Art Council Meeting in Malta on June 13

Art Spot Arts Education Center and the Bohn’s Bones Art Gallery are pleased and honored to announce they are hosting a very special event for our Phillips County Community.

The Montana Arts Council staff will host an Arts Conversations in our community on Monday, June 13 from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the Malta Business Center where the gallery and the arts education center are located. Executive Director Arni Fishbaugh, Grants and Database Director Kristin Han Burgoyne, Business Development Specialist Cinda Holt and Montana Artrepreneur Program Director Sheri Jarvis will be on hand to discuss agency programs, arts-driven economic development and “the state of the arts” in Montana. Kathy Bohn-Bagley and Jane Ereaux will be presenting first with an overview of the Bohn’s Bones Art Gallery and Art Spot programs and the benefits available to the Phillips County Community.

These presentations and conversations are meant to help the communities in Phillips County understand the role of the arts in the economic development of our community. For instance, our schools have limited budgets for the arts education they provide in music, fine art and industrial art. Some of the schools don’t have a specific art teacher assigned to the subjects. We are blessed to have a nonprofit arts education center which is 501(c)(3) designated organization which is willing to partner with the schools to bring in arts presentations and hands-on sessions for the students. The Art Spot is open 5-6 days a week, allowing Phillips County residents the opportunity to come in and buy art supplies, work on individual projects or learn a new arts skill. These opportunities include creative writing sessions, performing arts studies and visual arts studies. With partnership from the communities, more grant funds could be available to be used to increase the amount and type of learning that the Art Spot is able to offer, but we have to have a conversation first about what those opportunities look like and where they can be performed. The Art Spot is also a partner with Opportunity Link in Havre in the National Endowment for the Arts project “Hi Line Arts Trail” which is proposed to bring visitors to our area through the different artists’ studios and galleries as well as highlight historic art installations using an online and mobile phone application.

The Bohn’s Bones Art Gallery is a for profit arts gallery for professional artists and is connected to local talented artists that can provide graphic designs for marketing at a reasonable cost and individual art customized for the consumer. Nine different artists’ artwork is housed in the Malta Business Center gallery location and this artwork is spread throughout the different communities for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Kathy Bohn-Bagley is active in the community, attending Economic Growth Council meetings and Chamber meetings to keep her ear open for projects, like the fire hydrants that were created for Malta Trails. Her door is always open to new ideas and requests for participation.

Your attendance as a community member and decision-maker at this presentation is critical to the success of our community in terms of economic development. The Arts is instrumental in community revitalization projects such as wall murals, sculptures and landscape designs for parks and buildings. Having a fun activity like a Community Theater where our pride in our culture and our Free and Easy personalities combine to entertain us and others is uplifting. Your ideas about how the Arts can be of benefit to building Phillips County into an even more desirable place to live and visit is crucial! For more information, please contact the gallery at 406-654-1523.