Press release from Providence Preservation Society:
Providence Symposium Examines Historic Preservation and Urban Displacement
PPS Presents Free Programs with Local and National Experts on October 18 and 21
The Providence Preservation Society (PPS) presents the 2017 Providence Symposium, Sites and Stories: Mapping a Preservation Ecosystem, October 18 and 21 in Fox Point. The program examines how to preserve sites and their diverse stories, particularly when these sites have vanished or been altered. The Symposium explores both the economics and the ethics of preservation, acknowledges divides in the field, provides an opportunity to consider multiple points of view and applies to all those who care about the history of the built environment.
The event begins with film screenings on Wednesday, October 18, 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Cable Car Cinema, 204 South Main Street. Films include “Some Kind of Funny Porto Rican?”: A Cape Verdean American Story (2006) and The Rebirth of the Nation: The Story of Urban Renewal (1963), a 16mm restored film courtesy of SPIA Media Productions, Inc. An informal Q&A follows with Claire Andrade-Watkins, Director of the Fox Point Cape Verdean Project; Professor of Film and Africana Studies at Emerson College; and Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, and Distinguished Community Practitioner and Senior Fellow, Swearer Center for Public Service, both at Brown University.
The Symposium continues on Saturday morning, October 21, 8:15 a.m. at the First Unitarian Church, 1 Benevolent Street. The program begins with a keynote address, “Who Owns Heritage?,” by Randall Mason, Chair of Historic Preservation and the Center for Research on Preservation and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. A conversation on urban displacement and its aftermath follows with Dr. Andrade-Watkins. A roundtable session, “The Death and Life of American Planning: Building our Future,” features Elihu Rubin, Yale School of Architecture Associate Professor; Allen Penniman, Principal Planner for the City of Providence; J. Trey Scott, Principal Planner, City of Central Falls; and Marisa Brown from the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage at Brown University. The Symposium concludes with an afternoon walking tour of the Fox Point redevelopment area led by Dr. Andrade-Watkins and John McNiff, National Park Service Ranger, Roger Williams National Memorial.
[alert type=”info”]Space is limited and registration is required at ProvidenceSymposium.com. Free and open to the public. This project is made possible by a grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.[/alert]
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