2026 Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference and Heritage Awards

Preservationists and artists have long been allies in the fight to save historic places. From rescuing old theaters to once again host plays, dance recitals and symphonies, repurposing vacant commercial storefronts and dilapidated barns to become studios and turning abandoned schools into museums and galleries, preservation advocates understand that historic buildings are the perfect frame for creativity, purpose and community pride.

Schedule

Wednesday, June 3

10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Optional Pre-Conference Preservation Toolkit Workshop

Joe Rocco’s Brooklyn Pizzeria
700 Main Street, Columbia

Preservationists, sharpen your pencils. You already know the reasons why historic buildings should be saved and repurposed, so let’s get into the how. With practical tips from Lolly Rash, MHT Executive Director and Claire Winn, MHT Director of Programs, participants will master basic real estate development concepts. Over lunch, Mary Elizabeth Evans with Gulf Coast Housing Partners will talk about reimagining a funky old motel as a fantastic new home for seniors and Brandi and Carlton Turner will discuss the Utica renaissance being led by ‘Sipp Culture. Following the workshop, Lori Watts with the Marion County Development Partnership will lead the group on a tour of preservation possibilities in Columbia.

Registration Fee-$25, limited to 10 people. Lunch will be served.

5:00-6:00 p.m. Welcome Party and MHT Annual Membership Meeting

Lincoln County Historical and Genealogical Society
Temple B’nai Shalom
227 South Church Street, Brookhaven

Preservationists, welcome to Brookhaven! After learning more about this charming historic town and the rich history of Lincoln County, we will raise a glass to another year of preservation successes.

Thursday, June 4 - 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference

Ole Towne Church
220 South Jackson Street, Brookhaven

9:00-10:00 a.m. Breakfast and Registration

10:00-10:15 a.m. Welcome-The Honorable Larry Jointer, City of Brookhaven

10:15-11:00 a.m. Keynote Address

It takes vision followed by determination to bring a historic building back from the brink of demolition. Our keynote speakers have these two qualities in abundance. Since jumping in with four feet to reimagine their first mixed-use rehabilitation project at 111 South Railroad Avenue, John Lynch and Dr. Kim Sessums have gone on to redevelop dozens of historic buildings in Brookhaven, including the city’s stately new City Hall, with a focus on high standards and a decidedly artistic touch.

11:00-11:45 p.m. Talk-Home is Where the Art Is

Artists, writers, musicians and other creatives have been drawn to Mississippi as a place to make their homes and inspire their art. Such artists include Walter Inglis Anderson, L.V. Hull, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty and the Wolfe and McCarty families, who have, in turn, helped to tell the story of Mississippi through their art. While honing their craft, these artists turned their homes and studios into a reflection of their work. These places have become mirrors of their inhabitants and, as such, have become "sacred spaces," connecting us with a vision of the artist that still resonates today.

Mattie Codling, Executive Director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, will delve into the phenomenology of these artists' homes, exploring the ways that place informs the artist and how the artist defines place.

11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Talk-The Home is The Art

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Fountainhead in Jackson was home to beloved preservation architect Robert Parker Adams for many years. Its new owner, the Mississippi Museum of Art, is undertaking a preservation project that will open this treasure to the public.

Jennifer Baughn, MMA Fountainhead Curator, will share the news we are all eager to know-when do we get to explore this artistic architecture?

12:15-1:30 p.m. Lunch Downtown

Grab your ticket and head out to explore the culinary wonderland that is downtown Brookhaven. Take your pick of these fine eateries:

Betty’s Eat Shop, 126 S. Whitworth Avenue

The Crouton, 103 S. Railroad Avenue

Tortilla Soup, 112 S. Whitworth Avenue

1905 Featuring Fox’s Pizza Den, 106 W. Monticello

Bob’s Sandwich Shop, 208 E. Lee Street

1:30-3:00 p.m. Panel Discussion-Building Fund for the Arts

Established by the Mississippi Legislature in 2001, the Building Fund for the Arts provides grants to support the repair, renovation, and construction of public spaces dedicated to year-round arts programming. Administered by the Mississippi Arts Commission, the program has provided over $28 million dollars in funding for 203 projects in 59 communities. This investment has been matched by more than $35 million dollars from local arts advocates. 80% of the projects supported by the Building Fund for the Arts include the preservation of historic buildings to become places of creativity and learning.

David Lewis, Director of the Mississippi Arts Commission, will lead a conversation about how this powerful grant program is helping communities across the state flourish.

Panelists

Suzanne Cagle, The Haven Theater, Brookhaven

Ryan Biles, Kudzu Collective

Ngozi Brown, Nob A+D

Maggie Bjorgum, Belinda Stewart Architects

Ben Lewis, Griot Arts, Clarksdale

Brandi and Carlton Turner, ‘Sipp Culture, Utica

3:00-4:00 p.m. Tour-Mississippi School of the Arts

MSA Campus Life Center

Designated as a Mississippi Landmark, the Whitworth College campus is also on the National Register of Historic Places. It was founded in 1858 as a Methodist college for women and reached its peak enrollment in 1925 with 315 students. After several years of decline, the college closed its doors in the 1970s. Several local schools and organizations operated on the campus in the subsequent years. The Mississippi Legislature created the Mississippi School of the Arts in 1999. With the State of Mississippi, City of Brookhaven and the Brookhaven Trust leading the charge, the stately structures of Whitworth College were beautifully restored to serve the aspiring young Mississippi artists to receive intensive arts training in dance, film, creative writing, theater, vocal music and visual arts.

Cristi Wolfe with the Mississippi School of the Arts will lead participants on a tour of the campus and share exciting news about the MSA’s upcoming preservation curriculum.

5:00-7:00 p.m. Reception-America 250 Heritage Awards

Come ready to clap and shout and stomp your feet to celebrate these amazing preservation victories. Sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council America 250 Grant Program, this year’s Heritage Awards honor the people who have stepped up to become stewards of Mississippi’s architectural legacy.

Friday, June 5 - 8:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m. Listen Up! Historic Preservation Conference
Ole Towne Church

8:00-9:00 a.m. Breakfast

8:30-9:00 a.m. Talk-Mississippi’s Revolutionary Legacy

From Fort St. Pierre on the Yazoo River to Fort Rosalie on the mighty Mississippi, early French, British and Spanish strongholds were a vital part of the European colonization of America. On the Gulf Coast, Continental Navy ships patrolled the Mississippi Sound while Fort Maurepas in Ocean Springs and the La Pointe-Krebs House in Pascagoula served to anchor the newly formed United States.

Dan Lee with the Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society will bring the history of archaeological and historic sites connected to Mississippi’s revolutionary days to life as we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of our nation’s founding.

You’ve heard the talk, now it’s time to walk the walk. Brookhaven’s remarkable downtown resurgence has been fueled by determined local preservation advocates and committed businesspeople. Layer in the creative use of incentives like the 25% Mississippi and 20% Federal Historic Tax Credits, which have helped spur over $6.5 million dollars of redevelopment for 12 projects, and you get a town that shouts, “my people love me.”

Join John Lynch and Dr. Kim Sessums for a rollicking tour of some of their favorite redevelopment projects and get the behind-the-scenes story of what it takes to get from big idea to big success.