BUTTE AMERICA FOUNDATION VERDIGRIS PROJECT

PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

Project Leader Clark Grant – KBMF General Manager

Clark Grant is a graduate of the University of Montana (B.A. French, 2014). After 6 years at Montana Public Radio and KBGA, the college radio station licensed to the University of Montana, Clark moved to Butte specifically for the purpose of building and managing KBMF. At KBGA, Clark was Program Director in 2011 and General Manager in 2012. He was Development Assistant at MTPR from 2008-2011 and part time producer and host of All Things Considered and Morning Edition from 2011-2014. He has over 1000 hours of on-air experience and conducts all DJ training, technical tasks, and organizational efforts of KBMF and its volunteers.

Clark has produced documentaries for Montana Public Radio, KBGA College Radio, and KBMF-LP in Butte. Similar to the request put forth in the Verdigris Project proposal, Students and Soldiers1 was a public radio production that engaged high school students with the production process. He also traveled to Standing Rock in November 2016 to document the encampment at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline. On the Ground in Standing Rock2 aired on 17 NPR and community radio stations around the country. Clark is an advocate for media access and works closely with the Butte America Foundation board of directors on social justice issues in Butte, including community radio, historic preservation, and civic engagement.

Project Administrator Regan deVictoria – President, Butte America Foundation

The former Adult Services Librarian at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, Regan deVictoria is a founding member and President of the Butte America Foundation (BAmF). She is currently serving BAmF from her residence in Ohio, where she sits on the Westerville Library Foundation board. Regan is a mother of two and an outspoken advocate for social justice issues like access to media, literacy, and women’s rights.

Regan is from Missoula, MT and has close ties to the Butte community through her work with the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library and non-profit organizations such as BAmF. She is chair of the Butte America Foundation Grant Writing Committee and served as Secretary of the Foundation from 2013-2017.

Project Advisor John Conlan – Treasurer, Butte America Foundation

John Conlan is a retired Montana elementary school teacher and is a proud union member of MEA-MFT. John served over 20 years on the Stevensville Library Board in Stevensville, Montana, including as board chairman, and now serves as a Trustee on the Butte Silver Bow Public Library Board and is interested in literacy and library programming.

He holds dual citizenship with Ireland and celebrates that weekly with a Celtic Nations Radio show on KBMF LP 102.5, a project of the Butte America Foundation.

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BUTTE AMERICA FOUNDATION VERDIGRIS PROJECT

Project Participant Aubrey Jaap - Administrative Assistant, Butte-Silver Bow Archives

Aubrey Jaap brings her considerable technology and organizational skills to the position of Administrative Assistant at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives. Aubrey serves as the Archives digital specialist, particularly digitizing historical manuscripts and photographs, as well as working with other agencies on digital programs. Aubrey has worked closely with Clark Grant since 2015 on the digitization of oral history collections at the Archives.

She is currently a member of the Montana State Historical Society Records Advisory Council. Aubrey is pursuing her degree in Public Relations from Montana State University-Billings.

Project Participant Richard Gibson – Historian, Geologist, Assistant Producer

Richard I. Gibson is a geologist, historian, and tour guide in Butte, Montana. He’s served on the local Historic Preservation Commission (2007-08), as Education Director at the World Museum of Mining (2004-05), and as the secretary of Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization (2007-13). Gibson edited the guidebook for the 2009 Vernacular Architecture Forum in Butte and wrote most of the Butte section and two essays. He contributed 18 columns on historic architecture to the Montana Standard newspaper, and is the author of the Butte History blog.3

His most recent passion involves bringing geological education to the general public, and he accomplishes this as a Study Leader for Smithsonian Journeys around the world, and at his home in Butte, as a guide with Old Butte Historical Adventures. He serves on the advisory board of the Clark Fork Watershed Education Project, a science literacy effort in western Montana, and is the author of History of the Earth.4

Project Participant Marian Jensen, Author, Assistant Producer

Author of the Mining City Mysteries5 and audio producer for the KBMF program Mining City Reflections, Marian Jensen is also former Dean of Students for Antioch College. She has retired in Butte, Montana and also keeps a home in Portland, Oregon. She has been training in audio production with KBMF General Manager Clark Grant over the last two years, and is particularly interested in the stories of women who grew up in Butte in the early twentieth century.

Marian has held presentations at the Butte Archives and frequently utilizes their facility for research projects related to her writing. Marian’s resume is attached in the supplementary materials document.

1 https://beta.prx.org/stories/70067 2 http://www.butteamericaradio.org/americas-most-radio/2016/11/25/kbmf-standing-rock-documentary- full-audio 3 http://buttehistory.blogspot.com 4 http://historyoftheearthcalendar.blogspot.com 5 http://www.miningcitymysteries.com

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