Corby Skinner
Resounds: Arts & Culture On The High Plains HostCorby Skinner is an independent marketing professional with an enormous capacity for assessing issues and creating positive, effective messages.
His work is evident in all aspects of performing, visual and literary arts. He led the marketing and programming for the Alberta Bair Theater for 18 years, and served as Arts and Humanities Field Coordinator for the National YMCA of the USA for eight years.
Skinner has been the Director of The Writer's Voice since its beginning in 1991. Skinner has coordinated six Big Read programs for the National Endowment for the Arts and 15 consecutive High Plains Book Festivals
Corby Skinner received the Montana Governor’s Humanities Award in 2009, and the Philip N. Fortin Humanitarian Award in 2016.
He joined in the YPR staff as a community programmer co-hosting Resounds: Arts And Culture On The High Plains alongside Anna Paige in spring 2017.
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Chase DeForest creates collaged and stitched leather artworks exploring themes related to the environment and the American West. -
This House of Books was established in 2016 as an independent, full-service bookstore serving the region around Billings, MT.The bookstore was established as a cooperative with members buying shares to become co-owners with voting rights. -
Montana legend Jonnie Jonckowski is the focus of Jonnie, an upcoming Montana PBS documentary. Her outsized accomplishments and challenges both in and out of the rodeo arena centers this new film. -
The Yellowstone Art Museum has assisted the Billings Logan Airport art program, Art Under the Big Sky, with the selection and rotation of art exhibits in Concourse B. -
A community leader, volunteer, and Executive Director of the largest performing arts center in a five-state region, Jan Dietrich has an impressive career in the nonprofit world. In the summer of 2026, Dietrich retires after ten years at the helm of the Alberta Bair Theater (ABT) in Billings. -
Born and raised in Billings, Darren Hackey left his hometown to pursue a passion for music. After living across the country, coming home to Montana reignited his passion for the West. His love for western hats started in Texas, and he pursued the craft upon his return to his home state. -
Billings Studio Theatre is a long-standing community theater in Billings, Montana. It raised its curtain for the community over 70 years ago and has allowed local theater enthusiasts the chance to act, direct, volunteer, and enjoy performances ever since. -
The Montana Performing Arts Consortium (MPAC) formed in 1981. Since then, the nonprofit has connected the arts to communities across Montana. -
The C.M. Russell Museum contains more than 3,000 pieces of Western art in a complex that covers an entire city block. The Western art complex, a National Historic Landmark, includes Charlie Russell’s fully restored home and studio, where he lived and created for 24 years alongside wife and business partner Nancy Cooper Russell. -
Czech-American writer and American Book Award winner Shann Ray teaches at Gonzaga University and poetry at Stanford University. He is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow and group Fulbright recipient to South Africa.
