Since its inception in 1989, the Arts Council of Big Sky has been Big Sky’s premier non-profit cultural organization, striving to create an art-centric community through artistic events, cultural outreach, public art, and educational initiatives. Learn more about how we impact our community from our latest impact report.
The Arts Council of Big Sky is presenting the 2024 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival on Tuesday, March 19, at 7 p.m. at the Waypoint in Big Sky. This event is part of the Adventure Circuit Film Series, a curated collection of outdoor and recreation-focused film festivals packaged together for a greater impact on Big Sky.
The Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) connects our global outdoor community with international filmmakers, creators, and speakers so that we can inspire, entertain, and bring mountain adventure to you. The Festival presents unique outdoor films and content that illustrate experiences and cultures from all around the globe, bringing communities together to promote positive values and active lifestyles. Each year, the VIMFF takes award-winning and other selected films on tour across Canada, the United States and around the world. It gives local communities the chance to enjoy some of the world’s best mountain films and enjoy an evening of stories of snowsports, climbing, biking, mountain culture, the environment, and more.
Advance tickets for the event are on sale now at bigskyarts.org. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door. Next up in the Adventure Circuit will be the Paddling Film Festival World Tour on June 11.
By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
On Feb. 22, the Arts Council of Big Sky hosted its 12th annual Auction for the Arts, welcoming 280 bidders and auctioning off 85 pieces of art made by 69 different artists. This year’s art auction was both the highest-grossing and highest-netting auction to date for the Arts Council.
The event was hosted at the Montage Big Sky hotel and raised a net total of $185,000 for local art programming. Auctiongoers considered artwork from a total of 100 regional and national artists and gallerists across silent, fixed-price and live auctions. In addition to the $238,000 collected during the auctions—that total amount was split between the Arts Council and each selling artist—the “Arts For All Paddle Call” raised $58,000 in donation pledges.
The Arts Council of Big Sky is hosting an exhibit showcasing new original work from renowned artist Lamont Joseph White in celebration of the National Brotherhood of Skiers Annual Summit being held in Big Sky from Feb. 24 and March 2. On Tuesday, Feb. 27, meet and greet the artist from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the BASE Art Gallery. Afterwards there will be a NBS Pub Crawl from 3 to 6 p.m., which includes a stop at the Deborah Butterfield sculpture, “Winter.”
Lamont Joseph White was born and raised in the New York City metropolitan area, where he lacked visual inspiration. His influences are derived by aspects of both modern and traditional approaches–classicism and renaissance for their academic forms of beauty and impression and abstraction that speak to his sense of contemporary times.
He received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York with continued studies at The School of Visual Arts and the New School. As a student, he was fortunate to have an incredible creative environment and passion for the arts early on. During his schooling, renowned illustrators Jack Potter and Antonio Lopez took him under their wings and contributed greatly to his approach and creative direction.
After graduating he went on to illustrate ad campaigns and editorials for Adidas, Converse, Coleman, Fairchild Publications, Ebony Man, Cole Haan, Bally Shoes, Amalfi Shoes, Bandolino Shoes, amongst others. His ongoing creative pursuits have included fine art exhibits, illustration, graphic design and product development across multiple industries.
Exhibitions have included The Society of Illustrators and various other New York City metro area galleries. More recently his work has been seen at Ski Utah Headquarters, Snowbird resort and Christian Center of Park City, where he currently resides. He has also collaborated with Teton Gravity Research.
Thematically, inclusion and diversity are always important for Lamont. It’s often said that race doesn’t matter or that color isn’t seen. He prefers, instead, to observe our differences so that we can better embrace them.
The artwork will be on display in the BASE Gallery for the next couple of months and is open to the public during BASE Community Center’s hours of operation.