MONDAY | MAR 31 | 4PM | AB 100

Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy, will speak at 4 p.m. March 31 as part of the Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning guest lecture series. The Ball State graduate’s lecture is titled “Heritage Conservation: Meeting the Moment in the Age of Climate Change, Cultural Relevance, and Housing Insecurity.”

The work of preservation and heritage conservation is ever-evolving, Mr. Fine says. “It is expanding to ensure we tell fuller stories, and reach more people and communities that have been omitted or unintentionally left out of the narrative. It is also increasingly responding to climate change, such as L.A’s recent wildfires, and a growing affordable housing crisis. As preservation becomes more people-centric and confronting heightened political and development pressures, the old way of doing things does not always work.”

Mr. Fine’s lecture will address the question: “Is preservation positioned and poised to meet this current moment, or are we losing ground and need to regroup and redefine what preservation means to ensure we remain relevant?” With this challenge also comes opportunity, for preservation to step up, build upon its successful track record, and insert its voice and develop new tools to help. Now, perhaps more than ever, the work of preservation is needed, he says. 

Learning Objectives

• Understand how preservation is more than just about old buildings, but also focused on people, cultures, and intangible heritage 

• Hear how preservation is responding to pressing issues, including climate change and affordable housing needs 

• Learn how Los Angeles and historic places and communities were impacted by the recent L.A. wildfires and how rebuilding with heritage is being contemplated 

• See examples and case studies of how heritage conservation is evolving and expanding to include more people 

Biography

As president and CEO for the Los Angeles Conservancy, Adrian Scott Fine oversees the organization’s overall leadership for the organization within the greater Los Angeles region (serving 88 cities and unincorporated L.A. County, encompassing more than 4,000 sq. miles). The LA Conservancy is the largest local, nonprofit membership-based, heritage conservation organization in the U.S.  Mr. Fine is a past president of the board of trustees for the California Preservation Foundation and currently chairs their Advocacy Committee; is a founding member of the Southern California chapter of Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement; and teaches at the University of Southern California Heritage Conservation Summer Program, the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions CAMP program, and the Getty Conservation Institute’s Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative. He previously worked for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Indiana Landmarks.  He holds a Bachelor of Urban Planning and Development degree from Ball State University and is that department’s 2012-2013 distinguished alumnus of the year.