PARIS GIBSON SQUARE INCORPORATED

Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art provides free admission to the public, preserves cultural heritage through a permanent collection of over 1,100 works of art from local and regional artists, displays rotating art exhibitions, hosts public events and expert lectures, and art educational opportunities for all. The building that houses Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art is a 44,000+ square foot Romanesque style stone building built in 1896 and is presently on the National Register of Historic Places. This building originally served as the city’s first high school, Great Falls Central High. In 1930, it became Great Falls High and served as the Junior High School, and in-between 1975-1977 the building was renovated to become a Contemporary Art Museum, Cultural Center, and Education Center. This building has a long heritage of providing educational and cultural programming to the Great Falls community and surrounding areas. Today, it continues this tradition by providing thoughtfully curated exhibitions of contemporary art, by supporting Montana artists through the acquisition and display of their work, and by offering a wide variety of workshops and quarterly art classes to patrons from all walks of life. The Square hosts programs each year that bring the elderly, the disabled, veterans, at-risk youth, and roughly 790 third graders to the museum each year. In addition to these programs, The Square receives nearly 30,000 visitors, making it an important cultural landmark and destination location for the community of Great Falls. Due to the building’s age, it needs rehabilitation work to make it safer for staff, students, and visitors, and to foster continued growth for exhibitions, educational programming, to protect the historic resource of the building and the museum’s permanent collection for generations to come. The Square provides free admission for all five days per week which attract patrons, students, art appreciators, tourists and history enthusiasts, the community benefits from that which our institution continues to provide and the ways by which we serve the community’s diversity and essential, cultural needs.