HELENA — Arts and culture initiatives supported by a Montana state grant program could soon come with an acknowledgment, courtesy of language inserted in a funding bill on March 22: The money comes from coal.
House Bill 9, a recurring bill sponsored this session by Rep. Tom Woods, D-Bozeman, provides grants of up to $10,000 to 82 programs, including Shakespeare in the Parks, Humanities Montana, and the Yellowstone Art Museum.
The bill cleared the House on a 77-23 vote, but only after lawmakers voted unanimously for an amendment adding the disclosure requirement. The bill now specifies that grant recipients must include the following language on their websites, publications, and promotional materials: “We are funded in part by coal severance taxes paid based upon coal mined in Montana and deposited in Montana’s cultural and aesthetic projects trust fund.”
“A lot of times I don’t think people understand where the money comes from,” said Rep. Jim Keene, D-Butte, who sponsored the disclosure amendment.
Montana collected $56.6 million in coal severance taxes in 2018, according to the State Department of Revenue. That money is split between cultural grants, water infrastructure, construction of state buildings, and economic development projects, among other programs. Twelve percent of coal severance tax collections is directed to the state’s Long-Range Building Program, for example. Two-thirds of 1 percent is directed to the cultural trust.
Between climate change concerns and competition from renewable energy sources and natural gas, Montana’s coal mines face an uncertain future — and would leave a substantial hole in the state budget if they were to shut down. The Rosebud Mine that supplies the Colstrip power plant, for example, has been moving through bankruptcy proceedings.
HB 9 awards a total of $423,000 in grants, and also sets aside $30,000 for maintaining artwork in the Capitol complex. It now heads to the Senate.
The bill authorizes the following grants:
- Mai Wah Society Museum — $4,000
- Council for the Arts, Lincoln — $3,000
- Billings Cultural Partners — $3,000
- Signatures from Big Sky — $2,000
- Montana Flute Association — $2,000
- Upper Swan Valley Historical Society, Inc. — $4,500
- Montana Preservation Alliance — $20,000
- Montana Historical Society — $5,400
- Mountain Time Arts — $2,500
- Preservation Cascade, Inc. — $2,000
- Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives — $5,000
- International Choral Festival — $2,000
- SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning — $2,000
- Zootown Arts Community Center — $9,000
- Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture — $8,000
- Museum of the Rockies — $7,000
- Bozeman Symphony Society — $4,500
- Art Mobile of Montana — $10,000
- Montana Shakespeare in the Parks — $10,000
- MCT, Inc. — $10,000
- Alpine Artisans, Inc. — $3,000
- Billings Symphony Society — $7,500
- Humanities Montana — $10,000
- Butte Symphony Association — $3,000
- Billings Preservation Society — $7,500
- Alberta Bair Theater — $10,000
- Glacier Symphony and Chorale — $5,000
- Schoolhouse History & Art Center — $5,000
- Montana Repertory Theatre — $10,000
- Sunburst Foundation — $2,500
- Irwin & Florence Rosten Foundation — $5,000
- Yellowstone Art Museum — $10,000
- Cohesion Dance Project — $5,000
- Western Heritage Center — $10,000
- Great Falls Symphony — $5,000
- Northwest Montana Historical Society — $5,000
- Grandstreet Broadwater Productions, Inc. — $9,000
- MonDak Heritage Center — $9,000
- Holter Museum of Art — $9,000
- Missoula Art Museum — $9,000
- Helena Presents/Myrna Loy Center — $9,000
- Archie Bray Foundation — $9,000
- International Wildlife Film Festival — $8,000
- Museums Association of Montana — $5,000
- Montana Association of Symphony Orchestras — $5,000
- Verge Theater — $5,000
- Daly Mansion Preservation Trust — $5,000
- Big Horn Arts and Craft Association — $2,000
- Montana Performing Arts Consortium — $5,000
- MAGDA — $5,000
- Montana Dance Arts Association — $5,000
- Stillwater Historical Society — $4,500
- C.M. Russell Museum — $7,000
- Alpine Theatre Project — $5,000
- Whitefish Theatre Co. — $5,000
- Carbon County Arts Guild & Depot Gallery — $4,500
- Ravalli County Museum — $4,500
- Missoula Writing Collaborative $2,000
- Arts Missoula (Formerly Missoula Cultural Council) — $4,500
- Little Shell Tribe — $4,500
- The Extreme History Project — $2,000
- Friends of Big Sky Education DBA Warren Miller PAC — $4,500
- World Museum of Mining — $4,500
- Pondera Arts Council — $4,500
- Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre — $3,500
- Hamilton Players, Inc. — $3,500
- Montana Ballet Company — $3,500
- Intermountain Opera Association — $3,500
- Southwest Montana Arts Council — $2,000
- Pondera History Association (PHA) — $2,000
- Fort Peck Fine Arts Council, Inc. — $10,000
- Friends of the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula — $2,481
- Carbon County Historical Society — $5,000
- Hockaday Museum of Art — $3,500
- Helena Symphony — $3,500
- North Valley Music School — $3,500
- Main Street Uptown Butte — $3,500
- Arts & Above — $2,000
- Bozeman Art Museum — $2,000
- Support Local Artists and Musicians (S.L.A.M.) — $2,000
- Free Voice Media — $2,000
- Sunburst Foundation — $500