November 13 & 14, 2025
The Shubert Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut, and Livestream
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Concurrent Tours
Experience all that New Haven has to offer! We hope that you will join us for a closer look at some cultural gems before the main Summit program, on special tours the afternoon of Wednesday, November 12.
1:00 p.m. Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Tour (*SOLD OUT)
Tour the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and learn about its mission, history, architecture, collections, and services. This tour will be led by a library staff guide.
2:30 p.m. Yale West Campus Tour (*SOLD OUT)
Join museum representatives on a special tour of the Yale University Art Gallery Study Centers at Yale West Campus, a vibrant part of Yale and hub for innovative research and learning.
3:00 p.m. Center Church on the Green: Crypt and Meetinghouse Tour (*SOLD OUT)
Organized by Puritan settlers in 1639, Center Church on the Green, also known as The First Church of Christ in New Haven, is one of the oldest congregations in America. The congregation’s current meetinghouse, its fourth, is an 1814 Federal-style church building featuring box pews, a Tiffany window, and a crypt, an enclosed chamber around a portion of the colonial burial ground that once occupied much of the upper Green. Although the tombstones outside the meetinghouse were removed to Grove Street Cemetery in 1821, the stones and remains found in the Center Church Crypt remain in their original positions. Come take a tour of Center Church and its crypt for incredible insights into New Haven’s history.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13
8:00 a.m. Breakfast | Omni Hotel
8:00 a.m. Summit Check-in Opens | Shubert Theatre
9:00 a.m. Opening Welcome
9:30 a.m. Opening Keynote: Saving Our History: Disaster Preparedness in Turbulent Times
From natural disasters to international conflicts, the threats facing cultural heritage are intensifying. Drawing on decades of experience responding to crises around the world, Corine Wegener will share strategies for protecting irreplaceable artifacts of human experience in unprecedented times.
Speakers:
Corine Wegener, Cultural Heritage Consultant and Former Director | Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative
10:00 a.m. The Future is Now: Involving Young Voices in Planning and Preservation
Conversation
How can collaborative projects in cultural heritage and urban development benefit youth education, while bringing in essential perspectives of younger generations?
Speakers:
Alex Gilliam, Co-Founder | Tiny WPA
Kamaiyah Jackson, Former Building Hero | Tiny WPA
10:30 a.m. Morning Break
10:50 a.m. Culture Building
Keynote
How can we develop creative environments that foster connection, engagement, and learning, and how can these environments in turn support healthy, vibrant communities?
Speakers:
Kate Lear, Writer, Arts Advocate, and Theater Producer
11:10 a.m. Collecting the Big Moments
Feature
Speakers:
Tim Collins, Founder | EBSCO Publishing; Owner | Meredith Farm
11:25 a.m. Contextualizing the Preservation Landscape
Special Feature
Speakers:
Vin Cipolla, President and CEO | Historic New England
12:10 p.m. Networking Lunch | Shubert Theatre
1:10 p.m. A Bauhaus Bathroom
Special Feature
In a special Summit presentation on November 13, Historic New England announced an international design competition to reimagine the arrival experience at Gropius House, the Lincoln, Massachusetts home of modernist pioneer Walter Gropius. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus Dessau, the competition invites innovative proposals for a permanent public restroom and redesigned visitor center that honor Gropius’s enduring legacy and addresses this long-standing problem.
Speakers:
Vin Cipolla, President and CEO | Historic New England
Allen Kolkowitz ,Co-founder | KOLKOWITZ KUSSKE Architects Landscape Architects
1:35 p.m. Heritage, Transformed? Cultural Institutions in the Time of AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) challenges fundamental ideas of truth and authenticity, while at the same time offering promises of expanded efficiency, broader reach, and new ways to engage. What does the widespread adoption of AI mean for the future of cultural institutions? Leaders in the field examine questions surrounding authenticity, access, engagement, representation, and sustainability in a time of rapid technological transformation.
Special Feature
Speakers:
Robert Waldron, Chairman | Curriculum Associates
Dean Serrentino, Founder | Historiq
Panel
Speakers:
Bruce Wyman (moderator), Principal | USD Design | MACH Consulting
Kelley Szany, Senior Vice President, Education & Exhibitions | Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
Jeff Steward, Director of Digital Infrastructure and Emerging Technology | Harvard Art Museums
2:45 p.m. Afternoon Break
3:05 p.m. The “Invisible-ists”
Keynote
Looking beyond the celebrated individuals most often credited, countless other visionaries and makers enable the creation of significant buildings and settings. Explore these remarkable contributors, and the power of preservation to reveal “citizen-architects”—teams and individuals whose passion, expertise, and determination created some of our most valued landmarks and landscapes.
Speakers:
Ann Beha FAIA, Architect
3:30 p.m. Stopping to Look: The Power of Historical Markers to Inspire Human Connection
Special Feature
Physical markers offer powerful opportunities to reconnect with history. The staff of Stopping Stones, a national public art and education initiative committed to commemorating forgotten lives at sites of enslavement, work, and worship, offer their perspective on the power these markers restore the humanity of Americans enslaved in the past, and foster racial healing today.
Speakers:
Pat Wilson Pheanious, Stopping Stones Program Director | Historic New England
Mikayla Harden, Stopping Stones Assistant Program Director & Researcher | Historic New England
Liz Lightfoot, Stopping Stones School and Youth Program Manager | Historic New England
4:10 p.m. Somebody Should Do Something: Empowering Action at the Local Level
Conversation
Local action is a necessary part of protecting our collective future, but talking about the environmental, economic, and social challenges that face our communities, which often intersect, can feel fraught with difficulties. How do we overcome these difficulties to engage our communities in conversations, and how to we move from talking to taking action?
Speakers:
Matt Scott(moderator), Director of Storytelling and Engagement | Project Drawdown
Raney Bench, Executive Director | Mount Desert Island Historical
Christina Smith, President + CEO | Groundwork Bridgeport
4:45 p.m. Arts Are for Every Body
Conversation
How can performance arts sustain vibrant, healthy, and equitable communities by telling inclusive stories and serving as inclusive spaces? Hear from speakers at the intersection of dance, social justice, and wellbeing, who are addressing these issues and building community.
Speakers:
Rachel Balaban, Artist-In-Residence at Warren Alpert Medical School | Brown University; Founder and Director | Dance for All People
Ellice Patterson, Executive Director | Abilities Dance
5:15 p.m. Performance by the Yale School of Music
Our time at the Shubert Theatre would be incomplete without music. Join us for a lively showcase of standards from the Great American Songbook, evoking the Theatre’s storied history as performed by musicians from the Yale School of Music.
Performers:
Gerald Martin Moore, Director | Yale Opera; Coordinator of Vocal Studies | Yale School of Music | Piano
Jillian Tate, Soprano
Justice Yates, Bass-baritone
5:35 p.m. Closing Remarks
Evening Networking Reception to Follow
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
8:00 a.m. Breakfast | Omni Hotel
8:00 a.m. Summit Check-in Opens | Shubert Theatre
9:00 a.m. Opening Welcome
9:20 a.m. Opening Keynote
Speakers:
Deborah Berke, Founding Principal | TenBerke Architects; Edward P. Bass Dean and J.M. Hoppin Professor of Architecture | Yale School of Architecture
9:50 a.m. Finding Common Ground: Urban Planning, Zoning Reform, and the Future of Preservation
As zoning reform and housing policy debates intensify, preservation finds itself at the center of questions about equity, livability, and local agency. A conversation among national leaders explores whether regulatory decisions about the built environment signal a broader shift in preservation’s role, and what it means to adapt preservation tools for a future shaped by transparency, flexibility, and public trust.
Special Feature
Speakers:
Jane Montanaro, Executive Director | Preservation Connecticut
Marquee Conversation
Speakers:
Thompson Mayes(moderator), Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel | National Trust for Historic Preservation
Sara Bronin, Professor | George Washington University; Former Chair | Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Adrian Scott Fine, President & CEO | Los Angeles Conservancy
10:45 a.m. Morning Break
11:05 a.m. The Civic Center: Spaces for Engagement, Connection, and Dialogue
Conversation
How have New England’s cities evolved as places of shared civic purpose, and how are community values and obligations are expressed through its architecture and public realm?
Speakers:
Elihu Rubin, Henry Hart Rice Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies, Associate Professor of American Studies | Yale School of Architecture
Amber N. Wiley, Director Institute for Quality Communities | University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture
11:35 a.m. The Haverhill Center
Conversation
In 2026, the expansive ground floor of Historic New England’s historic, turn-of-the-century shoe factory in Haverhill, Massachusetts, will open to the public as an exciting new Welcome and Exhibition Center, the first stage of a major, multi-year cultural initiative to create the Haverhill Center. Join us for a preview of the imaginative opening exhibition, Shoe Stories: Past, Present, Future, which draws inspiration from the region’s incredible heritage of shoe manufacturing and design, and features objects and archival documents from Historic New England’s collection along with works from contemporary designers. Hear from members of the team and catch a glimpse into the creation of this world-class destination-in-the-making.
Launching a Welcome and Exhibition Center
Vin Cipolla, President and CEO | Historic New England
Carissa Demore, Vice President and Chief Policy Director | Historic New England
Shoe Stories: Past, Present, Future
Michelle Finamore, PhD, Fashion and Design Historian and Curator
Dr. Nora Ellen Carleson, Curator of Fashion and Decorative Arts | Historic New England
Lorna Condon, Chief Curator | Historic New England
Keynote Fireside Conversation
Stuart Weitzman, Founder & CEO, Stuart Weitzman
Michelle Finamore, PhD, Fashion and Design Historian and Curator
12:45 p.m. Awards Ceremony
Join us in recognizing remarkable contributions to the preservation of New England history through the 2025 Historic New England Book Prize and the Prize for Collecting Works on Paper. The Historic New England Book Prize recognizes outstanding literary achievements that advance understanding of life in New England from the past to today by examining its architecture, landscape, and material culture. The Prize for Collecting Works on Paper honors those who have assembled or helped save significant collections related to New England and its diverse communities or to the nation as a whole.
1:05 p.m. Networking Lunch | Shubert Theatre
2:05 p.m. On the Brink: The Future of America’s Best Idea
Speaker:
Emily Thompson, Executive Director | Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
2:30 p.m. Discovering Gold in Collections and Archives
Special Feature
Speaker:
John Stuart Gordon, Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts | Yale University Art Gallery
2:45 p.m. Seeing Buildings as Mirrors of Values
Speaker:
Maureen Meister, Ph.D., Author of Arts and Crafts Architecture across America
3:00 p.m. Shifting Shores: When to Stay and When to Retreat
Conversation
As climate driven flooding becomes increasingly common in New England and beyond, how can shoreline and riverside communities navigate complex decisions surrounding their future? Leading experts in the field consider how to approach responses such as managed retreat, while considering equity, historic resources, and deeply rooted cultural identities.
Speakers:
Susanne C. Moser, Ph.D. (moderator), Director and Principal Researcher | Susanne Moser Research & Consulting
Chris Campany, Executive Director | Windham Regional Commission
Shannon Hulst, Floodplain Specialist | Cape Cod Cooperative Extension and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant
Kristin Uiterwyk, Director | Urban Harbors Institute at UMass Boston
4:00 p.m. Closing Remarks
End of 2025 Historic New England Summit
*Times and descriptions subject to change. All sessions will be held in plenary, at the Shubert Theatre
