U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo To Keynote 12th Annual Waterston Desert Writing Prize Ceremony (Photo) - 07/15/26

Waterston award ceremony is set for September 17 at the High Desert Museum

 

BEND, OR—The High Desert Museum is honored to announce that Joy Harjo, the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate and internationally renowned voice of the Muscogee Nation, will serve as the keynote speaker for the 12th annual Waterston Desert Writing Prize award ceremony.

This prestigious award celebrates literary excellence that explores the ecological and cultural narratives of arid landscapes. The winner will receive a $3,000 cash award, a creative residency at PLAYA in Summer Lake, Oregon, and the opportunity to be honored alongside Harjo at the award ceremony on Thursday, September 17. The ceremony includes a book signing following the program. Tickets for the ceremony are $10, with members receiving a 20% discount. To learn more and purchase tickets, visit highdesertmuseum.org/events/waterston-ceremony-2026.

“Now in its 12th year, the Waterston Desert Writing Prize continues to elevate stories that honor the complexity of arid landscapes,” says Museum Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D. “Having a literary icon like Joy Harjo join us as keynote speaker underscores the national importance of these narratives. We are eager to discover the new voices that will be recognized alongside her this September.”

Harjo will also be participating in an upcoming event at the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. As the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, she was the first Native American to hold the position, and only the second poet to be appointed to a third term. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She is the author of 10 poetry books, several plays and children’s books, and two memoirs.

In 2019, Jackson Poetry Prize judges Ada Limón, Alicia Ostriker, and D. A. Powell declared her poetry as work that “speaks not only to the world we live in, but to the unseen world that moves through us, the thread that has connected us all from the start. Harjo’s poems embody a rich physicality and movement; they begin in the ear and the eye, they go on to live and hum inside the body. Throughout her luminous and substantial body of work, there is a sense of timelessness, of ongoingness, of history repeating; these are poems that hold us up to the truth and insist we pay attention.”

Harjo’s honors include Yale’s 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth Lily Prize from the Poetry Foundation, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Tulsa Artist Fellowship. She is a former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and is currently the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she lives.

Harjo will be joined by Guest Judge Charles Hood, winner of the 2025 Obsidian Award and a five-time finalist for the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, at the ceremony.

Established in 2014 and inspired by author and Oregon Poet Laureate Ellen Waterston’s love of the High Desert, the Prize celebrates writers whose nonfiction book proposal reflects a similar connection to a desert anywhere in the world.

“The Waterston Desert Writing Prize is more than an award; it’s a catalyst for discovery,” said Waterston. “It brings to light new perspectives on everything from the ‘desertification’ of our oceans to the resilience of arid-land flora. Ultimately, it celebrates the timeless power of the desert as a place where we meet ourselves head-on.”

Past winners of the Prize include Heather Quinn (2025), Leath Tonino (2024), Anna Welch (2023) and Caroline Tracey (2022). A nonfiction writer and photographer, Quinn’s submission This is How You Disappear is a book-length essay blending personal narrative, reportage and historical research to explore trauma, ecological collapse and memory in the California desert, particularly around the Salton Sea. They were joined by keynote speaker Dan Flores, Ph.D., and guest judge Beth Piatote, Ph.D.

The 2026 Waterston Desert Writing Prize winner will be announced on Tuesday, August 18. To learn more about the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, visit highdesertmuseum.org/waterston-prize.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM: 

The HIGH DESERT MUSEUM opened in Bend, Oregon in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America’s High Desert. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2025 recipient of the Autry Public History Prize from the Western History Association and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow us on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. 

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Discover The Wonder Of The Dark During “Welcome The Night” At The High Desert Museum (Photo) - 07/08/26

BEND, OR — The High Desert Museum invites visitors to experience Welcome the Night on Wednesday, July 15, for an after-hours evening of hands-on discovery celebrating nocturnal wildlife, astronomy and the importance of protecting dark skies.  Explore the Museum after dark with community partners, Museum experts, and local naturalists. Activities include owl encounters, bat detection, hands-on astronomy, insect exploration, twilight art, and more from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Learn more and purchase tickets at highdesertmuseum.org/welcomethenight26.
 

Welcome the Night guests will receive an adventure card and map to guide them through 20 stations across the Museum. Participants can collect a stamp at each stop before turning in their card for a chance to win a raffle prize.
 

New this year is the Ribbits and Hoots Station, where visitors can create frog hand puppets or owl finger puppets. At the Twilight Art Station, guests of all ages can make stenciled twilight art using scratch paper. A local face painter will also be on-site, offering designs inspired by favorite twilight creatures.

Three owl encounters will take place at the E. L. Wiegand Pavilion in the Donald M. Kerr Birds of Prey Center. During the 15-minute encounters, Museum wildlife staff will share how owls use their large eyes, silent flight, and keen hearing to hunt by day and by night.

At Cheney Pond, experts from the U.S. Forest Service will lead the Bat Detectives Station, exploring bats and their role in the High Desert ecosystem. Visitors will learn why bats dip and dive over water and see how researchers track the movements and behavior of these remarkable flying mammals.
 

Experts from Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory will guide visitors at the Mighty Meteor Station, where they will uncover the science behind falling stars, shooting stars, and meteorites. Guests can also peer through telescopes and explore a model solar system.

Representatives from Pollinator Pathway Bend introduce visitors to the world of nighttime pollinators, including moths, and teach them how to create outdoor spaces that support important pollinators at the Pollination Station. In the Desertarium, visitors can view a collection of insects and examine specimens under magnification.
 

DarkSky Oregon will share how light pollution affects not only our view of the stars, but also the health and well-being of nocturnal wildlife.
 

The Rimrock Café will be transformed into the Crepuscular Café, featuring food available for purchase from Luckey’s Woodsman. No-host bars will feature alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.
 

Tickets for Welcome the Night are $10 for adults and children ages 3 and older. Museum Members receive a 20% discount. Children 2 and younger are free. Visitors are encouraged to bring a flashlight or headlamp, as outdoor trails are unlit.
 

Learn more and purchase tickets at highdesertmuseum.org/welcomethenight26.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM: 

The HIGH DESERT MUSEUM opened in Bend, Oregon in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America’s High Desert. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2025 recipient of the Autry Public History Prize from the Western History Association and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow us on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. 

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The High Desert Museum Featured In Smithsonian Exhibition This Summer (Photo) - 06/30/26

Bend, Oregon, June 29, 2026 – As thousands gather in Washington, D.C. in celebration of the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary, they can experience the High Desert Museum through a featured video at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arts and Industries Building. Central Oregon’s cultural gem has its own video in the special exhibition “Voices and Votes: Exploring Democracy Across America,” at the Arts and Industries Building. The nearly four-minute video highlights the Museum’s mission, its work supporting local communities, and its collaborations with Smithsonian programs and resources.

"The High Desert Museum is proud to be a Smithsonian Affiliate,” said Dana Whitelaw, Executive Director of the High Desert Museum. “Being featured in the ‘Voices and Votes’ exhibition and having the opportunity to share our story through this video reflects the strong collaboration and partnership between the institutions.”

In the video, visitors will see the Museum’s award-winning exhibition spaces as well as Timber, the bobcat, and the Museum’s bald eagles. They will also hear from Museum Executive Director Dana Whitelaw, Senior Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Dustin Cockerham, and Community Engagement Coordinator Martha Campbell. The video highlights the Museum’s participation in the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art’s “Artful Movement” program, which helps children combine mindfulness techniques with art. The High Desert Museum is one of five sites selected for this section for the exhibition.

“Hosting ‘Voices and Votes’ on the National Mall in conjunction with the nation's 250^th offers an opportunity to show visitors the depth of engagement that results from collaborations between the Smithsonian and its partners across the country. We are delighted to feature the important work of Smithsonian Affiliates, like the High Desert Museum, in their communities to create local civic and cultural impacts,” said Kara Blond, Director, SITES | Smithsonian Affiliations.

“Voices and Votes” explores the ongoing work of democracy, from the American Revolution and the suffrage movement to civil rights and modern voting. The exhibition features sections on the origins of U.S. democracy, the struggle for voting rights, campaigning and elections, civic participation and the responsibilities of citizenship. It includes historical and contemporary photographs, video, multimedia interactives and artifacts such as campaign materials, voter memorabilia and protest items. Visitors to Washington, DC, can view the exhibition at the Arts and Industries Building through September 7, 2026.

About the High Desert Museum

The High Desert Museum is the only institution in the nation dedicated to the study of the High Desert region and the largest cultural institution in central and eastern Oregon. Since opening in 1982, the Museum has evolved into a place that annually serves almost 225,000 visitors from across the nation and cares for a collection of over 28,000 objects and 170 animals. Located in Bend, Oregon, the Museum encompasses 135 forested acres, two permanent cultural exhibitions, three changing exhibition galleries, a bird of prey center, otter exhibit, and the High Desert Ranch and Sawmill, and offers learning experiences uniquely rooted in the surrounding landscape.

The Museum was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. In 2025, it was awarded the 2025 Autry Public History Prize for its original exhibition, Sensing Sasquatch.

About Voices and Votes: Exploring Democracy Across America
“Voices and Votes: Exploring Democracy Across America” received funding from the Smithsonian's Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.

About SITES | Affiliations

SITES | Affiliations deepens the impact of the Smithsonian beyond Washington, D.C., by bringing its high-quality content, resources and expertise to people across the nation in collaboration with museums and cultural organizations. SITES | Affiliations is home to traveling exhibitions, a vast network of Smithsonian Affiliate organizations and the MoMs program that brings the Smithsonian to rural communities across the United States and beyond. Visit nationalengagement.si.edu for more information. 

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