Northeastern Arts Network
EIN
80-0300149
501(c)3 nonprofit
PO Box 1523
Sidney
59270
Main Contact
Jill
Dostert Wagner
President
4064894304
Organization objectives (check all that apply)
We currently have a series and want to improve the quality of performing arts events., We currently have a series and would like to reach a new audience.
Communities Impacted
Name the cities or towns where your programming has an impact
Sidney, Glasgow and Malta, MT
Name the counties where your program has an impact
Richland, Valley and Phillips Co.
Name all schools, community centers, and other facilities where you program outreach events. Please format as "name of school/facility, city/town" (e.g. CM Russell High School, Great Falls)
Sidney Westside School, Sidney Central Elementary, Rau School/Sidney, MonDak Heritage Center/Sidney, Frazer Public School/Frazer, Nashua Public School/Nashua, Glasgow Irle Elementary, Glasgow Middle School, Glasgow High School, Hinsdale Public School/Hinsdale, Saco Public School/Saco, Malta High School, Malta Elementary, Dodson Public School/Dodson, The Lodge/Sidney, Sidney Extended Care/Sidney
Describe any other specific program, practicies, or strategies your organization employs to make a great impact in your area
We provide artists for fundraisers at the MonDak Heritage Center/Sidney to promote "live" music. We have a successful assembly "AIP" (artist in performance) program with our rural schools.
Application Narrative
How is the proposed season different from past programming
This upcoming season we contracted two Montana based groups with lower travel costs which enabled us to manage the higher fees of our out-of-state groups Jazz Legacy Project (California) and Backtrack Vocals (New York) while sustaining a diverse season of quality performances. We are eager to promote our two Montana artists, Montana Repertory Theatre (University of Montana) and The Lucky Valentines (Fort Benton), This season offers a new twist of Theatre to all our school assemblies with Montana Rep’s “Monsters+Farmers.”
If you are taking an artistic risk in programming, what is it and why is it a risk?
Adding theatre to our series and to all venues is something we have wanted to try while especially supporting Montana artists. The efforts we are making to ensure the logistics for this group (MT Rep) work are challenging. We have rearranged our normal assembly schedules to allow for extra set-up and take-down times for Montana Repertory Theatre. It will be an artistic risk discovering how the school children react to the theatrical performances as some of the younger children may not understand the humor in the play about a teenager creating her own DYI creature. We have not presented Montana Repertory Theatre in our entire program before, only in Sidney, so we are excited to see the reactions from Malta and Glasgow.
How is your performing arts series significant to your community?
Our programming supports underserved communities in three communities in rural Eastern Montana by providing a concert series that is culturally diverse, affordable and family oriented. Our three satellite cities (Malta, Glasgow and Sidney, Montana with total population of under 24,000), present the "Big Sky Concert Series" to our frontier towns with four concerts each season. Our concerts are unique in that we allow our audiences to visit with the artists after every performance. We also have an intermission where our board serves cookies and coffee which encourages community fellowship.
NAN's school programs are enjoyed by over 2,000 underserved children (with each tour) with many programs presented to the entire school enrollment in one outreach. NAN serves a large Native American population with our AIP (Artists in Performance) program. Dodson is almost all Native American, Malta has a 5.17% Native American population, and Frazer sits on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation which is 93% Native American. These are minorities that do not normally get to hear all types of music, or diverse types of arts. We are bringing education and culture to them that is not a part of their community and they would not have this exposure without our programs. At Dodson school, the total minority enrollment (American Indian) is 96% and 100% of the students are economically disadvantaged. Frazer school's minority enrollment is 100% of the student body which is more than the Montana public school average of 22% (majority American Indian). Due to the difficulties in retaining teachers in these remote schools, many of these schools are without music and arts programs, such as Dodson and Frazer. NAN's school performances are imperative in these schools that have limited access to the arts. In addition to our concert series which reaches audiences of all ages and genders, we provide a mini-concert program to a local nursing home and a retirement home. These outreaches provide music for our seniors and disabled individuals and support our mission of reaching audiences of young and old.
What is the audience you wish to reach? (E.g., Describe your current audience or new audience segments you wish to target.)
Currently our week-long programming allows our artists to inspire school children with our outreaches to ten (mostly) rural schools. These outreaches also deepen our organization's engagement with our frontier communities as the school children often bring their parent(s) to the evening performance after having an outreach with the artist at their school. Our audiences -the community, family, and child - benefit from this interaction with the arts. Our faithful season ticket holders enjoy four artistically diverse evening concerts. We also provide outreaches to a retirement and nursing home which includes elderly, disabled and their families to enjoy a musical performance in their setting.
We want to reach more families. We struggle to reach more parents of the school children and younger adults, but we realize the time constraints of young families. Our communities have a good rapport with our Senior Citizens (most are season ticket holders) but it is the younger adults (ages 20-45) we wish to attract to our series.
How do you propose to reach this audience? (E.g., Describe program, operational, or marketing strategies that you will use to meet your goal.)
NAN's marketing consists of publishing newspaper articles announcing our season and articles about each artist(s) before the concert date. Our alliances with our newspaper editors in each of our towns ensure worthy coverage before the concerts. We have a NAN Facebook page where we share the artist outreaches in the schools, i.e., show clips of the artist performing in the schools. This has been successful in reaching people when they view the excitement of the students reacting to an artist. We also distribute posters announcing the upcoming concert to various businesses that help us reach community members, anywhere from small coffee shops to fitness centers to dentist offices. The local museum in Sidney, The MonDak Heritage Center, publishes our concert series on their website and in their newsletter, which allows us to reach more community members.
Promotion
Websites and social media
The MonDak Heritage Center
Season Brochure
Other online marketing
Do you use email marketing?
yes
Subscription URL
25
Event calendars used
LivelyTimes, State of the Arts (MT Arts Council), Other
MonDakHeritageCenter.org
Marketing questions or goals:
How to attract more younger audience members to our season concerts without serving alcohol.
FY25 Season Info
Artist 1
Name
Montana Repertory Theatre
Date(s)
9/23-9/27/24
Performance Fee
600
Outreach Fee
5900
Artist 2
Name
The Lucky Valentines
Date(s)
10/21-10/25/24
Performance Fee
3500
Outreach Fee
1500
Artist 3
Name
Jazz Legacy Project
Date(s)
11/4-11/8/24
Performance Fee
6750
Outreach Fee
2750
Artist 4
Name
Backtrack Vocals
Date(s)
3/17-3/22/25
Performance Fee
9000
Outreach Fee
4000
Artist 5
Name
Date(s)
Performance Fee
0
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 6
Name
Date(s)
Performance Fee
0
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 7
Name
Date(s)
Performance Fee
0
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 8
Name
Date(s)
Performance Fee
0
Outreach Fee
0
Total Artist Fees
34000
$
Explanation for unusually low or high numbers
Artists based in, or originating from Montana
Montana Repertory Theatre (Missoula) and The Lucky Valentines (Fort Benton)
Application Files
Some applicants have multiple PDF's for contracts. Please use the link below to open a folder on the cloud with all artist contracts/letters of intent.