Belt Theater Company
EIN
81-0517922
501(c)3 nonprofit
PO Box 604
Belt
59412
Main Contact
Amy
Olson
Secretary
(406) 277-3844
Organization objectives (check all that apply)
We currently have a series and would like to reach a new audience., Other objective.
For the 2024/25 series we booked matinee showtimes to our standard 8 show line up, for a total of 16 shows.
Communities Impacted
Name the cities or towns where your programming has an impact
Great Falls, Sand Coulee, Stockett, Belt, Monarch, Neihart, Raynesford, Geyser
Name the counties where your program has an impact
Cascade, Judith Basin
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)
Belt Schools, Belt; Belt Senior Center, Belt
Describe any other specific program, practicies, or strategies your organization employs to make a great impact in your area
Within the scope of our season series, we partnered with Judith Arts Society for Geyser School students to attend an outreach in Belt with Belt School students. This is an open invitation with potential for future collaboration as well. Our room and board sponsor provided an extra night to an artist who performed both in Belt and then Geyser, which supported JAS.
Outside the scope of the season series, we open the Belt Performing Arts Center for community events that bring numerous people into our theater; this serves to break down barriers for potential patrons. Additionally, we present an outdoor summer concert featuring popular music, which aims to develop awareness of the arts center, its mission and other programming along with the larger purpose of bringing community together in a shared musical activity.
Application Narrative
How is the proposed season different from past programming
In terms of quality and diversity, the season matches the previous year; however, this year we are expanding our show offerings to 16 showings -- a matinee and evening showing per artist.
If you are taking an artistic risk in programming, what is it and why is it a risk?
Most of the programming is similar to what we've presented in the past; however, presenting El Javi is likely our biggest risk to date. El Javi is strictly acoustic fusion. One man, one guitar, mostly not familar music, no singing. This is a first and success may hinge upon how engaging El Javi is in musical expression and building audience rapport. El Javi is of mexican decent with a strong accent, so this may prove difficult for our older patrons to decypher.
How is your performing arts series significant to your community?
Just over half of our audience are Belt residents (by zip code). They love the performances, the exposure to different culture, the intimate theater and time with friends in an uplifting setting. They love we are local, in their hometown.
Belt School is a willing partner in educational outreach. They value the significant impact of live performance on student quality of live and learning. We're not exactly sure who loves outreach more, the students or their teachers!
To the downtown business, bar and restuarant community, we bring patronage every month of the season. By expanding our season we hope to expand that impact as well.
There's also the collateral impact of community pride. People enjoy living in a community that has impactful resources, whether they personally participate or not.
What is the audience you wish to reach? (E.g., Describe your current audience or new audience segments you wish to target.)
With the expansion of our season, we wish to reach more of the same type of audience and possibly open the door for younger attendees. It's important to note our two previous seasons were sold out to season patrons, which served to dissuade lower intrest patrons.
Our current audience skews over 50 years old and older, many retired or semi-retired. They have discretionary time and resources to purchase a $150 season ticket of which they may or may not attend every show. By offering a matinee showtime, we hope to reach more of this demographic: both those who prefer to not travel at night, especially in the winter and those that wish to attend but the evening showtime conflicts with grandkid sporting events.
We assess a younger attendee is less likely to purchase a season ticket due to cost, children, future time committment barriers and concern for whether they'll like all the music on the season ticket. It's an investment. By expanding the season we open plenty of seating for door sales allowing for one-time or last minute patrons who see a show that looks appealing. It's a hopeful strategy that once they're in, they're a future season patron as time and resources allow.
How do you propose to reach this audience? (E.g., Describe program, operational, or marketing strategies that you will use to meet your goal.)
Read answer above for programming and operational strategies. :)
Regarding marketing strategies, we'll use Facebook Ads to target both demographics highlighting aspects that would appeal to them.
Promotion
Websites and social media
Season Brochure
Other online marketing
Do you use email marketing?
no
Subscription URL
Event calendars used
State of the Arts (MT Arts Council), Other
Marketing questions or goals:
We, meaning Amy, would like tutored on targeting Facebook audiences and decyphering ad metrics. We've run ads and are reaching people with what appears to be good CTR, but it's still a situation of not knowing what we don't know to assess if we using our resources efficiently for most impact.
FY25 Season Info
Artist 1
Name
A Band Called Honalee
Date(s)
27 October 2024
Performance Fee
4500
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 2
Name
Gary Negbaur
Date(s)
15 & 16 November 2024
Performance Fee
2500
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 3
Name
Steve Olson Orchestra
Date(s)
15 December 2024
Performance Fee
0
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 4
Name
El Javi
Date(s)
18 January 2025
Performance Fee
2700
Outreach Fee
300
Artist 5
Name
Richard Dowling
Date(s)
15 February 2025
Performance Fee
2700
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 6
Name
Mari Black
Date(s)
28 & 29 March 2025
Performance Fee
3750
Outreach Fee
0
Artist 7
Name
The Jazz Legacy Project
Date(s)
11 & 12 April 2025
Performance Fee
3750
Outreach Fee
250
Artist 8
Name
Tomáš Kubínek
Date(s)
3 May 2025
Performance Fee
3500
Outreach Fee
0
Total Artist Fees
25000
$
Explanation for unusually low or high numbers
The Steve Olson Orchestra is an all volunteer local orchestra who donate their concerts.
Gary Negbaur showcased in 2020. We've stayed in contact over the years wanting present him in Belt Theater. He made us a deal to get his foot in Montana and has managed to pick up other bookings as a result.
We sense our fees may generally be lower than average. We attribute this to two factors when negotiating with artists. One being our room and board sponsor, Ranches at Belt Creek, is a 5-star dude ranch and offers extra nights to artists. The other is the limited size of our theater at 114 seats. We already charge more for a season ticket than most arts councils in order to meet our obligations. We fear raising the ticket prices would be cost-prohibitive. Based upon pricing constraints and demand, expanding to include a matinee show offering seems the most reasonable option to raise funds to increase artist budget and meet our fiscal needs.
Artists based in, or originating from Montana
Steve Olson Orchestra
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.