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Conversations on the Commons: Be an AASLH History Leader
September 23, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
You Could Be a National Leader! Learn about the AASLH Leadership in History Awards
September 23, 2022, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
With:
AASLH History awards representatives Pilar Garro (Massachusetts representative) and Gavin Kleespies (Region 1 representative)
2021 AASLH History award recipients Charan Devereaux, of Somerville Museum, and Adda Maria Santos, of Somerville High School
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) has been giving Leadership in History awards for over 75 years. These awards are available to institutions of all sizes, from all-volunteer to statewide organizations. They aim to recognize superior and innovative achievements in many different types of projects, including publications, exhibits, public programming, and more. Award winners come from all over the country, from organizations of all kinds, sizes, and budgets and serve as models and inspirations for others in the field. If your organization did something great or was really creative and you think the project is worthy of an award, come find out about AASLH Leadership in History program.
Registration is free. REGISTER HERE.
This Conversation will be livestreamed. We will do our best to monitor your questions and comments during the livestream. A recording will be publicly available in the Conversations on the Commons Archive.
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- Gavin Kleespies is the Director of Programs, Exhibitions, and Community Partnerships for the Massachusetts Historical Society and has been with MHS since 2014. He has worked in public history for over twenty-five years including being the executive director of two historical societies, most recently in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has been appointed to the Massachusetts 250th Commission, the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Cambridge Historical Commission and serves as a board member for the Massachusetts History Alliance and the Fenway Alliance. He is a regional representative for the AASLH Leadership in History Awards and serves on the AASLH 250th Task Force. He has been elected a member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Historical Society. He did his undergraduate work at Bard College, where he majored in economics and then received a master’s degree from the University of Chicago with a concentration in American History.
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- Pilar Garro is a 20-year museum veteran with an expertise in administration and community building working at myriad organizations in Massachusetts. Currently, Ms. Garro is the Portfolio Business Director of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA; a flagship property operated by The Trustees of Reservation. She oversees the museums’ various earned revenue streams along with the preservation and maintenance of the site. Previously, Ms. Garro worked at the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, MA, Crane Estate in Ipswich, another Trustee’s property, and Historic New England’s Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheaton College and a Master of Arts in Museum Studies and Applied Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She attended the Attingham Summer School, devoted to the study of the English Country House, in July 2010 and is a past board member of the New England Museum Association, Salem Historical Society and North of Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ms. Garro is looking forward to becoming more involved in Lincoln, MA and MetroWest.
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- Charan Devereaux is the curator/producer of “Faith in a City: Exploring Religion in Somerville, Massachusetts,” a project created in partnership with 20 local religious communities and exhibited at the Somerville Museum. Her earlier project, “Union Square at Work: Photographs, Stories and Music from Somerville’s Oldest Commercial District” was also exhibited at the Somerville Museum. A former Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Charan’s projects have received support from Mass Humanities, The Boston Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Somerville Arts Council, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Passim Iguana Fund.
Questions? Be in touch with Caroline Littlewood: commons@masshistoryalliance.org
Conversations on the Commons
Where people from Massachusetts history organizations get to vent, empathize, laugh, complain, think, collaborate, brainstorm, plan, and in general be up to no good.