2014

June 30th, 2014

2014 GREATER MONTANA FOUNDATION GRANTS BY TOWN 

GMF awards over $300,000 in grants

BILLINGS

MusEco Media and Education:  $5000 to support American Indian Musician Profiles, a series of brief videos featuring accomplished Montana American Indian musicians, their music and stories.  These will be compiled into longer programs for broadcast and included in the Office of Public Instruction’s existing curriculum offerings on American Indian musicians.

KULR-8 News, Cowles Montana Media:  $8250 for Stopping Traffic:  A Fight for Hope and Freedom, an hour long documentary and preview stories about the critical and tragic issue of human trafficking in Montana, recounting current efforts to combat it by state leaders, including legislators, law enforcement and others, who are working to bring this issue to the forefront.

BOZEMAN

Friends of MTPBS:  $55,000 for the Montana Program Fund, supporting a number of programs, among them coverage of the 2014 elections, C.M Russell and the West, a three hour series about this noted artist; Boomtown Country, a documentary Backcountry portrait of Montana’s boom and bust heritage and the current modern oil boom; Bard in the Backcountry, about Shakespeare in Montana; Backroads of Montana, and 11th and Grant.

Montana State University School of Film and Photography:  $2,000 for the annual Hugh Galusha-Ed Craney scholarship award.

MTN-Cordillera Communications:  $10,000, for the production and statewide broadcast of the 2014 election cycle’s only live TV debates:  one between the US Senatorial candidates and another between the US Congressional candidates, produced in partnership with Montana PBS, to better inform the Montana electorate.

BUTTE

Highlands College/Montana Tech:  $5000 for In the Crucible of Change:  The Dramatic Period of Progressive Change in Montana (1965-1980) (From a Corporate Colony to a Citizen-Oriented State).  This film series designed for broadcasting is produced by Evan Barrett, Outreach Director and Instructor at the college.  Thirty one-hour programs will feature interviews with individuals and panels of “change makers” who played key roles in this era of progressive change.

From the Heart Productions:  $9500 for Mary Quite Contrary, a documentary film produced by Margie Judd Productions about Butte author Mary MacLane, whose notoriety in the early years of the 20th century obscured her talent, but who is now recognized as  writer of lasting importance to the history of Montana.

DARBY

Rosten Foundation for the Media Arts (MAPS):  $10,000 to support The MAPS Media Institute’s nationally recognized after-school education program, a public/private partnership combining arts education (film, video, design and music) vocational training and on-the-job experience for students grades 8 through 12.  Serving four county schools, the program integrates science, technology, engineering, the arts and math concepts within multiple hands-on media courses disciplines.  Students produce announcements, documentaries and sales/marketing videos, some of which are for fee-based clients, as well as pro bono.

GREAT FALLS

KRTV-Montana Television Network:  $6658 for On Special Assignment:  The Montana-China Connection, to support expenses for one MTN staff member to accompany Governor Bullock and the Montana delegation on a ground-breaking official trip to China to explore a variety of new trade opportunities, including a visit with Ambassador Max Baucus, Montana’s former US Senator.

KRTV- Montana Television Network:   $6780 for On Special Assignment: Senator Max Baucus to cover travel for a three-member team to Washington, DC for a series covering the Senator’s legacy.   Reporting included Senator Baucus’ confirmation hearing, and interviews with the Senator and those who served with him, and additional reporting on his legacy in Montana.

HELENA

Artemis Common Ground:   $14,000 to support Home Ground Radio, a weekly forum on important issues, highlighting the often unseen “common ground” of shared values held by parts of our community often portrayed in opposition.  Diverse guests are interviewed by host Brian Kahn in 30 minutes conversations on a wide variety of subjects.  The program is broadcast on Montana Public Radio and on commercial station KGHL 790 AM Billings.

Beartooth Communications Company (NBC stations KTVH/KBGF):  $3600 for The Languages of War: Teaching Soldiers, Saving Lives, produced by Ian Marquand. The 30 minute program (with associated news reports) tells how a language and culture program at the University of Montana’s Mansfield Center saved lives of American soldiers and Iraqi and Afghani civilians during the last six years of war. (grant awarded in late 2013 – program aired in early 2014)

Helena Civic TV:  $7500 for Global Civics Gatherings, a sequel to two earlier series of Global Civics programs, an innovative multi-disciplinary approach to the rights and responsibilities of citizenship within the global context of the 21st century.  Scheduled for six sessions at the Craney Studio at the Montana Historical Museum, it will include presentations, as well as a participatory audience of students and life- long learners.

Montana Broadcasters Association:   $30,690 in continuing support for the annual EB awards for broadcast excellence and $500 for grammar guides for all stations.

Montana Historical Society:   $55,870 of a $600,000 six-year pledge to support Museum modernization and expansion, including establishment of the E.B. Craney studio and broadcast production facilities at MHS.  An additional $6750 to help support two programs related to access for the Ed Craney Photograph and Audio/Visual collections, including an internship.

MISSOULA 

Historical Museum at Ft. Missoula:  $9940 to support the Fort Missoula Alien Detention Camp Video Project, a 30-minute video to document a little-known part of Montana history, the detention of Japanese, Italian and German foreign nationals and resident aliens, considered as enemies during WW II.  Both the site and the documentation are still intact. This will provide a gateway for statewide education on this issue and the Office of Public Instruction is being consulted regarding lesson plans for different grades, along with promotion and use of the video.

University of Montana Broadcast Media Center:  $15,000 in general support for MT Public Radio, including a variety of programs such as news, coverage of the 2014 elections, panel discussions and town meetings on issues of importance to Montanans.

University of Montana O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West:  $5000 for Mountain West News, a daily on-line web-based aggregator news service focused on important issues in the region, with daily news summaries and links to important news stories.  $10,000 for Mountain West Voices, an on-going series of innovative radio and multi-media stories about Montana individuals and communities, produced by Clay Scott, Helena.

University of Montana School of Radio-TV: $36,500 in continued support for the student documentary, summer internship program, Business Made in Montana, Montana Journal and for two student reporters at the 2015 legislative session.