The Clark Chateau is excited to announce the New Songs for Butte Mining Camp Project. Under grants from the Montana Cultural Trust and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a total of fourteen musicians will be commissioned to reinvent historic Butte mining and labor songs in their own unique style. As part of the project, they spend time researching Butte history, with assistance from the Butte-Silver Bow Archives. Each musician will present their work at a mid-day Brown Bag talk scheduled on Fridays at the Archives, followed by a Saturday night performance at the Clark Chateau.
The first four concerts occurred between December 2021 to April 2022 and were funded by the Montana Cultural Trust under the Montana Arts Council. The Montana Cultural Trust is funded by coal severance taxes paid based upon coal mined in Montana and deposited in Montana's cultural and aesthetic projects trust fund. This first set of concerts featured musicians Aaron Parrett, Jessica Catron and her band, Missincinatti, Christy Hays, and the band Cash for Junkers.
Ten more musicians will be funded under a new Grant for Arts Projects through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). These musicians included Sean Eamon, Catfish Carl, Aaron Jennings, John Dendy, Nicholas Merz, Roy Ivy, Dublin Gulch, Zinnia, The Pettifoggers, Dylan Running Crane and Ben Larson. Currently scheduled performances are listed below:
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from the Historic Clark Chateau that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. “The Historic Clark Chateau in Butte is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being, and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”
We are funded in part by coal severance taxes paid based upon coal mined in Montana and deposited in Montana's cultural and aesthetic projects trust fund.
