Landmark Society to host annual preservation conference online

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The Landmark Society of Western New York Inc. will host its 2020 NY Statewide Preservation Conference daily from Dec. 1 through Dec. 3. The virtual conference will have sessions on a diverse range of topics that include neighborhood advocacy and small-town revitalization as well as complex tax credit rehab projects and place-based event planning.

“Together with our conference partners and sponsors, we’re bringing you more speakers and more of the fun and meaningful content you crave,” said Caitlin Meives, Landmark Society director of preservation. “We’re also stretching out the breakout sessions over two days so that you don’t have to choose between your favorite sessions. With the new Opening Plenaries on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and Lightning Round presentations Tuesday evening, we’ll have more opportunities for discussions that push the preservation field forward.”

The online conference will continue to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in the preservation movement, building on the concepts and conversations started at last year’s event, officials noted. More than 350 experts, grassroots community advocates and new voices in the preservation movement from across the state will come together to share successes, challenges and new strategies.

The event’s keynote speaker is Lauren Hood, founding director of Live6 Alliance, who helped launch a new nonprofit planning and development organization to enhance quality of life and economic opportunity in Northwest Detroit. Hood is an AfroUrbanist working at the intersection of Black aspiration and city change. Applying a reparations lens to the work, Hood employs the strategies of storytelling, visioning and relationship-building to address a community’s past harms, present needs and future hopes and dreams.

Credentialed and experienced as both a community developer and equity facilitator, Hood holds space for otherwise difficult conversations that allow practitioners and citizen stakeholders to understand and value each other’s contributions while working toward transformational outcomes.

Registration is open at www.landmarksociety.org/conference. Preservation advocates, community/neighborhood leaders, non-profit staff and others interested in applying for Diversity Scholarships or New York State residency scholarships can visit the conference website for more information. Rochester Colonial is a title sponsor and the event’s major sponsor is the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation.

The Landmark Society of Western New York is one of the oldest and most active preservation organizations in America, serving nine Western New York counties. Formed in 1937, the Landmark Society protects the unique architectural heritage of the region and promotes preservation and planning principles that foster healthy and sustainable communities.

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