The High Desert Museum broke ground Thursday on an expansion project that will bring more classrooms, community gathering spaces and a new art gallery to the museum. Estimated to cost around $40 million, the project is slated for a December 2027 completion date.
“We’ve been working on this for several years, from the initial concept design to the fundraising,” HDM Executive Director Dana Whitelaw told the Source. “I think it’s astonishing that we have a world-class museum here in Central Oregon that this community has supported since the early ‘80s.”
The museum is the only Oregon museum east of the Cascade mountain range that features security, temperature and humidity controls that make certain kinds of artwork, collections and traveling exhibitions possible to feature. The closest museum with those kinds of features is the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene.
According to a press release, the architecture for the new additions will draw inspiration from the High Desert Landscape. According to Whitelaw, the new wing will be artistically influenced by rimrock landscapes to compliment the rivers and mountains from High Desert areas.
Hacker Architects, based in Portland, is managing the design aspect of the expansion project.
The new wing will also be “solar-ready,” meaning the new building will be designed to make installing solar energy systems possible.
In order to complete the project builders will be removing trees as a part of a larger wildfire reduction plan. Trees closest to the expansion area will be removed to meet defensible space standards.
The HDM has raised 87% of the $40 million required to complete the project. The funds have come from government grants, private foundations, individual donations, anonymous donations and a $6 million award given from the Roundhouse Foundation. According to a list of donors provided to the Source by Whitelaw, there have been 119 individuals and organizations who have donated to the HDM.
Although the HDM has almost reached its goal, Whitelaw told the Source that it lost $500,000 in funding and five grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, all terminated in 2025 by the Trump administration.
Whitelaw says HDM officials are primarily looking for “philanthropic” support to achieve the rest of the funds needed to complete the project.
“Most of our education and learning across our lifetime happens outside of the classroom, in a kind of passive setting,” Whitelaw says. “Museums are a part of that informal education environment.”
The museum will provide educational classes for school kids in kindergarten through college undergraduate and graduate students.
“If we’re doing our jobs well, people are coming here and through that spark of curiosity and seeing a moment of wonder and awe are one of our foundational ways we spark learning,” Whitelaw says.
The press release stated that over the past 15 years HDM has doubled its programming because attendance has increased over 40%.
“I believe that museums are a reflection of their community, and this community is so vibrant with incredible stories and history and contemporary culture,” Whitelaw says.
The museum will remain open during normal hours of operation while under construction, though Whitelaw says there will be some changes in the parking lot for the first three months.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
