Special Programs

Community Philosophy Programs

Philosophers love their categories…but some things just don’t fit into a box. From community endeavors like our Reeder’s Alley Summer Series to focus projects like our “Toward a Better Understanding of Homelessness” and “Thinking About Place” programs, our special programs refuse to be labeled anything other than special.

Community Endeavors

Celebrating Community & the Alley

2024 Reeder’s Alley Summer Series

Nestled in the grounds of historic Reeder’s Alley, this fun, grassroots-inspired Summer series hosted by community philosophy non-profit Merlin CCC features live local music, a beer & wine garden, food trucks, historic Pioneer Cabin & alley walking tours, living history demonstrations, lawn games, and more. It’s all about celebrating community, baby!

Reeders Alley Summer Series Tuesday Nights 4-8 pm July – September

Live Local Music
Chill Vibes & Free
Food Trucks, Brews & Wine
Pioneer Cabin Tours & Living History

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Celebrating Helena’s History

2025 Gold Rush Days

Held in conjunction with Downtown’ Helena’s Spring ArtWalk and the Prickly Pear Land Trust’s Don’t Fence Me in 5K Race, this 2-day family-friendly event put on by numerous community organizations (including us!), celebrates Helena’s history and invites people to step back in time. Activities include gold & sapphire panning, pioneer crafts & living history Pioneer cabin tours, roaming Pioneer musicians, walking history tours, art making & auctions, Stories from Our Elders, Cancan dancing, live music & food, comedy, and more.

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Toward a Better Understanding of Homelessness.A documentary &. community conversation through the lens of philosophy.

A Documentary & Community Conversation Project

2024-2025 Toward a Better Understanding of Homelessness

Our “Toward a Better Understanding of Homelessness” public philosophy project is a response to growing unhoused populations at home & abroad, and a more general and important call to adequately understand the multi-faceted nature & complexity of homelessness. At its core, the project is an invitation to carefully reflect on these complexities and an opportunity for improved ways of thinking and responding together.

While inquiries into homelessness are not new, making philosophy central (both in terms of approach and questions asked/explored) can be a helpful lens and bring to the fore important considerations for both those experiencing homelessness and those responding to it.

Consisting of three-parts this project involves interviews and recordings (which will be turned into a vignette documentary), a vignette documentary screening, and a community discussion.

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An Exploratory Sense of Place Project

Thinking About Place

Urban design and architecture are often called “place-making.” Save a bit of wildland or a fragile habitat and we’re saving a “special place.” Montana is the “last best place.”

But what’s “place”? What meaning does the word carry through all those roles? Is there a clue in that old term “sense of place”? What senses are in play & when they kick in, what’s going on?

These questions deserve our shared thought and that’s precisely what this on-going special project inspired & led by Dennis McCahon invites us to do.

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Heading "Thinking about Place" over a area with trees and benches.

Re-Centering Community as a Place of Learning Project

Community Hubs

Inspired by the unique role of human connection and community as central to critical thinking—places where living and learning together go hand in hand—our Community Hubs project re-envisions the academy by re-centering the community as a place of learning.

The project involves four distinct phases, each of which we will campaign for prior to its launch:

• Phase 1: Community Hubs – Pilot
• Phase 2: Rural Hub Pilot Program
• Phase 3: Urban Hub Pilot Program
• Phase 4: Statewide (Montana) & other Mountain West Community Hubs

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