Preservationists need a different set of resources to be able to advocate for themselves, stories of the past, and the built environment.

In response to conversations with many of you, #DismantlePreservation Virtual Unconference was developed to be the continuing education many of us desire. It was a one day free event that delved into mental health, unions/salary negotiations, public service loan forgiveness, implicit bias in preservation, preserving the full story, and how to expand who is investing in old buildings. Let’s dismantle historic preservation and rebuild it for the benefit of our communities today and tomorrow. Check the EVENTS page to learn about upcoming #DismantlePreservation: Let’s Keep Talking panel discussions.

Click here to view recordings of the sessions. This event was hosted on July 28, 2020.

Expanding Who is Investing

“Preservation” and “real estate investing” typically conjure up images of wealthy elites with a treasure trove of money to capitalize on the hottest opportunities before others even catch wind that they exist. And rightfully so, traditional investing and capital markets were only for those in the know. But as social patterns have shifted, so have living preferences and the call for more equitable representation at all tables - preservation and real estate development included. 2020 taught us that business can no longer be conducted as usual. Forward thinking is required at the intersection of finance, honoring architecture and practical modernity. Housing Joint Venture is a unique real estate development and education firm on a mission to do just that by democratizing access to real estate investing. Tune in to this session to learn how they use a super boring, almost sleepy model to turn traditional capital markets on their head and deliver value-add real estate investments at scale.

Speaker: John Delia and Richelle Delia PhD, Founders Housing JV

Identifying and Tackling Implicit Bias in Preservation

Implicit bias is defined as a bias based on our unconscious feelings, including feelings that contradict our actual beliefs. Implicit biases exist within the preservation movement. This session will be a discussion about how implicit biases affect the work that we do, including how it can impact the projects we take on, professionals we choose to work with and/or hire, and the ways we approach historic interpretations. Panelists will share their experiences with implicit biases, and discuss strategies to mitigate their impacts.

Speakers: Jeffrey Harris, Historic Preservation Consultant; Melissa Jest, Coordinator of African American Programs for Georgia State Historic Preservation Office; Sam Collins, National Trust for Historic Preservation Board of Advisers; Frank Vagnone, Founder Twisted Preservation

Rage Against the Student Loan Machine

Most of us can't escape student loans as we pursue higher education. How do student loans limit our options in the preservation field? How do we deal with the reality of loans as a deterrent to becoming a preservationist? Join Adrienne Burke, six-figure student loan debtor, as she talks about lessons learned, alternative options, and having success with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Speaker: Adrienne Burke, AICP, Esq.

Building Union Power in Preservation

In this session attendees will learn about the experience of public and non-profit sector union workers, the benefits of unionization beyond higher wages, and how unionized cultural workers can build power to fight for a better world.

Speakers: Derek Tulowitzky; TBA American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Organizers

Let’s Talk About Mental Health

How does the structure of the historic preservation field and related cultural sectors contribute to and affect mental illnesses in its professional practitioners? This session will deconstruct the long-term impacts of low wages, contract employment, labels and stereotypes, that all contribute to burnout and mental illness as preservation professionals. Speakers will share their experiences in finding individual paths to cope with these conditions, while recommending what the field and its employers must do in pursuit of inclusive and mentally healthy workplaces.

Speakers: Ms. Camille Bethune-Brown, Museum Worker and Black Historian ; Mx. Ty Ginter, Queer Historian and Architectural Historian

Expanding the Preservation Narrative: From Research to Action HEADLINER

This panel discussion highlights Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) preservationists and their academic research and preservation work. Panelists will briefly introduce how they utilized their academic work into preservation action (e.g., nominations for local, state, and/or national registers, creating toolkits related to preservation, advocacy work, capacity building). Then panel discussion will then examine the importance of BIPOC preservation scholars and practitioners in centering traditionally marginalized voices in historic preservation.

Speakers: Angelo Baca (Doctoral Student, Sociocultural Anthropology, New York University; Cultural Resources Coordinator, Utah Diné Bikéyah); Tejpaul Singh Bainiwal (Doctoral Candidate, Religious Studies, University of California, Riverside; Board member, Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation); Sarah Zenaida Gould, PhD (Director, Museo del Westside; Co-Chair, Latinos in Heritage Conservation); Jeffrey Harris (Independent historian and historic preservation consultant); Kristen Hayashi, PhD (Director of Collections Management & Access and Curator, Japanese American National Museum; Board member, Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation); Alison Rose Jefferson MHC, PhD (Historian and Heritage Conservation Consultant, Historian and More); Davianna Pomaika'i McGregor, PhD (Professor of Ethnic Studies and Director of Center for Oral History, University of Hawai'i, Manoa)

Moderator: Michelle G. Magalong, PhD (Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland; President, Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation)

8 - 9:30 pm EST - Burning Down the House

Enjoy rapid fire 6-minute presentations that will introduce you to new concepts, strategies, and lesser known histories. Lightning talks will occur in the following order:

Architecture is both the tool and the result of settler colonialism; Fernando Luiz Lara, Professor and Director of PhD program in Architecture at University of Texas at Austin
Tell the Full Story: A Meditation on the Retelling of History; Kennedy Whiters AIA, Architect & Capital Projects Manager
Historic Preservation and the Fight for Equity; Mary Lu Seidel, Director of Community Engagement for Preservation Chicago
Beyond Buildings: Conserving Sites and Stories of Racial Violence in Los Angeles; Jackson Loop, Architectural Historian
Latino's In Indiana - Lost barrios, voices and their 100 year old Hoosier History; Nicole Martinez -LeGrand, Multicultural Collections Coordinator for Indiana Historical Society
The Systemic Racism of Preservation in Santa Fe; Shawn Evans AIA, Principal at Atkin Olshin Schade Architects
Unlearning Academic Writing & Embracing Copywriting to Reach a Wider Audience; Terra Wheeler, Copywriter & Inclusive Preservationist
Being a Decay Devil; Gregg Ott, Decay Devils organizer
A Wall in the Wild: Erasing the Borderlands; Laiken Jordahl, Borderlands Campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity

Call To Action: Labor Equity in Preservation

UPDATE: Phase 2 of the Labor Equity in Preservation initiative will be announced early 2021!

To promote the Historic Preservation field as a professional discipline and to increase our capacity to sustain our ability to support our communities, we must advocate for preservation professionals to receive equitable compensation. There are two areas to address to promote salary equity:

We can no longer support unpaid internships in our field
We can no longer allow organizations and job boards to impede salary transparency by omitting compensation in job descriptions.

Reach out to the following historic preservation job boards and challenge them to no longer share unpaid internships and that they require salary ranges for all job postings:

Preservenet; UPDATE: As of October 2020, all positions listed must include compensation.
Preservation Directory; UPDATE: Preservation Directory is in the process of updating their language for job board submissions.
National Council on Public History; UPDATE: As of September 9, 2020 all positions listed must include a salary, salary range, hourly rate, salary code, or some other measure of compensation.
National Trust for Historic Preservation; UPDATE: The National Trust for Historic Preservation has modified their job board for available NTHP positions to include salary information. Their FORUM job board as of October 13, 2020 now requires “all listings to include at least a salary range (or a minimum salary)” and they “will no longer accept uncompensated internships for listing.”

Why this matters - Sample Talking Points:

Unpaid internships devalue all preservation professional positions.
Unpaid internships limit professional development opportunities to the few instead of the many.
Statistically women and people of color are less likely to negotiate salary. Not disclosing salary in a job listing puts these individuals at a disadvantage and perpetuates the wage gap.
If you are an organization looking to hire someone, you will be starting the relationship out with full honesty and transparency. You’ll also generate an applicant pool that will confidently be interested in accepting this position knowing that the compensation will provide a sustainable income.

Sample Letter:

Dear >Insert Organization Name<,

Thank you for providing an accessible platform for preservation professionals to seek jobs. If the cultural sector wants equality we can no longer support unpaid internships and we must elevate the standards for job listings. Please modify your job board to no longer allow unpaid internships/fellowships and to require the posting of salary ranges.

For years the cultural sector has discussed the negative implications of unpaid internships and it is now time to stop this practice. Unpaid internships systematically devalue all preservation professionals’ work and ensure only a limited number individuals can pursue entry level positions in the field. If your organization believes, as it has said in the past, that the cultural sector should diversify who it hires; this is a fundamental step.

Adding salary ranges is also integral to salary equity. Women and people of color are statistically less likely to negotiate, thus not sharing a salary rage furthers the wage gap. These standards not only benefit the job seeker, but they will also benefit the employer. Job seekers will not waste their time on job applications if they do not know if the job will provide an income needed to take care of themselves and/or their family. I was told recently by someone who has helped hire preservation positions for their workplace " I've seen this first hand with our job applicants- when we list a range- especially a competitive range- we get better quality applicants. Hands. Down."

Please amend your job board submission standards for the betterment of the cultural sector. For more information, please read the following articles >Insert Links for Additional Information<.

Sincerely,

>Insert Your Name<

Want to learn more about the importance of salary ranges? Click these links!

P.S. Since 2017, I’ve been happy to give out tiny conference scholarships to people with big dreams as a part of my Tiny Activist Project. The 2020 Tiny Activist Project scholarship funds are being diverted to provide speaker fees for the Dismantle Preservation Unconference.