Day 1, Thursday, October 13
Opening Remarks: Forging a New Lens
How is the role of cultural institutions changing and what is the impact on placemaking and community livability?
Panel: Obliterating the Old Lens on Social History?
What does it really mean to share inclusive history? Institutions provide leadership in developing healthy, engaged, thriving communities through diverse, equitable, inclusive, and just storytelling.
Catherine Allgor
Bethany Groff Dorau
Byron Rushing
Kyera Singleton
Conversation: Institutional Renewal
The activity of stewarding sacred places has anchored New England communities for centuries. How are religious institutions innovating in their work and renewing their physical space to ensure relevance to communities in the 21st century?
Conversation: Toward an Inclusive Collection
Experts discuss the evolving practice of collecting material culture and new efforts to create more inclusive, accessible, and engaging collections as a tool for community engagement and social justice.
Michelle Finamore Ph.D.
Rebecca Kelly
Doneeca Thurston
Lightning Talks: Technology and Globalizing Cultural Heritage
Pervasive technological advances coupled with the reality of global engagement creates unprecedented challenges and opportunities for creating, preserving, and experiencing cultural touchstones in the 21st century.
Samantha Koslow
Dr. Carl Skelton
Performance on Mechanics Hall’s Historic Hook Organ
Return from lunch to a performance by Mechanics Hall Principal Organist Peter Krasinski, who will play a chronological tapestry of music from the mid-19th century through today, featuring pieces that those in the hall would have heard through the decades.
Lightning Talk: Mechanics Hall: Anchoring Community Through Culture
Nationally recognized for its historic significance and as a premier 21st-century century performance venue, Mechanics Hall represents the critical role of historic and cultural spaces in sustaining vibrant communities.
Keynote Address: Culture as Catalyst
Exploring innovative efforts by cultural institutions to become transformational centers of civic engagement and community vitality.
Provocation: The Historic New England Center for Preservation and Collections
Top design firms reveal their concepts for a vibrant center for collections management, curatorial excellence, and preservation leadership in the Queen Slipper City. Presentations are followed by a moderated Q&A session.
Deborah Berke
Arthi Krishnamoorthy
Brandon Haw
Eric Höweler
Panel: Reimagining Post-Industrial New England
Factories, mills and other large-scale buildings were once the lifeblood of New England communities, but many outlived their original use. How can these facilities provide the inspiration and the opportunity for today’s community revitalization?
Gregory Lombardi
Barnaby Evans
Liz Hitchcock
Julian Wade
Lightning Keynotes: Living Archives
How are the world’s foremost museum collections transforming into more open, accessible, inclusive spaces of community engagement that highlight the relevance of archived materials to the present and future? Presenters discuss new forms of archiving and collections care that challenge the traditional concepts of ownership and curation using new technology and creative, participatory structures.
Day 2, Friday, October 14
Special Presentation: A Civic Gateway: Revisioning the Otis House
Explore the theory and conceptual approach to revitalizing the oldest home in Boston’s West End as a center for community activity and a gateway to Historic New England.
Lightning Talk: Preservation and the Politics of Urban Growth
After six decades or more, is the preservation movement facing an identity crisis? Retaining sense of place and preserving cultural heritage are important goals, but affordable housing shortages, equity movements, and climate change challenge the preservation movement to become more inclusive, innovative, and sustainable. How is preservation of the past shaping the future of cities?
Panel: Intersectional Emergency: Climate Action in New England
Examining the role of heritage preservation and cultural arts in building a resilient future in the face of impending climate change impacts to New England’s cultural, natural, ecological, and economic sectors.
Lightning Talk: Net Zero 20##: Decarbonization and Old Buildings
What are the implications of net-zero planning and related policies for communities with many old buildings? How can sustainability be achieved without sacrificing built heritage?
Conversation: Resiliency Requires a Traditional Trades Infrastructure
Leaders from two of the foremost educational institutions for traditional trades discuss the challenges and opportunities for their network and why traditional trades are essential to community resiliency in the 21st century.
Panel: Growing Community through Agricultural Preservation
With resurging interest in craft brewing, farm-to-table restaurants, and community agriculture, communities are realizing the growing benefits of getting in touch with their roots.
Lightning Talk: Opening Doors: Preservation Easements
An underutilized tool for developing strong partnerships and meaningful preservation strategies, preservation easements offer the opportunity to protect the rich cultural value of places that is contained inside their walls.
Panel: History Lessons: Transformations in Teaching… Good and Bad
As classrooms become the frontline for polarized debates about historical accuracy, cultural awareness, and critical reflection, educators are engaged in dynamic discussions about the goals of history education, not just with their students, but throughout their wider communities. Discussion includes audience Q&A.
Panel: New England’s Tradition of Summer Festivals
New England is rich with longstanding arts festivals that celebrate the history of creative expression across the region in state-of-the-art sheds, beautiful cultural landscapes, and historic performance halls. How do these venues inform the artistic process? How do New England’s arts festivals transcend the stage to bridge cultures, classes, and generations? What are these institutions doing to evolve to new audiences, new priorities, and new challenges, while sustaining their missions and their communities?
Lisa Simmons
Timothea Pham
James Naughton
Chris Serkin
Anne-Marie Soulliere
Performance: Dvorak’s Piano Trio in E Minor, Op. 90
The Summit closes with a performance by world-class pianist Dr. Melvin Chen, Deputy Dean at Yale School of Music and Director of Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, in the stunning, 19th-century Great Hall at Mechanics Hall. The piece was chosen because it is a beautiful work, full of passion, pathos, and joy. Moreover, Dvorak was very instrumental in the development of music in the United States and encouraged Americans to try and find their “national” music.
Melvin Chen, Piano
Evan Johanson, Violin
Cheng “Allen” Liang, Cello
