Indigenous Hip Hop: Frank Waln’s Journey of Music, Activism, and Resilience
Conversation Moderated by Kevin Leonard
Celebrate Native American Heritage Month with the MSU Museum and experience a powerful conversation with award-winning artist Frank Waln. Discover his inspiring journey, his music, and his mission to share and preserve his culture. In collaboration with the MSU Native American Institute, this event will be moderated by the institute’s director, Dr. Kevin Leonard.
Date: Thursday, November 7
Time: 6-7:30 PM (talk + 30 minute reception after)
Location: WKAR Studio (room 145)
More About Frank Waln
Frank Waln is an award winning Sicangu Lakota multi-genre music artist, public speaker and educator from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Audio Arts & Acoustics from Columbia College Chicago, where he is recognized as a notable alumnus and was given the prestigious Mayor’s Award for Civic Engagement upon graduating. Frank Waln has appeared on MTV, CNN, NPR and ESPN for his work and has won numerous awards for his work including Native American Music Awards and “Best Music Video” at the Das Indianer international film festival.
His impactful work has been showcased at prominent venues such as the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Linden Museum in Germany, and the Kennedy Center. His role as a curator has left a lasting imprint, notably in his design of a captivating music exhibit within the Native American Exhibition Hall at the Field Museum in Chicago. Frank Waln also curated Chicago’s first ever all Indigenous music showcase during the 2022 Pritzker Pavilion Outdoor Summer Music Series. Frank Waln’s writing has been published in academic journals including the School Library Journal and he was a contributing author to America Ferrera’s New York Times Best Seller American Like Me.
Frank Waln’s influence extends to higher education and for the last decade, he has toured colleges and universities around the world. He has been a guest lecturer in numerous college classes and has held residencies at institutions such as Stanford University and Harvard University. Frank Waln’s recent work centers his family’s history with boarding schools which became the focus of an artist residency he held at Harvard University in 2023-2024. In recognition of his commitment to preserving cultural heritage, Frank Waln was commissioned by Harvard University’s Committee on the Arts to curate programming on campus and create new music paying tribute to his great grandmother’s resilience as a survivor of Indian boarding schools. Frank Waln is currently a professor at Western Michigan University where he teaches about Indigenous music and history. Frank Waln’s self-published music is available on all streaming platforms.