The Montana Museum of Arts and Culture will soon have its birthday at its brick-and-mortar location. Although the journey has been difficult, the museum is ready to go from baby steps to leaps and bounds.

Rafael Chacón, the Suzanne and Bruce Crocker director of MMAC, have led the charge through the ups and downs from its inception to its eventual construction, which still isn’t over. 

“That’s been challenging,” Chacón said. “On a given day, we’ll have contractors still working in the building and there are parts of the building that aren’t finished yet.” 

Despite bumps, the museum continues to strengthen its permanent collection. Before the building was open, Chacón and his staff worked to move over 400 pieces from across campus to the museum. The pieces were hidden away in storage rooms, but are now displayed. Pieces worldwide, from Asia to Europe, have come to call the MMAC home. Some notable artists’ pieces include Rembrandt, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso. 

“It’s really a very diverse collection from antiquities to contemporary art. We also feature U of M students and faculty,” Chacón said. “We have a really amazing assortment of those artists. Our strength is that it is probably the deepest collection of art in the state of Montana.” 

The museum’s current exhibition is called “Gates of Friendship: Recent Acquisitions of Asian and Asian-American Art.” Pieces include three Buddha statues donated by collector Kern Mattei, a kimono decorated with embroidered moths and chrysanthemums and a series of Japanese Noh theatre masks. 

The reception to the museum’s first year has been overwhelmingly positive, despite initial controversies.

“I think many students are opposed, but we never had the chance to weigh in,” Katryn Rosenoff, a graduate student at UM said in a Kaimin article from April 2023, expressing her frustration about the museum being built on a former parking lot.

“I know there was a little bit of a buzz early on about losing parking to this facility, and there’s also kind of a misperception that somehow this is costing students, but this building was built with 100% private donations,” Chacón said.

Robin Dorsey, recent graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art, has attended several of the exhibits and lectures. 

“I believe the museum, being one of only three state art museums, is important. Art is a crucial part of our life,” Dorsey said. “It brings joy. It teaches history. Having facilities to represent that importance to the community and to our students is important.” 

PJ Hotch, a former student who majored in music, sees the benefit of the museum but questions its effectiveness. 

“I think it is beneficial in that we should all partake in more art in our lives. I believe all art helps deepen our humanity,” Hotch said. But she isn’t completely positive about the new museum. “ I think a big issue UM is facing is trying to cram more architecture into what is a relatively small space and I feel like so much of the infrastructure is chipping away at the campus’ natural beauty,” she said.

Despite this, Hotch plans to visit the museum whenever she has time.

Chacón said UM President Seth Bodnar asked him when he first took the director position five years ago why there needed to be a new building for art collections. “I said to him, ‘If you ask any student on campus, ‘where is the museum?’, chances are they’re not going to have an answer.’ We didn’t have much of an identity without a building.” Chacón said after explaining, Bodnar said it was time to create a new building. 

Now, Chacón is looking forward. He has already started implementing a program of rotating shows presented by the artist, so museum-goers can not only interact with the art, but talk to the person who made it. After that, he wants to rotate in more exhibitions.

“Bring a date, bring a friend, you know, come check [it] out,” Chacón said.