Dozens of community members gathered at Schumacher Farm Park in Waunakee on July 12 to celebrate Indigenous culture with art and music, educational exhibits, and a self-guided prairie plant tour highlighting their traditional uses by the Ho-Chunk Nation.
Minutes after the start of the event, attendees were setting up chairs for the cultural arts performance by Elliott Funmaker, Sr. and the Wisconsin Dells Singers. Little Eagle Arts Foundation (LEAF)’s roster teaching artists provided a variety of Ho-Chunk art activities and demonstrations that included beading, porcupine quill art, basket weaving, and stinging nettle cordage making. The history of the Ho-Chunk Nation was shared by the various Ho-Chunk presenters and the interpretive panels of the traveling exhibit.
Village of Waunakee Community Development Support Specialist Kylie West said the turnout was uplifting.
“They’re eager to learn about other people and other cultures and have a greater understanding,” West said.
The event, which was supported by the Friends of Schumacher Park and LEAF, marked the debut of the traveling museum exhibit focusing on Ho-Chunk cultural beliefs, practices, and environmental movements. This project is the result of two years of partnership between the Village of Waunakee, the Ho-Chunk Nation, Wisconsin Humanities, and UniverCity Alliance.
The exhibit’s panels feature the history of the Ho-Chunk Nation, their language, connection to the land, and movements that align with Ho-Chunk values, including protecting the environment and respecting Indigenous people’s rights to the land.
“We are giving a voice to the Ho-Chunk Nation and helping share their story in a way that is meaningful to them, meaningful to us, and to the community,” West said.
The exhibit also highlights artwork from Melanie Tallmadge Sainz, who is the founding director of LEAF, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the arts and culture of Native people of the Western Great Lakes through providing quality cultural arts education programming and Native art market events. LEAF artisans participated in the event, showcasing their art and sharing their culture with attendees.
“Coming here to Waunakee in Ho-Chunk territory is like coming home, and this is an opportunity to engage as an administrator in an arts organization and to bring together the artists who are really good at telling our stories of who we are as Ho-Chunk people through their art,” Tallmadge Sainz said. “There’s a lack of information about this to the public in general, so this type of public event builds bridges in the arts, making connections.”
The exhibit’s goal is to create an exhibit that can be displayed at the Waunakee Public Library before being loaned to other libraries in Dane County through the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center.
Because of Waunakee’s previous work with UniverCity Alliance, Waunakee re-connected with UniverCity in 2023 to partner with the community-based learning class Anthropology 405: Introduction to Museum Studies in Anthropology to get the exhibit started. The students visited the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center in Tomah and met with its director, Josie Lee, to inform drafts of the layout, text, and loaning policies and procedures.
Senior Curator of Anthropology Liz Leith, who taught the course, said she hopes the exhibit will “continue to educate and enrich the local Waunakee community, as all exhibits should.”
“This exhibit should be a point of pride, showcasing the long history of the Waunakee area and the many people who have lived there,” Leith said. “However, I also hope the story this exhibit will bring back to Waunakee’s residents, by way of telling where it has traveled and the people who are coming to see it, will also resonate with the community.”
UniverCity also helped connect Waunakee with two students who refined the exhibit’s content.
“It’s a joy to support the Village of Waunakee continue deepening their relationship with the Ho-Chunk Nation well after their engagement with our partnership program officially wrapped up,” UniverCity Alliance Managing Director Megan McBride said.
Next up, the Village of Waunakee will display the exhibit at the Waunakee Public Library beginning on Oct. 13, Indigenous Peoples Day, through the month of November in honor of National Native American Heritage Month, followed by additional displays at libraries across Dane County. The village plans to display these banners annually during this time. An additional set of the exhibit banners will be gifted to the Ho-Chunk Nation Museum and Cultural Center to use as an educational resource.
This project was supported by the Brittingham Wisconsin Trust.
–Abigail Becker