Events

Willa Cather Foundation Events

The Willa Cather Foundation holds a variety of events in Red Cloud annually, including several Opera House performances and gallery exhibitions, our Spring Conference, and the Prairie Writers' Workshop. A biennial International Cather Seminar and periodic symposia are also held in other locales that were relevant to Cather's life and work. 

The Willa Cather Foundation is a not-for-profit organization created in 1955 that owns and operates the National Willa Cather Center and the nation's largest collection of nationally-designated historic sites dedicated to an American author.

Author Series
Author Series
Opera House Events
Opera House Events
Art Gallery
Art Gallery
Rental Information
Rental Information

Visions of the Prairie

Art Gallery:
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Scott Kirby's drawings and watercolor paintings are inspired by the American Great Plains. Referred to as an “accidental artist” by Sandpoint Magazine, Kirby began making art at the age of forty. Although the attempts to capture these mostly imagined visions are quite intentional, the origins of Kirby's transition from music to art was, in a way, “accidental,” or unexpected, and his scenes are rooted in a long relationship with the towns and landscapes of the American grasslands.


Willa Cather, the Archival Chain, and the Making of a Literary Legacy

Spring Conference:
- CT

We are pleased to welcome author Rebecca Romney! Her lecture on "Willa Cather, the Archival Chain, and the Making of a Literary Legacy" considers the effects of archival collections on the writing of literary history, with special emphasis on Cather’s posthumous legacy. Such collections are not formed accidentally. They exist through the efforts of individual people, archival agents who save material, become its long-term caretakers, and make it accessible for study. The decisions of archival agents, big and small, can cause ripple effects across the stories we tell.


Harbor Stage Company presents The Bohemian

Spring Conference:
- CT

Join us for the finale of the 71st Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference! Adapted by Brenda Withers from Cather's short story “The Bohemian Girl,” this unique and special production features actors Jonathan Fielding and Brenda Withers from the Harbor Stage Company. 


Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal

Opera House:
- CT
You voted, and we listened! 2026 Audience Choice winners Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal are performing their very first opera house show in what promises to be a foot-stomping Saturday night! Hoyer and his band leave it all on the stage, performing authentic funk, soul, and blues music across the country and the world.

Museum photo

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The Willa Cather Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the work, life, and legacy of this great American writer. Through our scholarly endeavors, educational outreach, arts and humanities programs, and preservation of historical settings and archives, we serve as a vibrant memorial to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.