By Fischer Genau DIGITAL MEDIA LEAD
The Rialto theatre in downtown Bozeman has evolved many times over the last century. The building first served as a storefront and post office in the 1910s, became the Rialto venue in 1924, and, in 2005, shuttered its doors before its restoration and reopening to live entertainment in 2018. This year, it will undergo yet another transformation.
This fall, the Rialto’s owners donated the historic theatre to nonprofit art space Tinworks Art, and Tinworks will take over its programming beginning on Nov. 21 with an installation of the film “Redoubt.” Tinworks plans to turn the Rialto into a year-round cultural space with art installations and exhibits, performances, community gatherings, residencies and artist talks. The Rialto will remain available to be rented out for other film presentations, concerts, or other events.
“It’s such an important, beloved venue,” Jenny Moore, the director at Tinworks Art, told EBS. “We’re really excited to continue all the programming that people love the Rialto for and expand and offer even more.”
The Rialto will still host evening events as it has in the past—Moore said “the good things are staying the same”—while adding new programming and allowing people to visit during the day to watch a film or experience a sound installation. Moore said she hopes that Tinworks at Rialto will become a fixture of downtown Bozeman.
“I’m looking forward to people thinking about it when they’re on Main Street as a place that they want to spend 15 minutes or a couple hours, and that it becomes part of the daily fabric when you’re downtown,” Moore said.
While evening events may be ticketed, Moore said that Tinworks believes art should be accessible for everyone, and admission will be free for its featured exhibits and installations. The first installation is Matthew Barney’s 2018 film “Redoubt,” a loose adaptation of the Roman myth of Diana that also explores the reintroduction of wolves in the West. The film was shot in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains and has no dialogue, with the narrative driven by choreographed sequences and a score by the experimental composer Jonathan Bepler.
“We really hope people will spend some time with it and come back to it like any great artwork,” Moore said. “The more time you spend with it, the more you see.”
A still from Matthew Barney’s film “Redoubt.” PHOTO COURTESY OF HUGO GLENDINNING 
A still from Matthew Barney’s film “Redoubt.” PHOTO COURTESY OF HUGO GLENDINNING 
A still from Matthew Barney’s film “Redoubt.” PHOTO COURTESY OF HUGO GLENDINNING 
A still from Matthew Barney’s film “Redoubt.” PHOTO COURTESY OF LAURA NESPOLA
The film will play at 12 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. from Thursday through Sunday until Feb. 1, 2026.
Tinworks became involved with the Rialto in 2023, hosting events in advance of Agnes Dennis’ “Wheatfield – An Inspiration” installation at Tinworks Art’s North Ida Avenue location in Bozeman’s Northeast Neighborhood.
“We wanted to offer the opportunity for the public to learn more about the art before it was on view,” Moore said. “We saw what an incredible response people had to the opportunity to gather around these ideas and what a fantastic space the Rialto is.”
Moore said that the Rialto’s former owners had been longtime supporters of Tinworks who thought it was important to support art in Bozeman. Eventually, the owners asked if Tinworks wanted to take over programming.
“We said, ‘Absolutely,’” Moore said.
Tinworks at Rialto will announce its next six months of programming in January.
