News – Sheridan Media
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The UW Neltje Center, in partnership with SAGE Community Arts, will present Different but SAME: In Our Own Words — Spoken Word & Songs on Friday, June 19 from 5–7:30 p.m. at the UW Neltje Center for Excellence in Creativity and the Arts. This program is a part of SAGE’s six-week exhibition Different but SAME.
The UW Neltje Center is located approximately 20 miles east of Sheridan along Highway 14/16, at 11 Lower Piney Creek Road.
The exhibition explores shared human experiences across cultures, identities, and backgrounds through visual art and public programming. This event is one of several public programs presented throughout the exhibition, each engaging the ways individual stories reflect shared human experience.
This special Juneteenth program brings together spoken word artists Lena Newlin and Christopher D. Sims with acclaimed Wyoming musician J Shogren for an evening of storytelling through poetry and song. Each artist contributes a distinct creative practice—spoken word poetry and narrative songwriting—that, together, explore how voice, memory, and lived experience can illuminate shared human themes. Through performance, conversation, and a reception, audiences are invited to consider the role of storytelling in fostering empathy, understanding, and community.
Featured Artists include:
Lena Sunada-Matsumura Newlin is a poet and spoken word artist whose work explores identity, memory, cultural inheritance, and belonging. Her practice centers on the relationship between personal narrative and collective experience, often drawing on themes of place, ancestry, and lived experience. Through performance and writing, Newlin’s work invites reflection on how stories shape understanding across difference and foster connection through voice and language.
Christopher D. Sims is a poet, spoken word artist, performer, author, and educator whose work blends rhythm, narrative, and social commentary. His writing and performance practice is influenced by hip-hop traditions and spoken word lineage, and frequently engages themes of identity, social justice, and lived experience. Sims is the author of multiple poetry collections, including Super Lyrical, If Black Lives Mattered, and The Art of Being Black: A Black Man’s Truth in Poems. He has performed nationally and internationally and is also known for facilitating workshops and conversations on storytelling and creative expression.
J Shogren, described by the New York Times as “an affable bear of a man” and widely recognized as a Wyoming music legend, brings his distinctive blend of roots-inspired, narrative songwriting to the evening. His work complements the spoken word performances, creating a layered exploration of voice and lived experience.
The event will conclude with a community supper, offering space for continued dialogue among artists and attendees.
“This program reflects the heart of Different but SAME,” said Beth Venn, Director of the UW Neltje Center. “Each of these artists brings a distinct voice and practice to the stage. Together, they create a space where difference is not only present, but essential to understanding what we share.”
The event is free and open to the public with advance registration required.
For more information or to register, visit https://gopokes.formstack.com/forms/different_but_same
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Last modified: June 17, 2026