2016

September 5th, 2017

GREATER MONTANA FOUNDATION GRANTS BY TOWN - 2016

(GMF awards over $300,000 in grants. Statewide organizations are listed in the towns of their headquarters)

BILLINGS

Billings Library Foundation:  $5000 to support the production of four (4) television vignettes as part of a new program to educate the community about the free services available at their local libraries -- with a focus on building literacy. Per the GMF committee's direction, the vignettes were produced with a generic look and message to be applicable to all libraries across the state. Each of the MTN stations in the major statewide markets received the spots in multiple lengths to run as public service announcements or to be used as a sponsored spot with sponsor tag information available at the end of the spot.

MusEco Media and Education:  $3000 for Green Smarts with the Green Man, a series of one-minute entertaining and engaging TV vignettes with positive messages integrating responsible natural resource and conservation choices into daily life.

BOZEMAN

Center for Independent Documentary: $5000, continued support to complete Life Interrupted, a feature-length documentary about breast cancer that chronicles the lives and experiences of three unique survivors, including the film maker’s own experiences and a 70 year old Montana tribal member, living on the Fort Belknap Reservation.  The shared stories will illustrate the important role that educations plays in successful detection, treatment and survival rates.

Friends of MTPBS:  $55,000 for the Montana Friends of PBS Program Fund, including continuing support for numerous programs, among them coverage of the 2016 elections; the completion of a major three hour series on Montana’s noted artist: C.M Russell and the West, scheduled for 2017;  The Rundown with Beth Saboe, a new series of providing in-depth coverage of issues that matter to Montanans; Backroads of Montana, and 11th and Grant.

Montana State University School of Film and Photography:  $2,000 for the annual Hugh Galusha-Ed Craney award for two outstanding senior film projects.

DARBY

Rosten Foundation for the Media Arts (MAPS):  $20,000 for the award-winning MAPS Media Institute free after-school program, serving four county schools, along with a summer session and a week-long intensive “film camp” in St. Ignatius.  This public/private partnership combines arts education (film, video, design and music) vocational training and on-the-job experience for students grades 8 through 12.  The program integrates science, technology, engineering, the arts and math concepts within multiple hands-on media courses disciplines, including a new entrepreneurial program.

GREAT FALLS

The History Museum: $10,000 for “Thunder Under the Big Sky: The Legacy of the Military in North Central Montana,”  with film maker Craig Wirth and Jim Meinert, History Museum Director, who will produce a major television documentary chronicling the importance of the old Army Air Corp, the US Air Force, and the Montana National Air Guard for their historic roles in serving and protecting north central Montana, the United States and the world, using thousands of Montanans to perform this vital role. This will be the museum’s fifth major documentary film.

KRTV-Montana Television Network:  up to $4500 in actual and necessary travel-related costs for a TV reporter to accompany members of the Montana National Guard's 16V Cavalry Regiment taking part in "Exercise Saber Guardian,” part of the U.S. European Command's Joint Exercise Program, in Romania in August. It is designed to enhance the relationship between Romania, the U.S., NATO, and Partnership for Peace nations. Coverage focused on the Montana Guard's role in international peacekeeping efforts.

HELENA

Artemis Common Ground:   $13,000 in continued support for Home Ground Radio, whose purpose is to encourage in-depth dialog on important issues, through 30 minute conversations with a wide variety of Montanans, interviewed by host Brian Kahn. The award-winning weekly program explores areas of conflict, but highlights the often unseen “common ground” of shared values held by parts of our community often portrayed in opposition.  The program is broadcast on Montana Public Radio and on commercial station KGHL 790 AM Billings.

Montana History Foundation: $10,000 as fiscal sponsor for Gary Tyree and Moving Pictures Production, for a video documentary, “Born Under a Bad Sign: The Story of Women in Montana’s First Prison, narrated by Ellen Baumler, Montana Historical Society and Interpretive Historian,  and based on her research.

Montana Broadcasters Association:   $29,380 for the annual EB awards for broadcast excellence.  $5500 for expenses associated with the debate between Governor Steve Bullock and gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte, held in June, in conjunction with the MBA Annual Convention.

Montana Historical Society:  a $20,000 challenge grant as continued support for the Edmund B. Craney Film and Media Archives, funded with an initial grant of $67,000 at year-end 2015, to launch the first year pilot project.  This will ensure the long-term preservation of, as well as access to, Montana’s disappearing film and media history.

LIVINGSTON

Livingston Center for Art and Culture: $3000, as fiscal sponsor for Loose Horses Productions, continued support for post-production editing on Loose Horses, a feature length video documentary that looks at the divisive subject of America’s unwanted horses via the Montana horse auction subculture.

MISSOULA 

Montana Public Radio:  $15, 000 for the “Montana Jobs and Economic Recovery Report,” featuring enterprise reporting on these issues and when covering the 2016 election and the 2017 legislature.

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, a series of innovative radio and multi-media stories about Montana individuals and their communities, produced by Clay Scott, Helena.

University of Montana School of Radio-TV: $36,500 in continued support for various programs including the student documentary, summer internship program, Business Made in Montana, Montana Journal and for two student reporters at the 2017 legislative session.

GRANTS FOR BOARD-INITIATED PROGRAMS - $59,500

Communications Research:  In-depth Follow-up Quantitative Survey on Internet Use for News and Information in Montana:  $29,000 for survey and roll-out.  In 2015, to better inform GMF’s grant making, GMF commissioned a professionally-conducted public opinion poll to determine issues of importance to Montanans and how they receive information on them.  Significant insights were gained about internet use and the follow up survey will better inform GMF on how it is used and might be used for news and information.

Educational Assistance Grants:  $8000 for a pilot program of up to 16 grants.  Because the initial survey indicated that jobs and the economy were the highest priority for Montanans, this program will assist individuals involved with the news by providing educational incentives and help to defer costs of college or university level courses in economics, business and related subjects, to help improve their reporting.

Seminar for Working Journalists: $22,500 for a two-day seminar for working journalists and others in related positions (such as editors, radio and television news directors and producers) interested in exploring new information sources and techniques to improve their jobs, economy and business reporting, at the University of Montana, Missoula. This will include expenses for participants when in Missoula.  The seminar will be managed by the new UM Center for Enterprise and Executive Development in cooperation with the UM School of Business Administrations Bureau of Business and Economic Research and School of Journalism.