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Transcript

On Location at Tippet Rise · A New Angle

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: This is A New Angle.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: Conversations about how we're doing and where we're going.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Justin Angle.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: This show is supported by the Headwaters Foundation,
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: First Security Bank, and the University of Montana College of Business.
• 0:22
  [music]
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Hey folks, welcome back, and thanks for tuning in.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: Today, we bring you something special,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: an on-location conversation with Pete Hinman, co-director of Tip It Rise.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Tip It Rise is an amazing fusion of art, music,
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: architecture,
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: and nature, all mixing together on a working ranch near Fishtail, Montana.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: We just attended an amazing performance by the brass quartet,
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: The Westerlies, and now get to visit with Pete.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for hosting me.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for being here.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so tell us, where did you grow up?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: What did your parents do?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up in a little,
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: um, Valley called West Lake Creek, which is, uh, runs into the Eagle river Valley.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: So just, it's just down the road from Vail, the ski area, the ski resort.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad was a career ski patrolman, 36 years on Vail ski patrol.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: He moved there in the early sixties.
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  SPEAKER_00: So right after the mountain opened, um, it was a fly fishing guide in the summer.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom was an elementary school teacher.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: So it would seem like the question of how the heck did you get here is a good place
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: to start, but let's talk first about what here is.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: What is Tippett Rise?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: How did it come to be?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Tippett Rise is an art center,
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: and it's on 12,500 acres,
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: creating an environment where visitors,
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: guests can explore the outdoors,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: nature, and see outdoor sculpture, contemporary, some abstract art.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have a five-week concert season.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's classical music.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And those concerts are both indoors and outdoors.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's this amazing place where people can come in the summer and just enjoy the arts
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: and nature and sort of like have their own experience,
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: feeling and seeing those things interact.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: All of the sculptures are spread across the landscape.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's all connected with hiking and biking trails.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really cool synergy of ideas and elements that come together to create
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: a really unique experience.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: So then let's go back to how on earth did you land here and what is your job?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So Lindsay and I are the co-directors of the Arts Center.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we actually knew the founders, Peter and Kathy Halstead from Colorado.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And they always sort of like talked about these ideas of sculpture outdoors and music outdoors.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And of course they'd had wonderful experiences.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Experiences in their life,
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: exploring different sculpture parks and going to classical music festivals.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they realized that they really wanted to create a unique space that sort
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: of took from the experiences that they had in their life,
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: but also made them unique and really having nature and
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: the outdoors elements be central to the whole experience.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And literally, like, we got a phone call from them out of the blue in 2014.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they said,
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: you know how we used to, like,
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: talk about, like,
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: creating a place where,
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: like, you would be walking through a meadow and you would come across a sculpture?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, yeah, of course.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we remember that.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, well,
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: we have this land in Montana and we'd love it if you and Lindsay came out
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: to Fishtail and help us create Tipper Rise.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just anybody who can make a phone call like that.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: So we should talk for a while about who Kathy and Peter are,
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: both artists themselves, philanthropists.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, talk about Kathy and Peter and why they're so special.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: As you said, Kathy is an abstract painter.
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  SPEAKER_00: Peter is a poet, writer, novelist, pianist.
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  SPEAKER_00: They have this just incredible background in the arts.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, they're amazing philanthropists.
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  SPEAKER_00: They give to education initiatives, art initiatives, environmental initiatives.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: As I said,
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: they've had these incredible experiences in their life that they felt were very,
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: very moving and grounding for them.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And they wanted to be able to share that with anybody and everybody who endeavors
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: to make it to Tip It Rise.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so they wanted to create this space that's incredibly open and welcoming
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: and not intimidating, very accessible.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: So welcoming.
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  SPEAKER_02: From the moment you check in and everybody,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: just all the structures, the whole experience has been very just open.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that just speaks to who they are as people.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they're so genuine.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so they created this fantastic place that we as the staff and as Lindsay and I
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: as the co-directors,
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: we get to cultivate The environment that allows people to be open and receptive
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: to having a really unique experience,
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  SPEAKER_00: being open and receptive to classical music and open and receptive
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: to seeing outdoor sculpture.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then we just get to give it away.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it feels wonderful for us to just provide these wonderful opportunities
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: for our visitors who are so grateful.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I just think the question was, what are they like?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that you're seeing exactly who they are through experiencing Tippett Rise.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: And you used a phrase a moment ago, give it away.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mean,
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: that's a big part of the ethic to my understanding is it's not an expensive place
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: to visit.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, you have to get here.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's a challenging place to get to.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: But once you're here, it's very open.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: The concert tickets are intentionally low priced.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: You have to get through the lottery.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, that's part of the design ethic of the entire experience, right?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So concert tickets are $10.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sculpture tours are $10.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Both the concert tickets and the sculpture tours are free for anyone 21 and under
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: because we obviously want the youth to come and enjoy the art center and hiking
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: and biking is free.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: the hardest part for sure,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: is getting to tip your eyes physically because we're quite remote here in Fishtail.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, like actually landing a reservation.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the other hard part because it is competitive to get in.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said,
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: the concert tickets,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: we do it through a randomized drawing to make it as fair as possible
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: because they are in high demand.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: But all of that is not to be exclusive at all.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about creating an atmosphere where...
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're not overwhelmed by people.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: You want people to be able to have the very intimate experience.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're in a concert hall with 130 people and you're right there with the musicians.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can hear them breathing.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: That was 10 feet away.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can see their cues with each other.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know,
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: it's those sort of intimate experiences where we're all,
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: you know, reminded that we're all human and connected.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's, of course, like a major part of what makes Tippett Rise unique and special.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: The Halsteads contacted you in 2014 about this opportunity and they had a piece
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: of land in Montana.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Why this particular place?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: My understanding is they looked at a variety of places,
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  SPEAKER_02: but why did Tippett Rise have to be here?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: On Peter and Kathy's,
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: one of their first trips to this area,
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think they felt a real visceral connection to this landscape.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think the connection with the land and sky and just like we think
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: of ourselves sort of in that intermediate realm between land and sky.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's just a palpable experience on this particular landscape.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And like the Beartooth Front is just amazing.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: a really,
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: really beautiful place to be and experience and incredibly unique landscape.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so you're truly getting that connection of art and nature.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so like the topography,
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: the variations and the undulations create all these little settings
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: where you can install work.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then as a visitor, you're getting to like have this experience of like discovery.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're like on a trail and all of a sudden you come around the corner and there's
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: the demo just appearing.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, is that...
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is that a glacial erratic?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is that a truffle?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is that a sculpture?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's got the grassy top on it.
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  SPEAKER_02: Do you have artists that you invite in and say,
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: we'd like you to make a piece someplace on the land,
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  SPEAKER_02: or you have other pieces that are existing?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: One of the pieces we might talk about hasn't been shown for 30 years,
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: and now it's making an appearance.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: How do you curate all of the work?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: So some of the sculptures at Tippet Rise were commissioned.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we, you know,
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: the Halsteads,
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: have a wonderful design aesthetic and they know kind of what they like and
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: who they might want to work with.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so they've reached out to artists along the way
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: and have cultivated relationships with them and built up trust and invited them
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: to Tippet Rise to explore the And so
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: those are like site-specific works.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're totally referencing this site specifically and how,
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: you know, how they envision interacting with this landscape.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then other works were already in existence.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're, you know, Built in a, made in a studio.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think the cool thing about Tippet Rise is like when you're exploring it,
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: you're getting to see one work of art with this incredible landscape
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: and probably is closer to what an artist would like.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it's imagining when they're creating their work,
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: they're thinking this installation is going to be by itself.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So they come into existence in both ways.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: Most people probably interact with art at a museum and that's a certain type
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: of experience and it can be very emotional.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's an entirely different experience to be inside a piece of art.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: I guess it depends on your conception of art.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Buildings are art.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: We're inside art in many ways all the time, but maybe we don't explicitly acknowledge that.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: But when you walk into these pieces, it's a different type of experience for sure.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, completely.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's one of the amazing things about sculpture.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Certain sculptors really embrace the idea of movement of the viewer, of the person who's there.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Interacting with it.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we had the amazing pleasure of installing this new work by
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: the artist Alicia Kwade, who's from Poland and lives in Germany.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's this sort of like very geometric structure.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a black stainless steel structure.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you can think of like rectangles, essentially.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then it has these amazing cast branches,
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: these collected tree branches that have just been cast.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: The rigid geometry turns into these cast branches.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh, that's really cool.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, rigid geometry and then organic.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I love that.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Really interesting.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: But what I didn't understand,
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: because I was looking at it in pictures in a gallery,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know, with all white walls.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Opening, each aperture frames a different part of the landscape or a different part of the sky.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really tuning you into number one, moving to see what it can frame.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And number two,
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: really tuning you into this amazing landscape
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: and just like framing these incredible vistas and views and horizons and scales.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: So in the time that you've been here sort of since the start that
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: the facility opened in 2016,
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: What have been the biggest challenges to make the vision come to life?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think, I mean,
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: at first we were concerned that people,
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: might not come or like we were like,
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: they were kind of a long ways away and it's,
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: you know, classical music and contemporary art.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean,
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: we have just been completely impressed and I'm honored at the reception,
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: locally from our community, regionally from the state of Montana and beyond.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Something really clearly resonates with people who seek out this place.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been,
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: that was the challenge in the beginning was like, okay, people aren't going to come.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: We were like calling University of Montana and Montana State University,
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: like send your students, like come, like we'll create these partnerships.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then to have like our second year,
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: like the website crashed because so many people got online to like book tickets on
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: the same day.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's that that that was a challenge.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, I would say like, I think.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you know,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: staffing was a bit of a concern just with being like so remote and like,
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: you know, small communities and like housing and all those kinds of things.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I think a testament to Kathy and Peter Halstead and like their...
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Creating a place that's not only amazing to visit, but also amazing place to work.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Many, many of our staff have been here since they were hired and haven't left.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think,
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: and they're all incredibly hardworking and super dedicated and create They're all
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: the ones who are responsible for creating this really meaningful
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: and wonderful experience.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I think staffing was a concern and it kind of always is on the edge of the mind.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are people going to apply for these seasonal jobs?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it's been amazing.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: We might not get a ton of candidates, but the people who do apply are so amazing.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're so...
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Welcoming, warm, embracing the ideas of Tip It Rise and then sharing it with folks.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: growing sustainably and,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: not outpacing,
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: not getting like,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: not outpacing yourselves and just kind of sustainable growth is always like,
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: you don't want to grow too slow,
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: but you also want to like make sure that you have the time to really adjust with all
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: of like the additional sculptures and new buildings and things like that.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: We'll be back to my conversation with Pete Hinman after this short break.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: A New Angle would not be possible without the generous support of
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: the Headwaters Foundation,
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: working side-by-side with Western Montanans to improve the health
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: of our communities.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: And you can't do that sort of work without access to capital and education.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Two critical catalysts offered by First Security Bank and the University
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: of Montana College of Business.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Hey folks,
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'd like to call your attention
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: to Climate Smart Missoula's fourth annual Climate Solutions Week,
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: running from September 26th to October 4th.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: This year's theme is Humming Along,
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: and the week offers over 20 free events to learn, create, and connect.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Check out missoulaclimate.org for more information.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Jeff Amon from Deaf Charlie, and you're listening to Justin Angle's A New Angle.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to A New Angle.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm speaking with Pete Hinman of Tippett Rise Art Center.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned community a moment ago.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: Talk more about that.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean...
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've met a few ranchers and the pitch,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to make an art center on a bunch of ranch land.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: It could be intimidating to some.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Ranchers are maybe skeptical of change in general.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to be stereotypical here,
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_02: but talk about how the community and
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: the landowners surrounding Tippett Rise have received you.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think there was quite a bit of skepticism at first,
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: but I've got to say, like,
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Kathy and Peter had amazing ideas from the get-go,
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: which was to invite everybody to tip your eyes.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't tip your eyes at that point,
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: but invite everybody onto the property and hold a little concert and a picnic
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: and get to know your neighbors and shake hands and talk about what your ideas are.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Face to face, eye to eye, with sincerity and honesty.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're never gonna stop the rumor mill or anything like, oh, what
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: are they gonna do?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: But then to like turn around and actually do it the way you said you're gonna do it.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what they've done.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Many, many of those people have embraced Tippett Rise since sort of
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: that like trust was built and that opening to like come and enjoy it.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: We continue to have our community barbecue every spring.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: like we are,
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be as sort of fair with our reservations as possible for anybody,
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: no matter where they're living to get reservations and come to Tippett Rise.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: we also have an amazing education program,
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: and I would say it's probably like one of the best Community building things
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: that we've done,
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: which is,
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Beth Korth, who's on our team, is just phenomenal human and a wonderful educator.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And she does well over 100 education programs a year,
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: bringing students to Tip It Rise and then going out into the schools,
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: you know, kindergarten through, you know, adult workshops.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think just like that interaction and
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Welcoming atmosphere and learning,
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: teaching, sharing.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a great way to sort of introduce people and kind
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: of break down any barriers that might still be there.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that educational piece is interesting.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: This is a particular type of accessible artwork,
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: but we're at a time when arts are constantly under threat for kids and schools
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: and funding is a challenge.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: And this is a philanthropic endeavor of a certain kind,
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: but to hear that you do also all sorts of educational outreach.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about the sort of footprint of Tippett Rise across the state and the region, if you will.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So like I said, we've got that amazing education program that Beth has created.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we also work very closely with Montana State University.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Their architecture school comes every year and does these amazing,
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: you know, A semester-long project.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: And there was a group of students at the concert we just attended.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then there was the Honors College was there.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: They've been coming for years.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: This new amazing initiative that Montana State started is called
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: the Honor Bound Program with Native Indian Indigenous students,
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: first year students that get to come to Tipper Rise and experience,
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: you know, music, art, architecture.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're constantly doing those kinds of things.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: We also,
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: a lot of times when we have musicians in residence,
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: like if they're up for it,
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: we love to take them to the schools and they can do a little tutorial workshop with
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: the students.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, like those are sort of some of our things that are happening off campus.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: And this is, we should know, a working ranch.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Cattle and sheep.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Talk about that piece of the puzzle and how it fits in.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's obviously,
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: you know, it's been a working ranch, you know, long before it was Tippett Rise.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: We, yeah, just always intended, I think, to keep it that way.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's an amazing summer grazing habitat.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so like we get to...
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Continue to lease the land to local ranchers who need summer grazing ground.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Tiburais also has its own herd of cattle.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so again,
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: like that's another way of like engaging the community and keeping
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: the relations positive.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: But also It also has an ecological benefit to the land as well.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: All these grasslands have all co-evolved with ungulates grazing on the vegetation.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: It helps stimulate growth and regeneration.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's also a fire reduction mitigator.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: All of those reasons are reasons to keep it a working ranch.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty surprising to go and see big Outdoor sculpture with cows lazing in
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: the shade underneath it or things like that.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: It makes me think there's got to be a crazy story or two.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: We're just adjacent to the Beartooth Plateau.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Wild critters are abundant in this area.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Some friendly, maybe some not so.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Any stories about crises averted or chaos or interactions that you didn't quite anticipate?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we, as you know, we moved the concert today.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: The concert today was supposed to be underneath the dome,
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: which is this big, beautiful concrete structure.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: It almost looks like a truffle has like arisen up or like eroded,
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: like the earth has eroded around it.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And we hold concerts underneath it.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Our very first concert at Tip It Rise, it was a solo cello player, Matt Heimovitz.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Got about halfway through his program.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew we could all tell like the storm was going to come.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was afternoon.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was, you know, this concert started at two o'clock, I think.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And typical being on the Beartooth Front, there's going to be an afternoon thunderstorm.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just a matter of if the concert could happen before You know, the,
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: the skies opened up,
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: but sure enough,
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: he was about to play,
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think like his third or fourth piece of music and just a big,
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: beautiful crack of lightning.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, wow, that was close.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: So got everybody loaded up into the,
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: into the school buses down the hill and finished the concert in, in the music barn.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that was, you know, that was just like a,
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so many things at Tipper Rise do remind us that nature is an amazing,
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: impressive force that we have absolutely no control over.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: That we're human,
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: we're a part of the ecosystem,
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: and to remind us that we're just a small part of the ecosystem.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's well put.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: You certainly get that sensation immediately upon entering the grounds.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Fast forward 20, 50 years, this is not the sort of place that you construct to end anytime soon.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure the Halsteads, and I'm sure you and Lindsay have thought about legacy.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: What does success look like in the long run for this place?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think continuing to be a place that the community really enjoys and embraces.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I know Tippet Rise will change as the years go by in positive, great ways.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure the programming, I mean, I think the core...
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: The core of it will be similar,
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: but I think like,
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: you know, new music, new musicians, new, you know, newer, different sculpture.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think we'd love to explore the idea of temporary outdoor exhibitions
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: that are like, you know, They're just not going to be there forever.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: So come and enjoy it while it's up.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I think, yeah,
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: long term,
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: we want this to be here forever and be a place that the community continues
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: to embrace and enjoy and come out to.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And people, of course, from across the country and across the globe to come and experience.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: And we're talking about long-term here.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mentioned a moment ago the Scythian piece of art.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: My understanding is it's displaying here for the first time in 30 years.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: It was at Storm King, previously a sculpture park in New York State, I believe.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: So how does that even happen?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: I don't really understand the art world,
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: but how does something of that scale go under wraps and then decide
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: to come out 30 years later?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I hear.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Scythian is by the artist Marc de Suvro.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: And as you said, it was at one time at Storm King.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I should just say like Storm King was a is a sort of pivotal institution
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: for Kathy and Peter Halstead.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: They spent time there.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, early on and had,
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: some of those key moments in their lives that I was talking about that kind
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: of inspired Tippett Rise.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Some of that absolutely happened at Storm King.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: So Storm King,
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: there are,
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: there are dear,
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: dear friends at this point and,
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: collaborators and, um,
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: we get inspiration from each other,
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: um, But Storm King has this amazing collection of Mark de Souvereaux sculptures.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Kathy and Peter,
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: have admired Mark's work for many,
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: many years and have got to see it at Storm King and now have created
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: an amazing friendship with Mark.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's come to Tipper Eye several times to help install some
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: of his sculptures like Beethoven's Quartet and Proverb through a mutual friend.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: He knew that that work was looking for a new home.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: His name is Crosby Coughlin,
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: a wonderful person who has kind of connected us with a few different sculptures
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: that have made their way to Tip Your Eyes.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: He knew that that sculpture was kind of looking for And so we were able to luckily acquire it.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just, it's so cool.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's got this, it's like an I-beam, you know, typical Mark DeSuvro.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's got this big,
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: beautiful I-beam that's sort of like in a mat, like a,
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Vertical mast that supports this collection of found objects,
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: found steel objects,
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think, coming off of big industrial boilers and things like that.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they're arranged in such a way that the whole thing rotates 360 degrees in the wind.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like a weather vane.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the work is 22 feet tall.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's almost 18 feet wide at the top.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's really cool.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: That came this past fall.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And with our,
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: sort of low snow year,
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: we're actually able to install it like mid-January,
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: which is a pretty, you know, it had been sunny for like three weeks.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, let's just see if we can get the team together to get this thing installed.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, the day that I like hired the crane to be here and everything, it snowed.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: But we got it done.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: It ended up being a beautiful, beautiful afternoon.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Pete, tell us about the last time you
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: changed your mind.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: The last time I changed my mind.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think like,
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think this has happened several times,
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: but I think the Alicia Quade story of how like I,
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: my mind was changed in that I saw the work in one way,
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: in one setting, in one context.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then once it was installed at Tip Your Eyes and I was able to go back to it
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: a few times,
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: my mind was completely changed as to like,
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: What it could mean to anybody, to myself in particular.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: that was completely, like,
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: shape-shifting for me to think of, like, oh, yeah, like,
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: what else have I missed in my life that I was,
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: like, so certain was, you know, in one way and I could have seen it in another.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say, like, again, like,
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: having been at Tippett Rise for,
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: 12 years now or so,
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: I have come to understand that, like,
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Art is, you know, a big part of what art is, is like a way of seeing the world.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's not so much about, I mean,
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: it is about like the creations and creativity and like the objects and things.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: But as like a viewer of art,
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: it's so much about like allowing yourself to see things in new and different ways
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: and allowing yourself to see everyday objects and landscapes and things.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: And New and unique ways and just being open to interpretation.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think I love that question.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I'm way more open to changing my mind now than probably I was
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: before taking on this role at Tippet Rise.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: Pete, this has been fantastic.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so grateful to you and your team and the Halsteads.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Justin.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for listening to A New Angle.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: If you like what we do and want to support us directly,
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: please consider a subscription at anewanglepodcast.com.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: A New Angle is recorded at Studio 49, a generous gift from UM alums Michelle and Lauren Hanson.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Our presenting sponsor is the Headwaters Foundation,
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: working side-by-side with Western Montanans to improve the health
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: of our communities.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: We are also supported by First Security Bank and the University of Montana College
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: of Business, with additional help from CED, Drum Coffee, and Montana Public Radio.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: Keely Larson is our producer.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: John Brownell, Jeff Ament, and John Wicks made our music.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks a lot, and we'll see you next time.