JB+A is proud to announce its client partner, Willa Cather Foundation, recently broke ground on its National Willa Cather Center. More than 200 supporters came to Red Cloud, Nebraska, for the celebration, including acclaimed historian Richard Norton Smith. In 2016, the NWCC will open its doors as a vibrant arts and educational center that will serve approximately 8,000 annual visitors.
Hundreds of supporters nationwide have come together for a campaign to create the WCF’s first climate-controlled archive and museum, which will be the best possible preservation and research environment for an extensive and growing collection of rare books, archival papers, textiles and artifacts once belonging to Cather and the Cather family. The effort also includes a classroom, expanded bookstore, art gallery and backstage facilities for WCF’s Red Cloud Opera House.
The mission of the Willa Cather Foundation is to promote and encourage increased understanding and appreciation of the life, times, settings and work of Willa Cather. Willa Cather was an American novelist in the first half of the twentieth century and has been identified as a canonical American writer. She settled in Webster County, Nebraska, and was the author of 12 novels, six collections of short fiction, two editions of a book of poetry and nine works of nonfiction and several pieces of journalism, speeches and letters.
Willa Cather Foundation is close to reaching its $6.7 million campaign goal. For more information on WCF, the NWCC and the campaign, click here.