CCM wins 2019 Red Ants Pants Foundation grant

From boosting women’s leadership and self-reliance to enhancing rural heritage, the Red Ants Pants Foundation shares proceeds from the Red Ants Pants Music Festival in a meaningful way each year. Festival fans can know that their choice to join the festival has a lasting impact through the Red Ants Pants Foundation’s community grant program.

Grant applications are considered based on how they best help fulfill the foundation's mission of developing and expanding leadership roles for women, preserving and supporting working family farms and ranches, and enriching rural communities.

Last year the foundation received a large number of applications from organizations doing great work all over Montana. With proceeds from the 2018 Red Ants Pants Music Festival, the foundation was able to award over $10,000 in grants in 2019. Below are the four, statewide recipients of the 2019 Red Ants Pants Foundation Community Grant.

Carter County Museum in Ekalaka was awarded $1,700. The grant will be used to purchase a Protocycler to recycle plastic waste from failed 3D print projects and upcycle water bottles into 3D printing filaments for educational kits based on museum collections. This program will educate the next generation of children in science while inspiring discussions on sustainability and the future of the planet.

Gallatin College in Bozeman received $5,000. This fall, Gallatin College Welding Technology program is offering a welding course exclusively for women, taught by women. The goal is to encourage self-reliance and expand the skill set of women in the Gallatin, Park, Meagher, Madison, Jefferson and Broadwater areas to include welding and metal working so that they can take these valuable skills back to the farm or ranch, to make repairs, create artwork, or as an introduction for a future career in welding.

Montana Preservation Alliance (MPA), located in Helena and White Sulphur Springs, was awarded $2,500. The heritage of Montana is embedded in the rural places and natural landscapes that are the backdrop to Montanan’s lives. These are places where timeless rock art, buffalo jumps, historic trails, agricultural and tribal communities, and rich cultural traditions all twine together to tell the over-arching story of Montana. MPA will host its fifth biennial Preservation Roadshow to take in sites such as these in the White Sulphur Springs area June 10-13, 2020. The alliance holds conferences in small Montana towns every other year to showcase heritage and successful preservation work in rural areas. Each road show involves a partnership of federal land managing agencies, state historic, humanities and parks agencies, regional tourism, and local business and culture leaders. The grant award will be used to curate a panel of rural leaders from across the country as part of the Preservation Roadshow.

Western Landowners Alliance was awarded an $800 grant. Women in Ranching strives to empower women on the land, through circle gatherings. These circles build a connected community of ranch women who support each other in their work on the land. This is accomplished through experiential learning, self-inquiry, exploration and unique skill-building opportunities in a safe, facilitated environment. The goal is accomplished when women return to their rural communities with an increased sense of agency.

The Red Ants Pants Foundation community grant program is made possible by proceeds from the Red Ants Pants Music Festival. It is designed to support organizations and individuals whose projects parallel the foundation’s mission. Thanks to ticket sales and donations from past Red Ants Pants Music Festivals, the foundation has now given more than $110,000 in mission-based community grants.