In early July, the inaugural Knapweed Performing Arts Festival will debut in Plains, Montana. The two-week event features four free classical music concerts performed by a 10-piece chamber ensemble. Its founder and artistic director, Grace Alexander, is just 25 years old.
With the festival one month away, I spoke with Grace about its inception, the planning process, and her dreams for the summer. It is my hope that Grace’s story will encourage other young arts administrators to leverage their own resources, experience, and networks to create something uniquely theirs.
A second home
For context, Grace and I grew up together in Santa Monica, California, and share the same alma mater, St. Olaf College. While we have traveled in the same circles, our paths could not have been more different. She is an immensely talented violinist, photographer, and arts administrator—and an even more exceptional friend, collaborator, and nature conservationist.
When she wasn’t in California, Grace spent her summers on her mother’s family ranch and tree farm in Northwest Montana. The practice of conservation has been in her family for three generations, continuing a deep-rooted legacy of working in public lands and forestry dating back to the 1970s. “Music is not a common thing in my family," she notes. "I am the only one who studied it formally and works as a professional musician."
Eventually, summers on the ranch evolved into traveling to and participating in pre-professional music festivals and training programs. While in high school, Grace attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and "caught the festival bug." She went on to attend festivals in Switzerland and the U.S. in 2019, and was accepted into the Brevard Music Center for 2020. She was determined to be in as many festivals as possible—setting her sights on institutes like the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Marlboro Music Festival, and eventually returning to Tanglewood as a Fellow. "The possibilities were endless!" she exclaims. "Every summer, there was a chance to go to a new festival."
Grace was well on her way to achieving these goals when her trajectory was interrupted by two major events: the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, followed by the passing of her mother, Barbara, in 2021 after a battle with cancer.
The loss of her mother caused Grace to take a step back from the violin and even consider giving up the instrument entirely. She withdrew from all festivals in 2022 and spent the entire summer at her family's home in Montana to process her grief. During that time, Grace realized that “being here is just as inspiring as anything I could be doing anywhere else.”
We’re on a break
Playing less intensely after college graduation, Grace decided to spend a gap year exploring the administrative side of music while still working towards regaining her love for playing violin. Her first role was with the International Cello Institute in the summer of 2023. She joined the small but mighty organization during a transitional period, where she and two other staff members were tasked with restructuring and rebranding the institute for cellists ages 15 to 27. Grace notes that she was thrown into the deep end, forcing her to learn by doing.
“I was in a relatively senior position, but because the staff was so small, I was automatically given a lot of responsibility,” she explains. The experience proved invaluable; thanks to the successful transition, the organization enjoyed its best financial year to date.
After her gap year, Grace ramped up her practicing as she prepared to begin her Master’s program at the University of British Columbia (UBC). During that transitional summer of 2024, an unexpected opportunity arose to perform and work at the Við Djúpið Music Festival in Iceland. This marked Grace’s first fully professional, non-academic music festival, featuring six days of concerts. Because the executive director was not a musician, Grace gained deeper insight into curation, programming, and artist hospitality, perfectly rounding out her dual identity as both a performer and an arts administrator.
Returning to the International Cello Institute for a second summer in 2024, Grace began to dream about running her own festival. She had built a network of musicians and collaborators, and she had gained the experience necessary to bring a project of her own back to Montana. Another year passed and at the end of 2025, after a summer of performing at various festivals and entering her second year of graduate school at UBC, she began documenting the logistical realities of such an endeavor.
“I remember writing furiously in my journal,” Grace recalls. “How many beds do I need? How will I get access to a piano? Where will the venues be? What will the food look like? How will I get people to and from the airport?”
Getting into the weeds of it
To test the waters, Grace reached out to 30 or 40 musician friends to check their availability for the summer of 2026. While many were already committed to other festivals, she eventually finalized the group: a string quartet with an extra cellist, a clarinetist, a french hornist, an oboist, and two pianists.
Then, the real planning began. Over the years, Grace had hosted many friends at the ranch, but never 10 musicians at once. For two weeks in July, the performers will live on the family ranch and one other property in town, sharing dinner and dish-washing duties while exploring the beauty of Northwest Montana. Grace even asked the performers to submit "wishlists" of pieces they want to play and activities they hope to experience between concerts. Grace being Grace, she has curated an itinerary packed with physical wellness activities and nature excursions to nearby destinations like Glacier National Park.
“The most important part,” Grace says, “is that people come, they play music together, and they hang out. They get to know each other—and they get to meet people they’ve never met before.”
Operating without a budget or 501(c)(3) status, Grace views Knapweed’s inaugural summer as a low-stakes experiment. Plains currently lacks a consistent residential music or performing arts presence; aside from the occasional touring act, the nearest orchestra is the Missoula Symphony, located 76 miles away.
For many community members, this will be their first time experiencing live classical chamber music. Grace feels deeply privileged to bring these performances and musicians to town, regardless of the turnout.
"We don’t know who’s interested in the performing arts yet," Grace says. "If we get 20 people at these concerts, I would be really happy with that—that’s 80 people total, even if some are repeats."
At the very least, she notes, it will be fun.
For Barbara
Knapweed serves as a tribute to Grace’s late mother, Barbara. Grace shares the following dedication in her own words:
“Being able to share this very special place of Montana and the area of Northwest Montana, makes me really happy and it always made her really happy. She loved to host and my family would always gather on that land. For me, it’s doing it in memory of my family members who have passed away. Who, for them, this land brought them so much peace, calm and inspiration in their life.”
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‘Knapweed Performing Arts Festival’
Where: Plains, Montana
When:
4 p.m. July 5 at St. James Church
7 p.m. July 7 at The Paradise Center
2 p.m. July 12 at The Paradise Center
6 p.m. July 13 at Three Rivers Ranches
Cost: Free
Info: https://www.knapweed-performing-arts.com/ or @knapweed.arts on Instagram
Running time: 1 hour and 30 minutes per program
Thank you. You make me feel so hopeful and filled with gratitude. Your concerts were fantastic...I wish you great success with this adventure. Grace and Peace to you...Grace. DHaines, Plains, MT