Ivan Doig Center hosts inaugural ‘Dinner in Doig Country’ fundraiser

BOZEMAN - The Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands and Peoples of the North American West at Montana State University is hosting its inaugural Dinner in Doig Country from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, at the North Bridger Bison Ranch in the Shields Valley near Wilsall.

The fundraising gala is being held less than 50 miles from the birthplace of Montana author Ivan Doig, for whom the center is named. The event will feature local food, a silent auction and live music. Tickets are $150 per person and available on the center's website at www.montana.edu/doig/.

The mission of the Ivan Doig Center, which is housed in and supported by MSU's College of Letters and Science, is to foster the integrated study of the North American West. With its emphasis on developing connections through the humanities, arts, social sciences and natural sciences, the center helps position MSU as an important site for creative scholarship across interdisciplinary fields that are dedicated to advancing knowledge about the lands and peoples of the North American West.

The Ivan Doig Center serves as a hub for creative work ranging from cutting-edge scholarship to fiction that illuminates the complexities of life in the American West. It hosts a podcast, offers grants and fellowships to students and faculty, presents talks by prominent authors and storytellers, and convenes dialogue on pressing issues facing public life in the West. Because the center relies almost entirely on grants and private donations, it hopes to match its current funding through public support over the next academic year.

While this event serves as the center's first official fundraiser, its purpose extends beyond financial support. Center director Daniel Grant said the Ivan Doig Center aspires to grow its community beyond the walls of MSU, welcoming a broader circle of partners, thinkers and patrons who recognize the profound impact that humanistic inquiry has on our understanding of the West.

More information about the fundraiser and other Ivan Doig Center events is available at https://www.montana.edu/doig/events.html.