Monica Rhodes

Why is a deep understanding of our nation’s past, critically important in the next 50 years? What happens when we literally create opportunity for people to situate themselves into our national story?

Cultural preservation is a field that dives into the painful past, explores the precarious present, and envisions free futures. The power of preservation lies in its ability to not only recover lost narratives by preserving tangible elements of the past, but helps to activate and create catalytic change that extends beyond our present understanding.

Whether you are interested in buildings, cemeteries, history, music we all are rooted in time by the places that matter to us. Preservation serves as a tool for expanding our capacity to address the past, transcending partisan divides.

This presentation opens the conversation for new audiences to learn how cultural preservation practioners are leveraging and expanding the past. It will share strategies on how every person can move beyond reimagination and play a role in one of the most democratic actions that a society can make, what to keep of its past.

By digging into the depths of our personal narratives, we unearth the threads that weave through time, connecting us to the broader tapestry of human experience. In doing so, we not only acknowledge our own history but also position ourselves to approach our work with a newfound understanding of the diverse stories and how they intersect with own.