Missoula Downtown Foundation

Downtown Missoula is a special place. As America’s Great Neighborhood, the Heart of Missoula is the place to connect with your family and friends, neighbors and strangers. It’s where Missoulians come to recreate, to enjoy live theater and concerts, to support local businesses, and to eat, drink and be merry.

Downtown Missoula is the envy of all communities in Montana and most in the region. It is a vibrant and healthy city center with hundreds of locally-owned businesses, several museums and art galleries, and non-profit organizations that care about our quality of life in western Montana.

The Missoula Downtown Foundation was created as a 501(c)(3) organization in 2010 to help generate funds for downtown improvements and for implementation of the Downtown Master Plan. The mission of the Foundation is to support and promote Missoula through enhancement of Downtown, now and for future generations: Commerce, Heritage, Culture, & Living.

What We Do

MDF serves Downtown in the following ways:

  1. The MDF fosters and nurtures pride in Downtown as a place where the community gathers to connect.
    Downtown is a special destination that connects people with this place that brings life to our city. The Foundation contributes to building a sense of place and community through enhancements and improvements.
  2. We secure and reinvest financial and other resources to enhance the Downtown experience.
    The Missoula Downtown Foundation was created in 2010 to help Downtown Missoula realize its goals and implement the Downtown Master Plan by funding improvement projects. From 2010 -2017, MDF raised and reinvested $1 million into Downtown Missoula.
  3. We connect individual and corporate donors to create partnerships that support investment in Downtown.
    Downtown’s success is the result of public and private partnerships.
  4. We partner to create a beautiful and vibrant Downtown that supports the local economy and is the social center of Missoula, showcasing the arts and celebrating our cultural heritage.
    A vibrant Downtown provides a glimpse of the diversity that makes Missoula unique. Whether you enjoy art, music, theater, dance, street performers or people watching, Downtown is the social and cultural center of Missoula. Examples include:

    • Play It Missoula! Piano Project – In partnership with the Downtown Business Improvement District (BID), the MDF created the Play It Missoula! Piano Project in 2014, placing donated pianos in public spaces throughout Downtown Missoula for all to enjoy. Painted by local artists, thousands of Missoulians and visitors – including Leonardo DiCaprio – have played the ivory keys, bringing beautiful music and expressive connections to the heart of the community.
    • Parking Meter Public Art Project – The MDF has partnered with Arts Missoula and the Missoula Public Art Committee to paint and install public parking meter art sculptures in public spaces throughout Downtown Missoula. The first art installation occurred during the summer of 2017 at the corner of Pine & Higgins.
    • Collaborates to support many FREE events taking place Downtown, including First Friday Art Walk, Sunday Streets, Symphony In The Park, River City Roots Festival and numerous other events Downtown and in Caras Park.