Presenter Development

The Montana Performing Arts Consortium

The Montana Performing Arts Consortium (MPAC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving Montana's community of presenting organizations and the artists who bring their talent to our stages. Its mission is to:

Promote and encourage the touring and presentation of the performing arts throughout Montana in a professional and cost-effective manner.
Provide support and technical assistance to non-profit performing arts presenters, presenting communities, and artists.
To foster a favorable climate for both artists and presenters in Montana and promote, cultivate, and amplify the vibrant, innovative, and powerful presenting culture in Montana communities.

Presenter Development Program Guidelines

The Presenter Development Program is an opportunity for small-budget, rural presenters to receive artistic and outreach fee support for the 2024-2025 season series (FY25). This program supports a maximum of 20% of artist fees and/or 50% of artist outreach fees. This program depends on state funds from a Montana Cultural Trust legislative grant and the Montana Arts Council. These allocations are not guaranteed. Do not sign contracts assuming funds will be available. Participants receive promotional support in the form of funding ranging from a minimum of $300 to a maximum of $2,000. The average funding amount is $900. Funds will be disbursed in December 2024, at the earliest.

Application

Applications must be submitted through the online form.
Deadline: August 25, 2025

Review criteria

Applications will be reviewed and scored against the following criteria:

Applicant demonstrates understanding of the community’s needs and strives to meet them through programming.
Programming exhibits artistic and educational quality.
Applicant provides artistic/cultural programming to an otherwise underserved community.

Supported Activities

Examples of supported activities include:

Efforts to develop current audiences or target new audiences.
Creating a new performing arts series in a community that does not have one.
Expanding programming by adding artistic diversity or culturally diverse artists.
Adding or modifying outreach activities to increase access or reach new audiences.

Consideration will also be given to those meeting the following criteria.

Please note: The following are not mandatory requirements but consideration is given to organizations that meet the following criteria.

Presenters in communities where there is no performing arts series. E.g., organizations may occasionally present events, but did not organize or promote these events in a series format.
Presenters in a community with an existing series with plans to add events that increase artistic quality and/or reach new audiences. Within this category, MPAC gives priority to series programming that attempts to broaden audience aesthetic perceptions by booking artistically and/or culturally diverse artists, or scheduling outreach activity designed to reach new audiences.
New: Presenter series that include a professional artist or group based in or originating from Montana.
New: Presenters serving rural audiences located in a broad geographic area.

Restrictions

Activities that do not qualify for support:

Fundraising events or galas
Self-produced, amateur, or student performances
Community theater
Events occurring before July 1, 2024, or after June 30, 2025

Applicants should omit these items from their application/budget section.

Review process & notification

Presenter Development applications will be reviewed by a panel consisting of local professionals in the Montana presenting community and a staff member from the Montana Arts Council. The panel will meet in August 2024 and organizations accepted into the program will be notified in September 2024.

Eligible organizations

Applicant must be an MPAC member in good standing. Click here to learn about becoming an MPAC member.
Applicant must be a performing arts presenting organization located in a rural Montana community.
- The majority of Montana’s geographic area is defined by the Census Bureau as "rural" meaning most population centers have fewer than 2,500 people. Learn more.
Applicant is a 501(c)3 nonprofit or has a fiscal sponsor.
New: There is no artist fee budget maximum or minimum for eligibility.
New: Applicants with artist fees exceeding $25,000 in FY25 must demonstrate how their programs serve a large rural community (examples include but are not limited to serving a large geographic area, expanded outreach programs, multiple performances per visiting artist).

Participant requirements

Organizations accepted into the Presenter Development program must meet the following requirements:
Sign an Agreement Letter
Present events in a series format with the following criteria:
- A minimum of three (3) full-length performances by three (3) different professional performing artists.
- Charge admission for full-length performances.
- Promote events together under one series or organization name.
- Supported events take place during a nine (9) month period between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024.
New: The Presenter Development program no longer requires that the presenter series include a professional artist or artist group residing or originating in the state of Montana. However, consideration is still given to applicants that include Montana artists in their programs.
The series must contain at least one (1) outreach activity in addition to that artist’s full-length public performance.
Sell a series ticket.
Promote the series with at least one (1) of the following:
- Series website
- Series brochure
- Active series social media account
- Series email campaigns
File a final report with MPAC which includes an individual evaluation (Form A) for each performance series event and one final series financial report (Form B), by June 15, 2025. Examples of Forms A and B will be made available through this website.
Include the following credit line in all printed and electronic promotional materials as a contractual obligation:

“This event made possible in part by the Montana Performing Arts Consortium Presenter Development Program, which is supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Montana Arts Council, and legislative grant from Montana’s Cultural Trust.”

PLEASE NOTE: Participating organizations that do not include this line in their printed and electronic materials will not receive the second installment of their funding.

MPAC Annual Showcase & Conference

Presenters are strongly urged, but not required, to attend MPAC’s Annual Showcase & Conference.

The next conference will be held in Great Falls on October 11-13, 2024.

Registration is available here.

Contact

For questions or assistance, contact Emily Wolfram, Executive Director at info@mtperformingarts.org or (406)284-5524.

Application Checklist

List of cities/towns and counties your organization serves
List of schools and/or community centers where you program outreach events
Marketing information (website, social media links, PDF of brochure or other marketing samples)
The following files ready to upload:
- FY25 (2024-25) artist information (artist name, dates, fees)
- Your organization's Budget for 2024-25 (FY25)
- Artist contracts or letters of intent for supported events
- Your organization's Profit & Loss Statement for 2023-24 (FY24)
- Your organization's board of directors list for your presenting organization
- For NEW OR LAPSED applicants only: Complete MPAC template for FY24 and FY23 artist fees

Presenter Development

The Montana Performing Arts Consortium