#sacredshift #sacredshiftproject

#sacredshift #sacredshiftproject

#sacredshift #sacredshiftproject

One of my Mother’s Day gifts: some quiet time yesterday to write without a work-related agenda. Sharing a piece of it here, another from my Heritage of Reuse writing. [I probably should have started a proper website or Substack by now but alas, better here than nowhere.] Happy Mother’s Day to all the women making daily miracles out of the leftovers and discards of what life hands you. Our future depends on this inherited knowledge, truly. Also, a little Earth, Wind, Fire to set the mood, my momma’s favorite. #mothersday #heritageofreuse

Looking forward to next Friday, where I’ll be sharing about the life and work of Walter Netsch, with a focus on CHM’s archival holdings, our role as stewards of architectural archives, and the legacy of these spaces for communities today. It’s an honor to be invited by the Chicago Collections Consortium and colleagues from UIC and Northwestern’s libraries, who spend their working lives in two of Netsch’s well known buildings. RSVP info at link in bio. Sharing above a handful of images from CHM’s archives, including from some incredible previously uninventoried Field Theory study holdings. Shout out to my amazing collections colleagues in archives and research and access for their continued support in making these collections more accessible.

First Baptist Congregational. Built 1869-71 for the Union Park Congregational church community, founded 1860. Merged with First Congregational Church in 1910. Merged again 1971 with Mozart Baptist Church, an African American congregation founded 1944 that was meeting in a former synagogue on the west side that needed more space. With thanks to Dr Arthur Griffin Jr, son of the Mozart Baptist’s pastor Dr Griffin who led the churches through the merger in 1971 for the amazing tour and conversation. Also one of the top organ tours I’ve had, just phenomenal. #everydaysacred #sacredshift

Adaptive reuse crushing on @alt__chicago space in the former Austin Bank building. Beautiful start to spring- sharing and activating archives and plans for Austin’s future. With thanks to Capstone Clique for leading this work in uplifting the West Side (is the best side). #everydaysacred

Excited to be collaborating with @mascontext for this event next Saturday, March 7. Consider this a “public historians do architecture” approach to activating architectural archives. After almost four years working with CHM’s architecture and place-based collections, join us for a pop-up discussion at the museum where we’ll share lesser known community stories hidden in the margins of our architectural archives. We’ll also share more about our multi-year work reorienting the archives around community identities and connections through our Chicago Sacred and Digital Futures initiatives, ahead of the Everyday Sacred exhibition opening in 2027. RSVP in bio and through the MAS Context page. Don’t sleep on the RSVP as space is limited. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Love letter to Minneapolis. #everydaysacred

This last week was the honor and experience of a lifetime to be with the Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality Forum community in Varanasi, India. I’m reflecting especially on the incredible importance of spaces and communities such as this in the increasing turbulence around us. In 2020, my friend and colleague Ashley and I started conversations about how to combine our shared interest in intangible heritage and sustainability through our respective disciplines (public history and architecture). The resulting brain child has been @curating_technology . Three years ago we were incredibly honored to receive the Lindsey Jones Memorial Research award which allowed us the time, space, and resources to collaborate thoughtfully and slightly experimentally in refining our approach. We were honored to be invited to present this in Varanasi in front of some of the most holistic thinking and rigorous people working at the intersection of spirituality and the built environment. I cannot thank the organizers and hosts enough for their hospitality of us. The Indian Institute of Technology/Banaras Hindu University’s architecture department welcomed us and this incredible international group of scholars and practitioners with such grace, kindness, and care. Tremendous thanks to Drs. Rabi Narayan Monhanty, Amita Sinha, and Julio Bermudez for serving as hosts and organizers and to Thomas Barrie for chairing our presentation session and facilitating the Lindsey Jones Memorial Research program. More to come on what’s coming next with Curating Technology and for now deepest gratitude for this supportive community. As Julio said in his closing remarks, it’s rare to find a community with shared principles such as this, and it feels more like leaving family than an academic conference.

From a recent visit to St Paul’s in Pilsen, guided by one of our fantastic #everydaysacred advisors, Jack, who is also a parishioner at St Paul’s. I’ve been following the after effects of the Catholic Archdiocese’s Renew My Church efforts for several years, especially preparing for Back Home: Polish Chicago and the recent closure of St Paul’s neighboring parish, St Adalbert’s. In 2016, the Archdiocese announced consolidation efforts between three parishes: St Anne’s, St Adalbert’s, and St Paul’s. St Anne’s closed first, and its legacy is now honored by a new chapel constructed in the former crypt of St Paul’s rectory with repurposed stained glass windows and pews. The subsequent closure of St. Adalbert’s in 2019 became arguably one of the most contentious church closures and pushes for landmarking and reuse in recent memory. Its much contested Pieta now safely harbored in a prayer alcove off St Paul’s nave. Built for the Polish community at the turn of the 20th century, St Adalbert’s, like much of Pilsen, would later become Latine majority as Polish families moved out toward the suburbs and Latine families were forcibly displaced from the Near West Side to Pilsen through urban renewal. As communities now face the dual-sided coin of gentrification and increasing suburbanization, the pressures to keep three churches open within blocks of each other became untenable. St Paul’s is now the physical home for all three spiritual communities, split between these layered, contested, and entangled community identities.

Last month, I had the honor of contributing an essay to @mascontext about my Sacred Shift research framework over the last seven years in adaptive reuse and spatial succession of religious buildings as underrecognized intercultural heritage. In this, I advocate for intangible heritage recognition and community-led conservation strategies for sustainable urban futures amidst demographic shifts, climate concerns, and contested memory. That same week, my colleague Aries and I presented on how this community-centered, adaptive reuse framework underpins our ongoing reparative archival and care practice with CHM’s built environment collections. The recording of the talk is now live (linked in bio). Please do connect with me if you’d like to learn more or get involved. Creating equity for all trickles into even the very language we use to describe places and buildings and how we choose to remember or erase history and each other (as we are continually seeing). #everydaysacred #sacredshift