Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
college town of Bozeman is regionally known for its annual Sweet Pea Festival of the Arts
in August, and it also boasts a well-regarded symphony as well as jazz and opera music fest-
ivals. The Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture houses studios, galleries, classrooms,
and restaurants along with a 700-seat theater in a refurbished two-story elementary school.
Jackson's 10-day Fall Arts Festival is home to one of the region's largest auctions, and
the Grand Teton Music Festival hosts some of the world's finest classical musicians each
summer in nearby Teton Village. Jackson is also home to the National Museum of Wildlife
Art, which boasts more than 5,000 works in its permanent collection, and to the Jackson
Hole Center for the Arts, a vibrant community center that offers everything from nationally
touring musical and dance acts to educational workshops.
MATTHEW SHEPARD AND THE LARAMIE PROJECT
Born in Casper, Wyoming, in 1976, Matthew Shepard was a political science major
and the student representative for the Wyoming Environmental Council during his
first year at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Long a champion for equality
and an admired peer counselor in high school, Shepard was the kind of kid who
wanted to change the world. Tragically, it was his brutal 1998 murder that effected
the change Shepard worked to inspire during his short life.
On October 7, Shepard, who was gay, was abducted from a bar in Laramie by
Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The two men drove Shepard to a remote
area east of town where they robbed and viciously beat their victim with the butt of
a handgun. Likely unconscious from countless blows to the face and head, Shepard
was tied to a fence and left to die. He was found 18 hours later by a bicyclist who at
first mistook Shepard for a scarecrow. Matthew Shepard died on October 12 from his
injuries without ever having regained consciousness. Both murderers confessed their
crimes using a gay-panic defense strategy and are serving consecutive life sentences
in unidentified prisons.
What was a horrific tragedy for the Shepards' tight-knit family was seen around
the world as a hate crime, inflicted upon the 21-year-old because he was gay.
Shepard's parents, Dennis and Judy, created the Matthew Shepard Foundation
(
www.matthewshepard.org
)
to honor the memory of their son and to “replace hate
with understanding, compassion and acceptance” through educational, outreach, and
advocacy programs. Judy Shepard has turned her personal tragedy into a crusade for
