The Myrna Loy

Helena is a small town with a big city flavor. Helena has a population of 25, 780, with a county population of 55, 716. Adjoining counties of Jefferson and Broadwater are 10, 049 and 4, 385, respectively. One reason for the extensive arts interest in the community is the presence of the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts. For almost 25 years, the Center has been an active community member, engaging community and statewide groups with films, performances, and workshops that are meaningful to their constituencies. Helena's interest in the arts is borne out by an interesting fact - the local newspaper, The Independent Record, enjoys its highest readership and distribution on Friday, the day the local arts/cultural insert, Your Time, appears. The mission of the Myrna Loy Center is to present the arts, including media, performing, literary and visual, in an educational context, with challenging and culturally enriching programs that would not otherwise appear in the Helena area or in Montana. Historically, Helena has been a regional center for performance and access to the performing arts. In the frontier days in the 1860's and 1870's traveling troupes and western theater companies passed through Helena or took up part-time residency during the winter months. Helena and and Butte MT, became convenient railroad stops for the best of vaudeville entertainment traveling between Chicago and Seattle from the 1880's to 1920's. Through the early 1960's several grand old vaudeville/movie houses hosted the best of national touring companies. In the early 1970's, Helena had a need for an organization that could be a link to the past and provide new performance and art experiences to an eager audience.