40,000 Volunteer Hours Support the Arts in Billings, but Buildings Still Need Care
Billings Studio Theatre and Moss Mansion make a compelling case for arts support as civic infrastructure. One runs on 40,000 annual volunteer hours; the other opens a historic home to roughly 10,500 tour-goers and more than 1,500 students each year.
Quinn Clark created Billings Studio Theatre’s memorial garden to honor actors, volunteers, and patrons who are no longer with the theatre. The theatre reports about 40,000 volunteer hours each year, a measure of the community effort behind its productions.
Billings Studio Theatre began with Sunday-evening play readings in early members’ homes, then grew through donated space at Eastern Montana College and the YWCA into a permanent community institution. In Billings, the Billings Preservation Society keeps rooms containing original fixtures and furnishings available for the public to encounter.
Volunteer labor keeps productions in front of audiences, but it cannot cover every major repair to an older building; the Moss Mansion likewise depends on preservation support for its historic structure.
How to support the arts in Billings MT through live theater
Billings Studio Theatre’s first production, There’s Always Juliet, arrived in September 1953. By 1966, the organization had gained nonprofit status, and it opened its current home at 1500 Rimrock Road in 1971.
Billings Studio Theatre plans to launch the Penguin Project in April 2027, bringing youth with disabilities and youth without special needs together in a production of Honk.
Moss Mansion keeps rooms with original furnishings open to students
The Billings Preservation Society operates and maintains the Moss Mansion while preserving its original fixtures and family papers. That work includes refinishing wood floors and correcting wiring, repairs that protect the rooms students enter. The society took possession of the Moss home through a lease agreement in 1986; founded in 1987, it preserves and interprets the site for the community.
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School tours bring children into rooms containing original fixtures and furnishings for an age-appropriate lesson or scavenger hunt. More than 1,500 children take part each year; keeping the mansion in repair keeps those school visits possible.
Billings Preservation Society Inc
Where support sustains Billings theatre and preservation
Billings Studio Theatre reports about 40,000 volunteer hours each year, but its donations also fund maintenance for the older building. The Billings Preservation Society reported $862,000 in revenue, $426,000 in expenses, and $1.4 million in assets, with preservation work focused on the historic structure. Theatre support keeps volunteer-powered productions running. Moss Mansion support can fund a specific obligation such as a roof repair.
A donor can support the Moss Mansion’s daily operations or fund deferred maintenance. Exhibit printing and display costs are another concrete need.
A donation for deferred maintenance helps keep the Moss Mansion open to the more than 1,500 children who take part in school tours each year.
Frequently asked questions
- How can I support community theatre in Billings, MT?
- Billings Studio Theatre accepts monetary donations for theatre operations, older-building maintenance, unrestricted needs, and endowment support. It also seeks volunteers for ushering, fundraising, painting, and sewing.
- What does the Billings Preservation Society do?
- The Billings Preservation Society operates, maintains, restores, and interprets the Moss Mansion Historic House Museum. Its programs include house tours, school tours, youth volunteering, camps, and seasonal exhibits.
- What is Billings Studio Theatre’s Penguin Project?
- The Penguin Project is planned for an April 2027 launch at Billings Studio Theatre. It will bring youth with disabilities and youth without special needs together to perform in a production of Honk.
- How many people visit Moss Mansion each year?
- The Billings Preservation Society reports that approximately 10,500 people attend Moss Mansion tours annually. It also reports that more than 1,500 children participate in guided school tours each year.
- billingsstudiotheatre.com ↗
- Billings Studio Theatre began as a Sunday evening play-reading group in members’ homes and was established as a nonprofit in 1966.
- Billings Studio Theatre produces an annual season of live theater that includes eight Main Stage productions, along with youth-focused Growing Stage Players productions.
- Billings Studio Theatre plans to launch the Penguin Project in April 2027, a program designed to place youth with disabilities and youth without special needs on a shared stage.
- mossmansion.com ↗
- The Billings Preservation Society was formed to administer, operate, maintain, and restore the Moss Mansion Historic House Museum, whose original fixtures, furnishings, textiles, and family papers remain intact.
- Moss Mansion’s public programming includes historic house tours, school tours, a middle-school youth volunteer program, the annual SpringFest juried art festival, and the Party for Preservation fundraiser.
- mossmansion.com ↗
- “A wonderful place to visit. If you have the time go. Just go.” — Glenn Stump