04/29/2024
The Helena Area Community Foundation is preparing to host its 10th annual 24-hour-long donation event, Greater Helena Gives, on Wednesday, May 1, to help connect donors to local nonprofit organizations.
The event acts as a collaborative opportunity to promote the nonprofits in Helena, Lewis and Clark County and neighboring towns and encourages donations through the one platform, according to Emily Frazier, the executive director of the Helena Area Community Foundation.
“I think the biggest thing that’s making it much more successful is that the nonprofit community has bought into it,” Frazier told Montana Free Press. “They believe in this system and this method, and they are willing to put their own effort into it.”
How does the event work? Donors can go to the Greater Helena Gives website anytime between Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Thursday at 8 p.m. and select what registered nonprofits to give to.
Additionally, the foundation created a community fund that donors can also choose to give to, and the foundation will then distribute those donations evenly across all organizations.
“We wanted to create something that we knew would help everybody a little bit,” Frazier said. “So that’s where that particular system came into play.”
Last year, the event raised a little more than $275,000 from about 1,200 donors that went to 110 different nonprofits. This year, Frazier hopes to break $300,000 for the registered 113 nonprofits. (Full disclosure: MTFP is one of the registered organizations.)
The foundation also credits the event’s progress to the networking and relationships that donors build through their donations. It’s up to the nonprofits to promote the 24-hour-long event, which brings certain audiences to the website and helps donors connect with other organizations.
“People think of nonprofits in pretty limited ways,” Frazier said. “I think that they don’t always realize how many things they care about that are actually tied to a nonprofit in some way.”
For more information on the Greater Helena Give event, visit its website.
Public Notice
School safety: Helena Public Schools Superintendent Rex Weltz said at a recent public meeting that the arrest of a student for bringing a loaded gun to C.R. Anderson Middle School earlier this month underscores the urgency for new and updated safety measures for the district and the importance of the upcoming safety and security levy vote.
“I can’t afford to have that mentality to say, ‘It’ll never happen here,’” Weltz said during the Hometown Helena meeting on Thursday, April 25. “We have good people, we have great staff, amazing students, but we live in an environment that’s not the same, and we’re adjusted to that. And because of that, I’m asking our community to help us secure our buildings.”
On Tuesday, April 23, parents and guardians of students at C. R. Anderson Middle School received an email from school officials informing them that a loaded firearm was found in a student’s backpack.
Following safety protocols and an investigation by local law enforcement, the student was taken into custody and charged with assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon on school property, tampering with evidence and theft, according to a press release from Helena police.
The school district is seeking two safety and security levies for the elementary and high schools that, if passed, would provide funding for security cameras, secure entrances and exits at schools and hiring additional school resources officers.
These would be the most expensive of the proposed levies with a combined cost of $10.6 million per year. If voters approve the safety and security levies for both elementary and high school districts, the tax impact for houses valued at $300,000 would be about $266 per year.
Ballots for the five proposed levies were mailed out on April 22. The last day to turn them in to the county election office is Tuesday, May 7.
Downtown parking meeting: The next meeting to discuss solutions regarding Helena’s downtown parking is scheduled for Wednesday, May 8, at 10 a.m., in room 326 at the City-County Building, 316 N. Park Ave.
During the city commission meeting on Monday, April 22, city commissioners proposed a few solutions that would address the city’s parking problems. Those recommendations include adding angled parking lots on Cruse Avenue, as well as a reduction in parking fees for downtown business employees.
City Manager Tim Burton said that he would report back to the commissioners on the suggestions after the upcoming parking meeting.
5 Things to Know in Helena
St. Peter’s receives nursing grants: St. Peter’s Health Foundation was recently awarded more than $730,000 to expand the forensics nursing program for victims of sexual assault, according to a press release. The Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women granted the foundation $700,000, while the Montana Board of Crime Control STOP Violence Against Women Act awarded about $32,000. The grants will fund staff salaries and training on services for the LGBTQIA+ community and provide basic essentials to victims. St. Peter’s emergency department has seen a 60% increase in patients who need these services, the release said, and the Friendship Center, a local nonprofit that assists victims of assault, reported it had helped about 115 assault victims last year.
“I think the [reported] crimes associated with victims needing that kind of care and attention have increased due to our partnerships with St. Pete’s and the nonprofits that help victims and us,” Helena Police Chief Brett Petty told MTFP. “I think you are seeing people be more comfortable in reporting, and they are seeing results, meaning successful prosecutions.”
Vigilantes take to the streets: On Friday, May 3, Helena high school students will participate in the city’s 100th Vigilante Parade that showcases student-made floats. The parade was created as an alternative for high school students to ease their competitive edge after the original tradition of a senior-junior capture-the-flag game was banned by the school board, according to the Helena history website, Helena As She Was. Now, students seek local sponsorships for materials to decorate their themed floats and compete for prizes. The parade will begin at noon on Friday, and the route will take floats throughout downtown.
Helena Farmers’ Market kicks off another season: Last Saturday, April 27, marked the beginning of Helena’s 51st annual farmers’ market where local vendors set up along two blocks on Fuller Avenue between Neill Avenue and Lawrence Street to sell fresh produce, homemade goods and other items. The market is every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., until October. For more information about the market, visit its website, or email [email protected].
Spring Art Walk in bloom: Helena’s Spring Art Walk takes place on Friday, May 10, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The art walk, put on by the Omerta Arts Syndicate, has over 50 local business hosts and more than 60 artists registered for the downtown event. Visitors can also win gifts and prizes by sharing Helena Art Walk-tagged photos online. A digital map of artists and hosts will be available on Monday, April 29, on the Omerta Arts website.
The rush for Gold Rush Days: The second annual Gold Rush Days are coming up on May 10-11. In conjunction with Helena’s Spring Art Walk, the Gold Rush Days include numerous activities for both adults and children. Events include musical and dance performances, a comedy show, historic tours, an adult and kids quick-draw and an art auction, some of which require tickets and registration. For a full list of activities, times and other details, visit the Gold Rush Day’s website.
3 Questions For
The Archie Bray Foundation recently opened a new downtown gallery, The Bray, at 434 N. Last Chance Gulch, and one artist whose work is featured at the new location is Janina Myronova, who specializes in ceramics. Myronova is one of the foundation’s 11 long-term resident artists and has been in Helena since 2022. Originally from Ukraine, Myronova had studied at the Lviv National Academy where she earned a master’s degree in fine arts. From there, she has traveled the world through art residencies. Myronova spoke with MTFP about her artwork, her time in Helena and how her experiences shape her creations. Her comments have been edited for length and clarity.
MTFP: How did you first get into creating art?
Myronova: My parents, they were not artistic, but my sisters, they were. One was singing, another was finishing fashion design, and for me, it was so natural that I would be somewhere in the arts, but I couldn’t decide. I wanted to dance, I wanted to play guitar, and I liked many things. I think because of a teacher who was like the strongest teacher, he said, “I feel you should apply to art college,” and I quit dancing and all of my other interests.
That’s when I started more intensely making paintings, drawings, and ceramics I chose quite accidentally, just because he said, “The teacher in this college is good with ceramics, so you can do ceramics.” When you study ceramics, you have all classes like sculpture, painting, drawing classes. You have it all included and later you can select what will be next. I started with ceramics and never wanted to change it because, for me, it’s important that I sculpt and paint on my sculptures.
It brings me so much joy and also you never know what you will take out from the kiln with ceramics. So it’s always a surprise, good and bad, but there is something special about this too. I feel that there is not so many people that do ceramics because it’s not easy. You have to have studio kilns and all these opportunities.
MTFP: How would you describe the style of your art?
Myronova: I feel I get inspiration a lot from folk art. It’s like naive, primitive art. We have in Ukraine also some traditional ceramic villages, and they would do like people from clay, which will show like everyday life of the people from this village, and I feel with my works I also try to kind of show everything that influenced me by visiting different places.
I’m kind of seeing everything through my filter and then it looks like my kind of character because they have specific eyes, noses, and you kind of can recognize them if you see them once. I tried making them look like they’re very soft, and very often people would come through the studio at Archie Bray and will say, “Oh, it seems like maybe it’s textile,” but they tried to touch it, and it’s not soft. So I like to show that softness of the shapes.
MTFP: What has been your experience with the Archie Bray Foundation and living in Helena?
Myronova: Archie Bray Foundation was always on my list. Like number one. It’s more difficult to come here because it’s not that easy to get visa and also it’s so competitive to be accepted at Archie Bray. I tried my first application. It was not successful. Then I was like, “I will not give up. I try again.” And with my second application, I was accepted. I think it was good timing because I was more ready. It feels like a very professional place, and it’s a good opportunity.
I would say like professionally, it’s my favorite, but every country has some special things. I have very good memories from Taiwan as well. It was also my first one. I’ve been to South Korea and Germany and Denmark and France for residencies. Every place has something special. But here I feel it’s the most professional environment. It’s also nice. We are like 10 artists here; it’s just great. You have lots of people to watch and learn from too like a community here.
Also in Helena, there is so many ceramic artists, which is also great. There was some artists who would come for residency and then they fall in love and bought houses and stayed in Helena and create here. So we are also in touch with those people who stayed and feels like a Helena ceramic family.
Helena History
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to [email protected].
