Smithsonian Folkways Workshops Come to Heart Mountain
August 13, 2026
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (HMWF) will host a two-day workshop August 17 and 18 for educators to learn about place-based civic literacy through arts integration sponsored by the Smithsonian’s Together We Thrive Education Grant and the John P. Ellbogen Foundation.
Striking a Chord: Integrating Smithsonian Arts Resources into the K–12 Curriculum is a three-year Smithsonian program led by educators at the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and National Museum of Asian Art. This workshop, led by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (a department of the Center for Folklife) will feature Smithsonian Folkways educators Dr. Jennifer Mellizo and Dr. Logan Clark, Dr. Theo Gonzalves, a curator at the National Museum of American History, as well as award-winning teachers Dr. Robert Roche (music teacher from the District of Columbia) and Ph.D. candidate Meredith McLaughlin (Wyoming social studies teacher).
Participants will learn about the role of music and the performing arts in the lives of the 125,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II, including traditional forms of Japanese music, such as koto.
At Heart Mountain and the nine other War Relocation Authority camps, incarcerated Japanese Americans maintained many of their musical and cultural traditions. This history is explored in the documentary Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WWII Internment Camps by Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto Wong, who will also give a presentation for workshop participants.
The workshops are intended to integrate arts and cultural resources from across the Smithsonian, empowering teachers to facilitate arts integration in the classroom and cross boundaries between traditional subject areas.
“We are honored to bring educators from across Wyoming and Montana together with descendants, artists and historians to learn more about those whose lives were forever changed by this place,” said Maureen Loughran, director and curator, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. “Our work here this summer would not be possible without the collaboration of Smithsonian Affiliate partners like the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. We are grateful for their partnership and warm welcome.”
Photo: Heart Mountain incarceree Emi Matsumoto performs a traditional Japanese dance in camp on August 27, 1944. Credit: Okumoto Collection, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation