Montana Arts Council Members

Angella Ahn, graduate of the Juilliard School, is Associate Professor of Violin and Viola at Montana State University. In her teaching, she leverages her background, having studied with foremost violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay, and her decades-long performance career. With her sisters in the Ahn Trio, she has recorded nine albums, performed in over 35 countries and every state in the U.S., playing at diverse venues such as Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, Vienna’s Musikverein, New York’s Lincoln Center, and the White House. In her other collaborations, she has been featured with such musical luminaries as Phil Aaberg, Darol Anger, Emmylou Harris, and the late John Prine. 

Ms. Ahn is active in the community, serving her second term on the Montana Arts Council, an agency of state government. She is the Artistic Director of Montana Chamber Music and serves on the Advisory Board of Intermountain Opera. She can be seen in “Angella Ahn & Friends” on PBS 11th & Grant with Eric Funk, as well as in The Hive, a film produced by Tippet Rise Art Center. 

Sarah Calhoun is the owner of Red Ants Pants, the executive director of the Red Ants Pants Foundation and the producer the Red Ants Pants Music Festival. The festival is in its tenth year and draws tens of thousands to a cow pasture in Meagher County. It was named the Event of the Year by the Montana Office of Tourism. From her home in the small town of White Sulphur Springs, she has become an inspiration to entrepreneurs nationwide and is known for her dedication to supporting rural communities, the arts, and women’s leadership. In 2018 she was named to the Montana Business Hall of Fame. In 2012, named the National Women in Business Champion for the SBA. She has been invited to the White House twice, and honored when Governor Schweitzer named her the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year for the State of Montana. She has given two TEDx talks, dozens of keynote addresses, and has gained national press such as CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, Sunset, Entrepreneur, National Geographic, The New York Times and The Huffington Post.

Sean, an enrolled member of the Aaniinen (Gros Ventre Nation), is the President of Aaniiih Nakoda College (ANC) located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. Since 2002, Sean has been employed with ANC, serving mostly as Director of American Indian Studies until 2017 when he began to fill the role of Academic Dean and later as President in 2020. In addition to his administration duties, he also instructs the Aaniiih (Gros Ventre) Language to grade school aged children in ANC’s White Clay Immersion School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art and a Master of Arts in Native American Studies from Montana State University-Bozeman. In 2014, he attained a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from The University of Montana with his dissertation entitled, “The Identity of Upholding Indigenous Lifeways.”

Corky is a celebrated contemporary artist, teacher, mentor, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and has recently retired as the art director at Salish Kootenai College. Corky’s work has been exhibited across the nation and around the world, and in addition to his many other honors, he was awarded the 2008 Montana Governor’s Arts Award for Visual Art.

As a nationally renowned western landscape impressionist, Troy Collins creates paintings with brilliant color, texture and insight from his studio nestled in the middle of the Bitterroot Mountain Range.

His paintings have graced the halls of the Montana and California State Capitols, the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, and are included in many corporate and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Troy’s work has been featured in over 100 magazines and four books and he has also been chosen as one of the top 25 quick finish artists in the West. Troy is a proud member of the C.M. Russell Museum’s Russell Skull Society of Artists.

Wylie Gustafson is an American Original. The singer, songwriter, rancher, horseman, and world-famous Yahoo! yodeler leads the musical outfit known as Wylie and the Wild West. The group is internationally known for their vibrant presentation of the music—both original and traditional—of America and its colorful West. They delight audiences around the world with their one of a kind brand of music, including elements of cowboy, traditional country, western swing, folk, and, of course yodeling. Wylie is a real life cowboy born into a 4th generation ranching family on the empty sprawl of Northern Montana. He is a member of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Montana Pro Rodeo Wall and Hall of Fame. He’s the real deal and, as one music writer quipped, “All old school without being a tired period piece.”

Julie Mac is a TV host and content producer who paints pictures with images, sound, and words. In her years of experience in the television and commercial industry, Julie has been blessed with production opportunities at Discovery, A&E, NBC, MTV, VH1, FOX, ESPN, HGTV, and others. She has covered star-studded events such as the Billboard Awards, the iheart Radio Music Festival, and Sundance. When Julie is not producing you'll find her speaking at a youth event, emceeing a fashion show, or introducing artists on a concert stage.

Julie loves discovering fun things to do, and creating enjoyment for others has made her the perfect host for Montana's Best. Having grown up skiing the slopes, hiking trails with breathtaking views, and working with local businesses, she's a Montanan through and through. Dirt doesn't scare her, outdoor adventures thrill her, dressing to the nines excites her, and people fascinate her. All of which makes hosting Montana's Best a dream job.

Julie has an eye for detail and a passion to communicate. Her mission is to "motivate, educate, and influence people for the better by using media."

Cat is a visual artist working in multiple media, from traditional paint on canvas to paint on salvaged tin and wood, to large-scale murals. Living and working in Glasgow since 2010 after completing her MFA at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Cat has been a strong advocate in her community for the power of public art and the importance of the arts to her town's ongoing vitality.

John L. Moore is a third-generation rancher, award-winning novelist and award-winning journalist from Miles City. His writing career began at age 17 with the Miles City Star and in the past 52 years he has authored seven novels, several non-fiction books, over 1500 articles, and has published literary short stories and poetry. He has also appeared in four documentaries as an authority on the history of horses on the Great Plains. He is a 2019 inductee into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and a 2021 inductee into the Montana ProRodeo Hall and Wall of Fame.

 

Linda Netschert is the owner and publisher of Farcountry Press and Sweetgrass Books. Linda bought Farcountry Press, an award-winning regional book publishing company, in 2011 after a career spent selling their books throughout the West and managing book sales and marketing for Lee Enterprises’ national publishing program. A Montana native with a degree from Western Montana College, Linda has been a manager in retail, theatre, and the hospitality industry before joining Farcountry Press as a sales rep more than 25 years ago. Throughout her book publishing career, she has nurtured book professionals from across the country, especially Montana authors, photographers, and illustrators. Through Sweetgrass Books, the same staff helps others custom publish their own books. When she is not working, Linda can be found on the lake, in the mountains riding & driving her horses, and enjoying her ever-growing menagerie of farm animals.

Bridger is the Executive Vice President of Production at Warm Springs Productions, based in Missoula, MT. He's a full-service independent television producer who produces shows for multiple television networks including History Channel, Animal Planet, Fox Business, and Discovery Channel.  Bridger counts himself fortunate enough to work every day with amazingly creative people in Montana and across the US, to create incredible projects and tell unique stories.

Jay was the Artistic Director of the Montana Actors’ Theatre in Havre, Montana for 27 years before transitioning to the role of Executive Director. He also taught English and Theatre at Havre High School as well as Montana State University-Northern. Jay enjoys every aspect of theatrical production as well as playwrighting. His drama The Dead of Winter was selected for production at the Union Theatre in London, UK for July of 2003 and his comedy Rugburns toured parts of Montana in 2008 and again in 2018.

Angela Russell, a member of the Crow Tribe, has spent her life involved in health, social, and political issues for the Crow Nation and the State of Montana. She served four terms in the Montana House of Representatives, one term with the newly created Crow Tribal Legislature, and served as Chief Judge for the Crow Tribal Court. Ms. Russell actively participated in the National Council of Native American Legislators and served as an officer of the Native American Court Judges Association. She was a co-organizer of the Apsáalooke Committee for the Arts promoting and supporting local artists and craftsperson’s. She published the Apsáalooke Calendar for thirty years, which featured early Crow photographs and history, poetry, and artwork. Public service has included serving as Chair for the Friends of Chief Plenty Coups, as a trustee of the Big Horn County Library Association, and as a member of the Montana Board of Crime Control. Ms. Russell received a bachelor's degree and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Montana and a Master’s Degree from Tulane University.

Founder of Montana Trails Gallery in Bozeman, Steve Zabel grew up on a ranch in the Madison Valley and began his art career by publishing prints of work by his father Larry Zabel, the respected western wildlife painter. Montana Trails Gallery has operated from several locations on Bozeman’s Main Street and has long been a mainstay of Montana’s western art scene, earning a reputation for its strong historic collections which include work by Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington, Joseph Henry Sharp, and others.