Great Basin National Park opens applications for 2026 Artist-in-Residence program

Artist residencies engage visitors and communities with fresh perspectives on Nevada’s only national park.

Great Basin National Park, in partnership with the Great Basin National Park Foundation, is excited to announce that applications are now open for its 2026 Artist-in-Residence program.

For nearly two decades, the program has welcomed painters, writers, musicians and other creatives to immerse themselves in one of the most remote and inspiring national park landscapes.

“Artists help us see the Great Basin through new perspectives,” said Aviva O’Neil, Great Basin National Park Foundation’s executive director. “Their work connects people in new ways to the park’s vast landscapes, rich history, sense of solitude and more.”

Meghan Catherine Dragon, a 2025 Great Basin National Park Artist-in-Residence, said, “I want my work to inspire people to get outside and to look a little closer at some of the things they normally just walk by. Art can help open people’s eyes to new things. It can inspire people’s own creativity. And it can highlight the beauty of the natural world and show why we want to keep it, preserve it and protect it.”

“There are artists’ fingerprints all over the stories of many national parks,” said Marko Bajzer, 2023 Great Basin National Park Artist-in-Residence. “The more you can reframe things in different ways, through literature, through visual arts, through music, the more you can connect with the concept of conservation and the idea of the parks.”

Program Details and Timeline:

• Four artists will be chosen from the current call for 2026 – one each for winter, summer and fall, and one alternate.
• One spot is reserved for a Great Basin artist who resides in Nevada or Utah.
• Artists are provided either camping or lodging for their two- to three-week residency
• The application deadline is Oct. 15.
• Full details can be found at www.callforentry.org