By Gayle M. Irwin
For more than fifty years, the Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM) in Billings has brought art to the community. Staff and volunteers also take art beyond the facility’s walls. Traveling exhibits, changing collections in the galleries, and special events allow visitors to experience a variety of artwork, from paintings and pottery to textiles and traveling shows.
For those who cannot visit the contemporary art museum, outreach programs help them understand art and create their own.
“We pioneered a program where our adult educator goes into the women’s prison, and that’s something we’re very proud of,” said Molly Schiltz, YAM’s special events coordinator.
“Different instructors throughout the year go and teach. The program has changed a lot of people’s lives.”
Additional outreach includes students on the nearby Crow Reservation.
“Art is usually one of the first programs cut from schools when budgets are tight,” Schiltz said. “Thanks to a grant we receive, we travel to Crow Agency. We are the only source of art education on that reservation and we’re really happy to work with those kids, bringing art instruction to the students.”
Summer camps and programming for youngsters, school visits to the museum, and classes for youth and adults are also part of YAM’s educational offerings. “We have a very accomplished education team,” Schiltz said.
Onsite exhibits change about every three or four months. In early 2026, the museum will host a Native American artist and an artist from Helena. The museum’s annual art auction takes place in February. This is the largest fundraiser for the organization.
“We have a really great selection of artwork that folks can bid for online,” Schiltz said. “The artists donate the proceeds from their work to support us, which is so generous! We have an opening celebration and cocktail parties, and we have lots of artist talks. Then on March 7, we have a gala night with a live auction. That’s the big, closing event.” She added that the 2026 fundraiser will be the 58th year for this event.
In addition to the changing and traveling exhibitions, YAM also houses a permanent, public art collection that people can view. “Even if its pieces that we have in storage, we are happy to pull them out and let people see and enjoy them,”
Schiltz said. “We really think this artwork belongs to the community. We have a very large collection that we’re proud of.” That includes work by Western artist Will James, which was donated.
“We feel that because we can preserve these pieces and we have this facility to house them, it’s our responsibility to make sure that’s available to the public, too,” Schiltz said. “We have a lot of people in this area who are very interested in Western art.”
YAM visitors come from across the country and internationally. “In the summer we see a ton of different zip codes,” she said. “We’ve had people from other countries that are going to Yellowstone and all over.”
The museum recently began a partnership with the Billings airport, drawing more people to the facility. “We’re using a concourse at the airport as a secondary display,” Schiltz said. “I’ve seen a lot of people who are coming in from goodness knows where, and they were just going to go to their hotel, but they see that display and then it sparks their interest, and they visit the museum.”
She added, “Our whole mission is that art is for everybody. It’s kind of a shared history. Even the works that folks are making today – they engage us, and we find them compelling for various reasons.”
Located at 401 N. 27th Street A, Billings, Montana – website is artmuseum.org.