Located just across the Tennessee line in Townsend, the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont traditionally offers programs that are geared toward scientific pursuits and outdoor adventures.

The Wilderness First Responder course provides medical training for backcountry hikers. An overnight excursion to Mount LeConte offers a stay at the highest lodge in the eastern United States. And a behind-the-scenes look at Cades Cove moves beyond camping into cave explorations and hidden swamps.

But the arts play a significant part in the institute’s course offerings as well, bringing a certain flare to the institute’s mission — to nurture an appreciation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, celebrate diversity and foster stewardship.

“The arts are just another way, another tool of communicating that message,” said Jeremy Lloyd, senior teacher/naturalist at the institute

During the weekend long Environmental Education and The Arts program, to be held this year from Feb. 25 through 27, institute staff and visiting presenters incorporate drawing, writing, music, theater and folklore into the hands-on, nature-based experience.

“It’s a different kind of thing than what Tremont normally does,” said Lloyd. “A lot of adults, if you told them you’re going to go to the Smokies to do craft type things, they’d say — ‘What?’”

Participants may learn how to draw their surroundings, create a nature journal, make their own mountain dulcimer, use dramatic theater to teach any subject, and how the folktales of many cultures explain the “how” and “why” of animals, plants, seasons and cycles in nature.

However, some may argue that the highlight of this year’s Environmental Education and The Arts program is storyteller Jay O’Callahan. An international performer, O’Callahan has been hailed as a “theater troupe inside one body” (Associated Press) and “a genius” (Time Magazine).

O’Callahan grew up in Brookline, Mass., in the “Pill Hill” neighborhood — a name earned thanks to the high number of doctors who lived there. Drawing from the mirth of singing, drama and conversation of his parents’ parties, O’Callahan began making up and telling stories to his little brother and sister to keep them entertained while the adults were at play.

O’Callahan went on to join the Navy, later returning to Massachusetts, where he taught and eventually became Dean at the Wyndham School, which his parents founded. During his summers off, O’Callahan would venture off to write. It was on one of these trips he met his wife, soon settling down for family life. His children became the audience for his stories.

The hobby became more of a profession and within three years of officially naming himself a storyteller, O’Callahan was telling stories in Africa, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and on the public radio program, “The Spider’s Web,” which brought his work to national attention.

O’Callahan will perform as part of the Environmental Education and The Arts program at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 25, at the Palace Theater in Maryville, Tenn. His participation — as well as that of last year’s featured performer, folk musician John McCutcheon — has helped Tremont itself move into the national spotlight.

In addition to Friday night’s show, O’Callahan will be leading an Environmental Education and The Arts session entitled “Creativity Through Storytelling,” which will draw on imagery, metaphor, the use of body, voice, sound and movement to bring everyday experiences to life.

“It’s a way of rubbing shoulders with someone of that stature,” Lloyd said of the session.

Cost for the Environmental Education and The Arts program at Tremont is $190 per person, which includes lodging, meals, instruction, and a ticket to O’Callahan’s performance. Space is still available for those who wish to register.

Those interested in only the performance may purchase tickets through the institute by calling 865.448.6709. Tickets are $15 each. For more information about the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont and other upcoming programs, visit www.gsmit.org.