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PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Traveling Exhibit of Cowboy Trades Association (CTA) A VISTA 360 501C3 NON-PROFIT

The Cowboy Trades Association is producing a traveling exhibit to showcase the handmade work of traditional cowboy artisans in the Northern Rockies. These traditions include saddle-making, boot-making and other leatherwork, bits and spurs, engraved silver and other silverwork, artist blacksmiths, hats, woven cinches and saddle blankets, braided rawhide and horsehair hitching. The exhibit will include graphic panels, a showcase of master work, videos to introduce the artists and interactive digital dialogue with viewers. It also includes many ways for the audience to connect to CTA for further information and activities.

The purpose of the exhibit is to increase the visibility, viability and value of cowboy artisan traditions by greater exposure for the work of master artisans and by introducing audiences to the people who do this work, telling their stories. This is not an historical exhibit. It presents living artforms that are alive and evolving.

Exhibit Tour

The exhibit will be displayed in museums, libraries, art centers, historical societies and community venues throughout the Northern Rockies region (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nevada) with a tour of 24 months beginning in Spring, 2025. Venues will include both rural and urban areas in our region, including both major museums and small community centers. The tour will showcase this beautiful heritage to the very people who share this history.

Community Engagement is Primary Goal

The exhibit organizers will actively engage these communities in the appreciation and preservation of their own traditions. At each site, local artisans will be honored and audiences will be invited to join an ongoing conversation about how this heritage can be celebrated and preserved, through collaboration. Each installation will be accompanied by talks and demos by local artisans as well as presentations to Town Councils, service clubs and high school classes, increasing recognition of local talent.

The exhibit will also be filmed in the making and this footage will subsequently be expanded for broadcast as both film and infomercial on television and Internet.

Our project is informed by the 2023 Held in Trust report from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Foundation for the Advancement in Conservation. We are using this report as our touchstone because it is the result of extensive research about cultural preservation strategies for the 21st century. This project is specifically designed to address this priority from the Education, Professional Development and Leadership Working Group: "... community caretakers and allied professionals are both empowered to collaborate in cultural heritage preservation and will have a deep and long-lasting effect on the country's and the world's remarkably diverse cultural heritage." In our case, the artisans are our "community caretakers" and our network of support organizations are their "allied professionals".

Our goal is to mobilize communities to preserve these traditions over the long term as a matter of civic pride and community resilience. This local support system will include elected officials, service clubs, schools and teachers, business owners, artists, historical societies and non-profit organizations. This exhibit will be the spark to build these enduring support systems on the local level.

Timeline:

April, 2023-March, 2024 Initial Planning DONE

March, 2024-April, 2024 Design Concept DONE

May, 2024--August, 2024 Video Production IN PROCESS

Sept, 2024-January, 2025 Fabrication

February, 2025-March, 2025 Completion of Selection of Display Items

July 2025-September, Jackson Wyoming Historical center GRAND OPENING

April, 2025-March, 2027 Traveling Tour-Northern Rockies

March, 2027- Traveling Tour - National & International

The life expectancy of exhibit is 15-20 years.

Interview with Idaho silversmith Jock Brown: "Threats to sustainability: conflict between passion, branding, cost of materials and market value - need atmosphere of sharing more than competition."