Northern Showcase disbanding

A Havre artistic tradition just shy of 75 years old appears to be disappearing, unless a new crew of people are willing and able to step up and run it.

Board members of the Northern Showcase Community Concert Association said they have disbanded the organization because the current volunteers are unable to continue the work and they have not been able to find new volunteers to run the association.

“People aren’t stepping up. It’s so sad,” Pam Hillery said this week, adding, “It takes more than one person.”

The association is the latest version of a group that had brought concerts to Havre since 1940.

That year, the local Community Concert association formed in Havre, bringing performers ranging from the Von Trapp Family Singers, later immortalized in the play and movie “The Sound of Music,” to William Warfield, best known for his performance of "Old Man River" in the film version of "Showboat," and Hi-Line native Karan Armstrong, who went on to become a renowned opera singer and performed with major opera companies in the United States and overseas.

In 2003, after the national Community Concert Association disbanded and was replaced by Live On Stage, the Havre Community Concert Association disbanded and reformed as the Hi-Line Community Concert Association.

In 2006, the Hi-Line Concert Association merged with Montana State University-Northern’s Northern Showcase and became the Northern Showcase Concert Association, offering six concerts plus a Montana Actors’ Theatre production as part of its 2012-13 season, as well as offering a reciprocity agreement with other Montana companies.

Hillery and board member Sharon Dolph both said a major problem in continuing the program is the loss of Denise Brewer, student activities director at MSU-Northern. Brewer had committed much of her time to the concert association, but has to shift her focus back to university activities.

Brewer said she has worked with Community Concert since 1994, adding, “It breaks my heart to see this organization, that has offered such excellent performances no longer be in existence.”

Brewer and Northern Chancellor Jim Limbaugh, along with Hillery and Dolph, all said Northern, and other groups, will continue to offer cultural and entertainment opportunities including the Chancellor’s Lecture Series, concerts and performers at the university, the Montana Actors’ Theatre productions and the recently formed community orchestra.

Hillery said, especially with so many changes in what is available in entertainment, it is difficult to draw people to the concerts. That has also caused financial problems for the concert association, which had a $2,500 shortfall last year which it successfully reduced to $800 this year — but was still in the hole.

She said the university had stepped up to help make up the shortfall in the budget, which the association board members greatly appreciated.

For that to continue, she said, someone from the university would have to come forward to help with the productions.

Dolph said she thinks the organization could come back.

“I regret that it has to close, but due to a lot of things happening we saw no other options,” she said. “It was a tough choice to have to make.

“I think if we had the people and the resources to do it it would happen, if there were people out in the community that really wanted to take that on and commit some resources, we were open to that,” she added. “It would be nice to hear more input from people out there.”

Hillery said that, after working with the association for 11 years she is very sorry to see it go into hiatus, especially because of what it did for children in the community. Performers often held outreaches at local schools, and children also went to the concerts.

“I did it for the kids, and I am sorry to see it go away,” Hillery said.