Kayla de la Ossa is the Executive Director of the Schoolhouse History and Art Center (SHAC) in Colstrip, Montana. Hired in 2019 as Education Director, she has been in the leadership role at SHAC since 2021. Kayla also serves as Secretary of the Montana Art Gallery Directors’ Association.

Kevin Red Star grew up on the Crow Reservation. In the early 1960s, he was chosen to be in the first group of students at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. After graduating, he continued his studies at the San Francisco Art Institute. He has participated in shows worldwide with over 100 exhibitions, including shows in Paris, Tokyo, China, New York, Washington DC, California and Montana. Kevin currently has a studio in Roberts, Montana, and a gallery in Red Lodge.

Raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, Carrie Krause performs as a violinist with ensembles across the country and on numerous international series. Krause is the Artistic Director of Baroque Music Montana, presenting concerts across the region and the annual Period Performance Workshop.

American conductor Norman Huynh has served as the Music Director of the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra for the past four years and recently extended his tenure through the 2028-29 season. Since arriving in Bozeman in 2020, the organization has celebrated record success, growing from 881 to more than 1,300 subscribers in just two seasons, with over 200 percent growth in ticket revenue and numerous sold-out shows.

Jamie Harrison lives with her family in Montana, as she has for over 35 years, working as an author, editor, gardener, and caterer. She is the author of seven novels, including five in the Jules Clement series. Her book The Widow Nash was awarded the Mountain and Plains Independent Booksellers Association’s Reading the West Book Award and was also a finalist for the High Plains Book Award.

Artists Mark Earnhart and Jodi Lightner have a joint exhibition, Suspended Intervals, at Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings. Both are professors in the Department of Art at Montana State University Billings. Lightner earned an MFA in painting from Wichita State University and specializes in painting and drawing. She is the Chair of the art department at MSUB. Earnhart specializes in sculpture and three-dimensional practices and received an MFA from the University of Maryland.

Jazz music in all its many forms is an American invention. In Billings, the genre is gaining a greater audience and a growing interest in higher education.On this episode of Resounds, MSU Billings Music professors Dr. Scott Jeppesen and Roxanne Jeppesen and pianist/arranger Jayden Ostler discuss music education, the Rocky Mountain Jazz Collective, and their performances in this region.

Dr. Janine Pease is a Crow educator and advocate. She is a board member of the Crow Language Consortium and the founding president of the Little Big Horn College, as well as the past President of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and Director of the American Indian College Fund.

The Yellowstone County Museum was founded in 1953 by the Yellowstone Historical Society, Parmly Billings Library, the Pioneers of Eastern Montana, Yellowstone County, and the City of Billings, and has been open to the public since 1956. The museum’s mission is to collect, preserve, and share the history of Montana’s Yellowstone River Basin through a range of dynamic educational programs and storytelling exhibitions.

Maxim Loskutoff’s novel, essays, and short stories have received national recognition and awards, including two High Plains Book Awards, first for his short story collection Come West and See and another for his novel Ruthie Fear. His new novel Old King was published in June 2024.