2009 National Preservation Conference Speakers
Tuesday Special Lecture: The Preservation Story of Nashville and Middle Tennessee
Sponsored by Cracker Barrel Foundation
Tuesday, October 13, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Christ Church
Hear two Tennessee preservation veterans talk about the preservation story of this historic and culturally diverse area of the South. Ann Roberts, for 26 years the director of the Metropolitan Historical Commission, and Carroll Van West, director of the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University, will spin stories of lessons learned and battles won and lost. Their talks will colorfully set the stage for the exciting week ahead.
Opening Plenary
Wednesday, October 14, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Ryman Auditorium
Let the songs of Nashville welcome you to the Mother Church of Country Music! Built as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1889, the Ryman served as the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 until 1974. Twenty years later the Ryman was restored to be the national showplace that it is today. Join Honorary Conference chairs the Governor of Tennessee, Phil Bresenden (invited), and the Mayor of Nashville, Karl Dean, who will welcome us to Nashville and talk about the how the city is embracing preservation, followed by Richard Moe’s annual President’s Report, and two very special speakers.
Dame Fiona Reynolds, DBE, has been director general of the National Trust (U.K.) since January 2001. Currently the National Trust (U.K.) cares for more than 600,000 acres of land and more than 700 miles of coastline, in addition to the hundreds of historic houses in its care. With a membership of 3.6 million and over 100 million visits each year, the Trust has embarked on a series of programs to engage its members, improve conservation and its properties, and reduce its environmental footprint. Dame Reynolds will share what our counterparts “across the pond” are doing in their aggressive efforts to make their enormous number of breathtaking historic sites sustainable.
Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and author who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. Beginning in the summer of 2006, he organized one of the largest demonstrations against global warming in American history. McKibben will address the financial revolution facing us, and examine what preservation’s role is in this new economy.
Friday Special Lecture: Before their Shadows Fade
Sponsored by Bridgestone Americas Holding
Friday, October 16, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Downtown Presbyterian Church
Nashville is Music City, filled with singer-songwriters, America’s finest tellers of three minute stories. New York Times best-selling author, Robert Hicks, in another life, a long-time music industry insider, will talk about his varied passions and work that integrate so well with everything preservation is about — cultural landscapes, historic sites, Battlefield preservation, music history, and moonshine. Come hear this master storyteller weave tales that will warm your heart and prepare you for a night of great music at the historic BB King Blues Club. Following the lecture, Hicks will sign his books Widow of the South, his new novel, A Separate Country and A Guitar and A Pen.
Closing Plenary
Saturday, October 17, 10:30 a.m. - 12 noon
End your week in Nashville listening to the beautiful voices of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The Jubilee Singers are an enduring tradition at Fisk and represent the ardor and dreams of youth as well as the tranquility and understanding of maturity. The ensemble has received the National Medal of the Arts, the Academy Honors and the Tennessee Governor’s Folklife Heritage Award, and has been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Music City Walk of Fame. The Fisk Jubilee Singers minister through song to the hearts of all who listen to them.
The Closing Plenary, on the 60th Anniversary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will address two major opportunities and challenges in the future of historic preservation:
For decades there has been tension between many property owners and preservationists seeking to protect the integrity and heritage of neighborhoods, communities, and individual historic places. Hear a leading jurist and preservationist frame this issue in both legal and political terms, and look to the future of this ongoing relationship. The Hon. Randall T. Shepard, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, is a long-time preservation leader and eloquent speaker.
Historic preservation is a powerful vehicle to tell all of our country’s stories. Representative John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing civil liberties, and building what he calls “The Beloved Community” in America. As a student at Fisk University, John Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated lunch counters in Nashville and participated in the Freedom Rides, which challenged segregation at interstate bus terminals across the South. Lewis was Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was largely responsible for organizing student activism in the Movement, including sit-ins and other activities. Congr. Lewis will draw from his powerful experience to look into a future of historic preservation for all Americans.
Forum Champagne Luncheon: Let’s Not Just Focus on the Past: Keeping Preservation Relevant in the Coming Years
Saturday, October 17, 12 noon - 1:30 p.m.
The historic preservation movement has made remarkable progress in the last 60 years; progress that certainly merits celebrating. But once the confetti is swept from the floor and the celebratory champagne has gone flat, what do we need to do today to make sure preservation is relevant — and indeed is still around — 50 years from now? To explore this subject, we invite Forum members — especially all of you “twenty-somethings” — to join Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics, a Washington, D.C., real-estate consulting firm, to hear his thoughts on this topic and then share ideas for the future.
Forum members only
