The Montana Arts Council was created by executive order of Governor Tim Babcock on April 22, 1965. Dean Charles Bolen of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Montana was tapped to serve as its first Chairman. Late in 1966, following the first Governor's Conference on the Arts in Butte, a survey of arts in Montana required by the National Endowment for the Art was completed, with results submitted to the Governor and to the state. During the 40th Legislative Assembly, House Bill 12 made the Montana Arts Council an official agency of state government in 1967.
During itsfirst years the Montana Arts Council operated from office space in the University of Montana, Fine Arts building on a budget of $12,000. The Council was eventually placed under the Board of Education for state budgetary purposes, along with the Historical Society and the Library Commission.
In 1970 a full-time coordinator was hired for the Artists-in-Schools program, the Montana Arts Council's largest continuing statewide program. A modest increase in the Montana Arts Council staff and a large increase in services necessitated a move to larger quarters off campus.
In 1992, Director David Nelson and Jo-Anne Mussulman retired. Arlynn (Arni) Fishbaugh was hired as the Executive Director in November 1992. At the time, the staff had grown to 11, as authorized by the state.
The mid-1990’s saw substantial growth in federal funding to the council, reaching a high of $795,090 in 1996. The programmatic areas of the council flourished and included organizational and artist services, arts education, rural arts, folk arts, communications and administration of the Cultural Trust grants as well as agency administration.
The 1997 federal funding cuts resulted in a 40% reduction in Montana’s federal funding to the agency. The council made as a priority grant programs and restructured internally and reduced staff by 40%.
The restructuring during 1998-2000, streamlined internal operations and grant procedures. Project grants for arts organizations were changed to operating support and these grants were made biennial, rather than annual, awards. A Professional Development grant program was developed to fund artists and organizations’ professional development needs, such as workshops, trainings, conferences, etc. The agency’s bi-monthly newsletter ArtistSearch was greatly expanded to a tabloid 24-36 page newspaper renamed State of the Arts, and established a reputation as the country’s finest state arts agency newspaper.
During 1998-2000, staff restructuring aligned itself to these new priorities, and the increased demand for access to information through the world-wide-web and the need for increased database capabilities. Programmatic staff structure changed to also accommodate the skills of the people in, or being hired for, MAC positions. As a result, the directors of areas included Arts Education/Web Services, Grants/Database Development, Folk Arts, and Communications, coupled with the services of the Deputy Director/Accountant and an executive and an administrative assistant.
State general fund continued to grow very slowly, as it had since the agency’s inception. Following the devastating federal cuts in 1997, there was an increase in general fund to pay for the technical assistance programs newly developed.
During the late 1990s and early in 2000, the agency shifted priorities to build public awareness about the value of the arts and the arts council, as well as to reinforce the public value of supporting the arts throughout the state. Launched in 2006, Public Value Partnership grants fund operating support for Montana’s staffed arts organization.
The Artist Innovation Awards were established in the 2009, the Montana Circle of American Masters program and the Montana Artrepreneur Program (MAP) were established at approximately the same time. The MAP program, in particular, has become a national model for teaching artists marketing and business skill development. The agency received private foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture funding for this highly successful program.
2020 ushered in new challenges, not least of which was a global pandemic. COVID-19 affected every aspect of Montanans' lives, and the arts were not spared. The Montana Arts Council oversaw a massive effort to distribute relief funds in the form of CARES and ARPA grants awarded to organizations and individuals to bridge the funding gaps caused by closures of performance and exhibition venues, educational facilities, and points of sale. In 2022 was Council is still working to help those in the arts recover from the pandemic as we continue to administrate our other grants, programs, and services.
In recent years the Montana Arts Council has reinstituted its folk arts programs, including the Montana Circle of American Masters awards which recognize individuals contributing substantially to the practice, preservation, and teaching of traditional arts and skills, and has transformed its Montana Artrepreneur Program into Art Works, which provides business and marketing skills to working artists. The Council has begun seeking partnerships with fellow state angencies to magnify our own efforts where they align with their own, and is embracing new initiatives to align tourism and economic initiatives with our own objectives.
