The Montana Arts Council is pleased to announce seven Montana artists as recipients of the 2021 Artist Innovation Award. The honorees are: Chip Clawson of Helena, Megan Karls of Great Falls, Jodi Lightner of Billings, Alayna Rasile of Bozeman, and Sheryl Noethe, Caroline Patterson, and Maxim Loskutoff of Missoula.
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Megan Karls was awarded CARES funding from Montana Arts Council for her solo violin album “Decommissioned.”
As a member of the Cascade Quartet of the Great Falls Symphony, Megan Karls is used to playing her violin with other people, for other people. But when the coronavirus pandemic closed concert halls last year, she embarked on a solo project.
“I ve never had to live life without playing my violin for people, and I needed to keep doing that somehow,” Karls said.
Karls started searching out new places to perform in some unexpected venues like decommissioned Air Force buildings. She was drawn to the acoustics in a now retired defense structure.