Technical issues with the national Give Local America website threw a monkey wrench into the 24-hour Give Local Flathead fundraising blitz on Tuesday, but organizers are going the distance to make lemonade out of lemons. The donation deadline has been extended to May 10 to give everyone an opportunity to have their donation counted as part of the campaign.

Give Local Flathead is a unique crowd-funding event that spotlights the importance of philanthropic giving and community engagement. Seventy local nonprofit organizations are counting on these donations to be able to continue their important service work.

Online donations can still be made through United Way’s website, www.unitedwaycares.org; make sure you designate which organization you’re giving to in the memo line. Checks may be mailed to Give Local Flathead, P.O. Box 8045, Kalispell, MT 59904, or bring you cash, checks or credit-card donations to Gateway Community Center in Kalispell.

Flathead Community Foundation and Northwest Montana United Way are primary sponsors of Give Local Flathead, and we commend them for shining the light on our many vital nonprofits.

Welcome to Hockaday’s new executive director

A warm Flathead welcome to Tracy Johnson, the new executive director of the Hockaday Museum of Art.

Johnson officially took the helm this week of the Kalispell facility that is the central stage for the visual arts in Kalispell.

She brings extensive museum experience — most recently in Bend, Oregon — to her position at the Hockaday. She has ambitious plans to continue and expand the Hockaday’s reach as a regional museum leader.

We wish her well in her latest endeavor.

Refreshing return to roots

Elsewhere on the arts scene, we take note of the re-christening of the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center under its original name after spending several years under the guise of a museum.

We like the change. Bigfork’s personality is fun and frolic, and the “museum” branding didn’t quite capture the inviting open spaces of the non-profit cultural center, which got its start in the 1970s.

Valerie Vadala Homer, the new director of the cultural center, said the rebranding is “a renovation, reorganization and a rebirth.” It’s all that, plus refreshing, too.