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 will announce this year’s Music in the Mountains concert lineup on Thursday, May 2, at The Waypoint in the Big Sky Town Center.
The highly anticipated lineup reveal coincides with Big Sky’s annual Give Big Fest, which features local nonprofits coming together for a 24-hour celebration of giving. Give Big is a great opportunity to support the community by making donations to local organizations and helps keep Music in the Mountains admission free, along with supporting other year-round programming.
Celebrate and kick off this year’s event with the Arts Council and Big Sky’s other incredible nonprofit organizations by participating in Give Big Fest at the event. Test your knowledge of the Big Sky community by visiting with representatives from various Big Sky nonprofit organizations to answer questions on our special Give Big Bingo card. Enter your completed card into a drawing for a big prize basket! When you make a donation to any Big Sky nonprofit, you’ll receive a token to redeem at The Waypoint that night for either popcorn and a soda or a pint during the event.
“We’re excited to partner with all of the great nonprofits we have here in Big Sky,” Brian Hurlbut, Arts Council executive director, said. “It’s always a fun event, and we’re looking forward to announcing the summer music lineup as well.”
The event starts at 6 p.m. and there is no admission charge. Browse the local nonprofits and enjoy appetizer and drink specials from The Waypoint. At 7:30 p.m. the Arts Council will begin the lineup reveal, followed immediately by live music from the Tuesday Night Rodeo Club.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of hosting Music in the Mountains in the Town Center’s Len Hill Park. The free concert series brings nationally touring musicians along with up and coming emerging artists to Big Sky throughout the summer for a night of family friendly fun, and has been voted Big Sky’s Best Annual Event for the past two years. The music starts on June 20 this year and runs through Sept. 12. For more information please visit bigskyarts.org.
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.
