City backs pursuit of new ‘blueprint’ for arts and culture
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) Citing the economic benefits of arts in Missoula, the City Council on Wednesday approved a $100,000 agreement to help create a “blueprint” plan focused on growing the city's arts and cultural programs.
The funding was approved in the Fiscal Year '26 budget. The resulting plan looks to strengthen Missoula's sister-city partnerships with Germany and New Zealand, support public art and the city's annual percent for art ordinance, which dedicates a small sum to local arts and culture.
“It helps us grow and recognize and support arts in our community as an economic driver, and the real fulfillment that these arts and cultural programs provide,” said Ryan Applegate, deputy director of programs and fiscal services for the city.
Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis in May appointed the Arts and Culture Blueprint Committee and tasked it with updating the city's 35-year-old arts and culture plan. The new version will detail the role that art nonprofits and local government play in the arts, and the general delivery of arts.
Heather Adams, executive director of Arts Missoula, said the committee recently detailed its early findings, including the program's long-term goals.
“A cultural plan is meant to talk about the people who do the work, the work itself, the infrastructure and the representation,” said Adams. “We all know Missoula celebrates how much we support the arts in this town. It's how we identify ourselves in Missoula as being a very artistically vibrant community.”
Recent studies have found that Missoula's arts and cultural landscape generate around $55 million a year in the local economy. The city has been recognized for its arts, though supporters believe opportunities exist to elevate and expand Missoula's cultural profile.
“We know we support it with our dollars and not just our hearts and souls in this community,” Adams said. “We want that plan to address how we take care of the people doing that work in Missoula.”
That includes jobs, keeping arts and cultural graduates local, and understanding how the arts attract and keep people in Missoula. As it stands, the arts hold a place in a number of city plans including parks and trails, the growth policy, and the Midtown and downtown master plans.
“All those plans reference the arts,” Adams said. “We're just going to take a few steps down, dig into it a little more, and figure out what it is we need to do to support that in this community.”
The program received praise from members of the City Council. Arts Missoula is the official arts and culture agency for the city.
“That aspect of our community is an important component of what Parks and Recreation does in the community to bring people together,” said council member Mirtha Becerra. “This organization does that and so much more.”