and activities all over town. 







The Missoula Art Museum presents Kathryn Schmidt: Seen In Broad Daylight
through October 24, Terrain: Plateau Native Art & Poetry through February 27, 2016 (pictured here). John Buck: Free for All opens September 25, with a Members Preview: September 24, 5:00-7:00 p.m.  

 

   
 

The Montana Museum of Art & Culture presents The Intimate Diebenkorn: Drawings 1949 - 1992
September 24 - December 12 in the
Paxson and Meloy Galleries, with an opening reception on Thursday, September 24, from 5:00-7:00 p.m.
 
   

 
 




Faculty and Guest Artist Series: Brahms' Liebeslieder', September 27, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.in the UM Music Recital Hall, featuring faculty artists Anne Basinski, soprano; Kimberly Gratland James, mezzo-soprano; David Cody, tenor; David Edmonds, baritone; and Christopher Hahn, piano; with visiting guest artists from Idaho State University Diana Livingston Friedly, soprano; Kathleen Lane, mezzo-soprano; Geoffrey Friedly, tenor; Scott Anderson, baritone; and Kori Bond, piano.




Fact and Fiction presents Michael Hodges reading and signing The Puller, 7:00 p.m. September 29; and  Martin Clark reading and signing The Jezebel Remedy, 7:00 p.m. September 30.  Both events are at F&F Downtown.



Shakespeare and Co. presents David Gates reading from his new book A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me, 7:00 p.m. on September 25; Margot Kahn reads from her book H orses That Buck:  The Story of Champion Bronc Rider Bill Smith at 2:00 p.m. on September 27.




The Missoula Community Theatre will prove that Shakespeare is for everyone with a NEW performing arts class for Grades 6-12.  Register for A Midsummer Night's Dream, now through October 9, with performances on Saturday, October 10.  Register online at here or call 728-7529.



This week at MCT, Inc., we are sending a team to our first Missoula Children's Theatre residency in Micronesia. The Sleeping Beauty performances will be in Kolonia, in cooperation with the US Embassy. Here in Missoula, rehearsals rooms are active with the sounds of Sweeney Todd (Missoula Community Theatre) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Missoula Children's Theatre). Both shows will be produced in October; tickets are on sale now.  Visit here




Viscosity Theatre presents Wet Hot Amurican Cabaret at the Top Hat Lounge September 22 at 8:00 p.m.  



Matthew Marsolek of the Drum Brothers presents Beginning Hand Drumming Series, Wednesdays from 7:30 - 8:45 p.m., at Lewis and Clark School starting September 23. Everyone is welcome and extra drums will be available. Students will learn the tones and techniques of West African drumming, a beginning repertoire of rhythms, ensemble playing, and the fundamentals of rhythm awareness. To register, please contact Matthew  here or call 531-8109.





Living Art of Montana presents a celebratory Wednesdays 4 Wellness Workshop: Acknowledging what you Want to Celebrate with Writing & a Raw Rainbow Cake, September 23, from 12-1:30 at the Living Art studio, 725 W Alder Ste #17.  From September 24 - November 12: Cancer, Courage & Creativity Eight-Week Workshop for Men and Women experiencing the effects of cancer.  CCC integrates, writing, art, movement, and mask-making as tools for self exploration.  No art or writing experience necessary.  



Meet author Scott Ellsworth, Wednesday, September 23 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. with a reception and talk at The Alumni Center Board Room on the 3rd floor of the University Center, Friday, September 25 10:30 a.m. to Noon.  There will be a Book Signing at Fact & Fiction on campus (inside The Bookstore at UM).



Singer-songwriters Justin Roth, Jenn Adams and John Floridis all perform Wednesday, September 23 at 7:00 p.m. at the Crystal Theater. Tickets $10 advance at Rockin Rudy's and here, $12 door.





Zootown Arts Community Center accepting submissions for our 4th Annual Festival of The Dead Group Art Show. We at the ZACC are proud to celebrate Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday celebrated to pay respect to the deceased. Join us in celebrating life and working through death with self-expression. Only through art can we truly appreciate the absence of life. Application deadline is September 21.  Visit here for more








Percussionists Wanted - Desire, Not Experience, Sought After. Have you ever wanted to learn to play percussion using a variety of hand and stick drums, Tibetan bowls and bells, and smaller percussion instruments?  A special introduction to this largely improvisational music is being planned.  You do not have to have musical experience or the instruments themselves. A small group will be formed to participate in an afternoon and evening session at the Missoula Public Library on September 29 as part of Missoula Public Library Senior Citizen week.  Quiet Drum & Percussion blends worldwide percussion instruments, softer drums and voice for a meditative musical evening. Flutes, violin, udu, harps, Tibetan bowls and bells, and smaller percussion instruments make up the musical mix. Largely improvisational. All musical talent and experience levels welcome. Please contact John or Susan Hancock at 721-2789 or e-mail here
                                             




For more information about arts events in the Missoula area, visit our website  
 Elsewhere in Montana and the Region...

The Montana Historical Society presents the Montana History Conference September 24-26 at the Hilton garden Inn in Bozeman.  Call 444-1799.  



The Open Book Club of Seeley Lake presents the Fall 2015 schedule. On October 24, David Gates reads from Hand Reached Down to Guide Me.  On November 21 Annick Smith reads from Crossing the Plains With Bruno.  Open Book Club is free and open to all. It is sponsored by Alpine Artisans.  Feel free to bring an hors d'oeuvre or beverage to share, and certainly bring a friend.














The  Whitefish Chamber of Commerce   presents the Great Northwest Oktoberfest September 24-26 and October 1-3 in Depot Park .  Call 862-3501.




The Badlands Exhibit by Bale Beckman is at the Dawson Community College in Glendive through October 30. 
 




Early 20th Century masterworks will be on exhibit at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings. Largely known for its focus on contemporary art YAM is pleased to announce another opportunity to view special loans of art from the 20th century along with new selections from the museum's permanent collection. Featured in the exhibition are works from Aristide Maillol (1861 - 1944), Claude Monet (1840 - 1926), and Paul Signac (1863 - 1935). Selections will be on view now through December 3.  The museum  also presents Art in Action now t hrough September 27,  an ongoing series of crowd-sourced exhibitions and new community-oriented experiences that will take place throughout the museum. These audience participatory "actions" are inspired by art concepts presented around the world. We provide the starting point and materials for a creative exploration, while visitors combine their efforts over time to create and present art directly on the museum's walls. The inaugural event is inspired by the jazz-era images of Adolf Dehn, on view in The Other Side of Midnight , and by Henri Matisse's paper collages that were commissioned for the book Jazz, published in 1947. 




 
 
The Sanders County Arts Council announces the opening of the Fourth Quarter exhibit of Art on the Walls, with an opening reception on Thursday, September 24, from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. at the Clark Fork Valley Hospital.  In addition to the artwork of Sanders County artists, John Meckler will demonstrate his techniques for chip carving; Kathy Logan and Jack Stamm will provide music on hammered dulcimers; and refreshments will be provided by the CFVH Hospital. The exhibit runs from September 24 through December 20. Artists exhibiting work are: Katherine G. Cavill, Ellen Childress, Valerie Curtiss, Andrew Gonzalez, Rachel Gonzalez, Rick Harter, George Humeston, Cricket Johnston, Arlene Littlefield, Sue Honts Mann, Dane McNabb, John Meckler, Shirley Proctor, and Douglas Wilks.   For more information call 826-8585.

 
 
  
 
   
  
For complete information about arts and entertainment throughout the region, visit www.livelytimes.com 





Nationally...

How Seattle Abandoned A Beloved Arts Festival And What Happened When The Concert Industry Took It Over
Email/share this Seattle Times, Sep 06, 2015
I almost had to take out a second mortgage to go to Bumbershoot. How did it come to cost $109 per day? The answer is we abandoned our arts festival, so this is what we get.  Dear young people of Seattle: I'd like to apologize. We older folks have once again screwed up for you a generous and beautiful tradition that we ourselves enjoyed nearly cost-free for decades.  Click here



Has Our Culture Become Too Sensitive To Offense?
The Spectator, Sep 01, 2015
It's becoming pretty clear, as the year rolls on, that some of our brightest youngsters have gone round the bend. It's as if they've caught a virus, a mental one, a set of thoughts and ideas that might loosely be called political correctness, but seem to me weirder and more damaging than that.  Back in the 1990s, PC students would stamp about with placards demanding equal rights for minorities and talking about Foucault. This new PC doesn't seem to be about protecting minorities so much as everyone, everywhere from ever having their feelings hurt. It came from America, this virus, incubated in the closed minds of the Land of the Free, but it's here now, and contagious. Click here


In The Age Of Creativity Everyone's An Artist
The New York Times, Sep 06, 2015
Where once drawing and other painterly pursuits were the province of starving artists or simply child's play, unlocking one's creativity has become the latest mantra of personal growth and career success. We nurture our inner Helmut Newtons on Instagram. We explore storytelling with our iPhones like the director Sean Baker did with his movie "Tangerine." Buy some crayons, we are told, and be more productive at work. Like mindfulness and meditation before it, creativity has become a mainstream commodity.  Click here


What Should The Arts Be Doing That They Aren't?
Barry's Blog, Sep 02, 2015
Sometimes I look around at what we're NOT doing, especially when compared to other sectors, and I just don't get it. Where is the arts version of the Little League World Series? Where is the arts public relations tool to capture the same public platform touting the value of the arts to kids?  Click here


Internationally...

ISIS Destroys Yet Another 2,000-Year-Old Temple In Syria
New York Times, Sep 01, 2015
After a day of conflicting reports about the extent of damage that Islamic State militants had inflicted on the Temple of Baal in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria, a United Nations agency said late Monday that satellite images confirmed that the structure had been largely destroyed.  The primary temple building, nearly 2,000 years old, was flattened, according to the satellite images, taken Monday and released by the United Nations training and research agency Unitar, based in Geneva.  Click here



Why Don't Canadians Want To See Canadian Movies?
The Globe and Mail (Canada), Sep 06, 2015
It was a small film, sure, but the reviews were promising. One critic called it "a blessing," and blessed it with three stars. Others praised its young lead actress, a confident 16-year-old tapped by the Toronto International Film Festival last year to be part of its "Rising Stars" mentorship program. The film in question, a rewarding coming-of-age tale, had sold out two screenings at TIFF 2014.  True, it had an unfortunate title: Wet Bum, a nod to the lead character's reluctance to change out of her bathing suit after lifeguard class. Still, it had plenty of other things to recommend it, including music by Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning and a script that had been a Top 10 finalist in Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Screenwriting Competition.  Click here



Arabic 'Sesame Street' Returns For First Time Since Gulf War
New York Times, Sep 04, 2015
Elmo and the Cookie Monster are returning to the Persian Gulf for the first time in 25 years.  On Friday, a new production of "Iftah Ya Simsim," the Arabic cousin of "Sesame Street" that ended in 1990, will have its premiere on nine channels across the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of the Persian Gulf. The show, like its United States counterpart, aims to use entertainment to set an example for children on issues like obesity and literacy.   Click here



China's Economy Is Crashing. What Might Save It? The Arts?
Washington Post, Sep 06, 2015
Shop owners, art curators, foreign visitors and local artists wave to curator James Elaine as he pushes his bicycle through a decommissioned military factory zone turned bohemian artist neighborhood here called "Dashanzi Art District," or more typically, the "798 Art District." Once a collaboration between the Soviet Union, East Germans and Chinese, this 5.3 million-square-foot post-industrial space sprawls over many city blocks in a variety of concrete warehouses. It's a paradise for a flourishing arts community and a Beijing outpost of the global hipster movement one finds in places such as Brooklyn, N.Y., Portland, Ore., and Berlin. Elaine explains that leading up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 the Chinese government loosened its oversight on the 798 (and incorporated it for their public relations purposes), which is now filled with cafes, galleries, museums and design stores.  Click here



Thanks to our sponsors...
 



  
Thanks for your comments & corrections

Tom at MCC

MCC - Connecting Art, Culture and Community through Education, Advocacy and Celebration.  As the official cultural agency for Missoula, MCC provides the community with resources for the development and promotion of arts and culture, maintains Missoula's sister-city relationships with Neckargemund, Germany and Palmerston North, New Zealand and produces the annual First Night Missoula celebration on New Year's Eve. For more information, please visit our website www.missoulacultural.org. 

 

Contact Us:
Missoula Cultural Council
327 East Broadway
P.O. Box 7662
Missoula, MT 59807

406-541-0860
406-541-0861 (fax)