Click each track icon to learn more about it and its three sessions.
Opening Keynote
Developing Resilient Communities: The Idea Friendly Method
September 24 | 8:00 am – 8:45 am
Keynote: Becky McCray, Expert FOR Small Towns of SaveYour.Town
Introduction: Terrence Williams, President & COO of The Keene Sentinel
Arts & Culture
SESSION ONE
Equity in Arts Funding
September 24 | 9:00 am – 10:45 am
Need some background before you join the conversion? [This link] will take you to a list of resources.
Panel Discussion: Chrissy Deal, Director, Social Responsibility & Inclusion of Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), Lori Pourier, President of First Peoples Fund; Ron Ragin, Self-Employed, Artist, Consultant, Researcher, Coach; Erik Takeshita, Senior Fellow of ArtPlace America; and moderator Savannah Barrett, Exchange Director of Art of the Rural
This session is organized by Art of the Rural, a national organization working to advance rural culture and quality of life through relationships that connect communities, cultivate dialogue, and forward rural-urban exchange.
SESSION TWO
Community Connection Starts With the Arts
September 24 | 11:00 am – 12:45 pm
Moderator: Anthony Poore, Executive Director of New Hampshire Humanities
Panel Discussion: Barbara Shafer Bacon, Co-Director, Animating Democracy of Americans for the Arts; Rachel Balaban, Co-founder and co-director of Artists and Scientists as Partners; Catherine Stewart, Artistic Director of NH Theatre Project; HB Lozito, Executive Director of Out in the Open
SESSION THREE
The Essential Arts
September 24 | 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Moderator: Marianne Barthel, Director of the Arts Program at Dartmouth Hitchcock
Speakers: Cynthia Cutting, director of Museum of the White Mountains; Amanda Whitworth, Founder Lead With Arts & Articine; Kate Beever, Owner/Music Therapist of Maine Music & Health; Eugene Uman, Director of Vermont Jazz Center; Craig Stockwell, Visiting Artist, Advisor- MFA for Lesley University
Thank you to the Art & Culture track supporters:
NEFA ; NHCF; Art of the Rural; Arts Alive!; and NH Creative Communities Network
Tracks: Arts & Culture | Clean Energy | Community Journalism | Entrepreneurship | Land & Community | Main Street
Clean Energy
SESSION ONE
Taking Control: Communities Save Money & the Planet by Joining Forces
September 24 | 9:00 am – 10:45 am
Moderator: Samuel Golding, President of Community Choice Partners, Inc.
Panel Discussion: April Salas, Sustainability Director of the Town of Hanover; Lorenzo Kristov, Principal of Electric System Policy; D. Maurice “Don” Kreis, Consumer Advocate for NH Office of the Consumer Advocate; John Farrell, Co-director of Institute for Local Self-Reliance
SESSION TWO
Carbon Pricing – Can it Save the Planet?
September 24 | 11:00 am – 12:45 pm
Speaker: Dr. Danny Richter, VP of Governmental Affairs at Citizens’ Climate Lobby, John Kondos, Director of Monadnock Sustainability Hub
SESSION THREE
Carbon Lockdown: Farming Helps Save the Planet
September 24 | 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Speakers: Dr. Keith Paustian, Professor at Colorado State University; Dr. Adam Chambers, Scientist at USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Sheldon Whitehouse, United States Senator of Rhode Island
Tracks: Arts & Culture | Clean Energy | Community Journalism | Entrepreneurship | Land & Community | Main Street | LOR Livability Idea Slam
Community Journalism
SESSION ONE
What’s at Stake? Newsrooms increase online readership – and revenue – using data
September 24 | 9:00 am – 10:45 am
Moderator: Amy Kovac-Ashley, Vice President and Senior Director of American Press Institute
Panel Discussion: Autumn Philips, Managing Editor of Post & Courier; Liz White, Publisher of The Record-Journal; Les High, Publisher of The News Reporter
SESSION TWO
Transformation: Rural news breaks out in all sorts of new ways
September 24 | 11:00 am – 12:45 pm
Moderator: Kristen Hare, Reporter for Poynter Institute
Panel Discussion: Larry Ryckman, Editor and Founder of The Colorado Sun; Les Zaitz, Editor and Publisher of the Malheur Enterprise; Jim Iovino, Assistant Professor of Media Innovations of West Virginia University, Tamika Moore, Managing Producer of Red Clay Media
SESSION THREE
Crazy Good – 50 ideas that will make a difference
September 24 | 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Speakers: Linda Conway, Executive Director of New England Newspaper and Press Association; Terrence Williams, President of The Keene Sentinel
Tracks: Arts & Culture | Clean Energy | Community Journalism | Entrepreneurship | Land & Community | Main Street | LOR Livability Idea Slam
Entrepreneurship
SESSION ONE
Creating Conditions for a Successful and Uniquely Local Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
September 24 | 9:00 am – 10:45 am
Speakers: Rich Grogan, Executive Director of Northern Border Regional Commission
Panel Discussion: Laura Oswald, Director of Economic Development, Washington County, NY; Lance Willard, City Manager of City of Columbiana; Laurel Adams, President of REDC; Sarah Ashton, Board President of The Cambridge Valley Community Development and Preservation Partnership, Inc.
SESSION TWO
PitchFork: Connecting Rural Startups with Local Funding
September 24 | 11:00 am – 12:45 pm
PitchFork Challenge Emcee: Puja Thapa, Student at Keene State College
Speakers: David Deziel, Founder and Principal of DavidGeorge Communications, LLC; Mary Ann Kristiansen, Founder and Executive Director of Hannah Grimes Center; Sara Powell, Program Director of Hannah Grimes Center
Judges: Roy Wallen, CEO of Directional Healthcare Advisors; Susan Newcomer; Brittany Migneault, Owner/Baker of The Bread Shed; Jim Verzino, President and CFO of Food Creators Financial, LLC; Damian Wasserbauer, Principal of Wasserbauer Intellectual Property Law, PLLC
SESSION THREE
Rebuild Your Community Co-operatively!
September 24 | 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Moderator: Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of Neighboring Food Co-op Association
Panel Discussion: Rob Brown, Program Director of Cooperative Development Institute; Lori Capouch, Rural Development Director for North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives; Paul Bradley, President of ROC USA, LLC; Terence Courtney, Director of Cooperative Development & Strategic Initiatives of Federation of Southern Cooperatives; Carl Woodruff, Founder, Co-Owner, and Manager at Oxbow Design Build Cooperative
Tracks: Arts & Culture | Clean Energy | Community Journalism | Entrepreneurship | Land & Community | Main Street | LOR Livability Idea Slam
Land & Community
SESSION ONE
Connecting with Nature: Rural Implications for Health and Land Use
September 24 | 9:00 am – 10:45 am
Richard Christiana Presentation
Speaker: Louise Chawla, Professor Emerita of Community Engagement, Design and Research Center, University of Colorado Boulder
Panel Discussion: Richard Christiana, Associate Professor of Public Health at Appalachian State University; Jason Urroz, Director of Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation; Chris Proctor, Director of Community Benefit of Barton Healthcare System
SESSION TWO
Crazy Good: Food Hubs? Key to Vibrant Rural Communities
September 24 | 11:00 am – 12:45 pm
Richard Berkfield Presentation
Moderator: Ben Hewitt, Donor Relations Lead of Rural Vermont
Panel Discussion: Andre Cantelmo, Founder of Three River Farmers Alliance; Mary Macdonald, Co-Owner/Co-Founder of The Belknap Foodshed and Genuine Local; Lauren Howard, Co-Founder & Co-Director of Kearsarge Food Hub; France Hahn, Co-Founder & Co-Director of Kearsarge Food Hub; Richard Berkfield, Founder/Executive Director of Food Connects
SESSION THREE
Fiber: Building a Regional Fibershed in this New Frontier
September 24 | 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Speaker: Rebecca Burgess, Executive Director of Fibershed; Meg Erskine, Co-Founder & CEO of Multicultural Refugee Coalition; Lani Estill, Rural Entrepreneur – Accountant of Lani’s Lana ~ Fine Rambouillet Wool; Marcail McWilliams, Owner of Valley Oak Wool Mill
Tracks: Arts & Culture | Clean Energy | Community Journalism | Entrepreneurship | Land & Community | Main Street | LOR Livability Idea Slam
Main Street
SESSION ONE
Take Your Empty Buildings off Furlough!
September 24 | 9:00 am – 10:45 am
Speaker: Deb Brown, Co-Founder of SaveYour.Town
SESSION TWO
New Ruralism: Making It on Main Street
September 24 | 11:00 am – 12:45 pm
Making it on Main Presentation
Speakers: Jo Anne Carr, Director of Planning & Economic Development for the Town of Jaffrey; Jennifer Whittaker, Research Associate for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
SESSION THREE
Downtown Revitalization through Community Collaboration
September 24 | 2:00 pm – 3:45 pm
Speaker: Robert Stevens, P.C., Founder and President of Stevens & Associates, Founder and Principal with M&S Development; William Colvin – Assistant Director/Director of Community & Economic Development, Bennington County Regional Commission; Moderator: Katie Stuart-Buckley
Closing Keynote
September 24 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Keynote: John Molinaro, Principal of RES Associates
Introduction: Mary Ann Kristiansen, Founder and Executive Director of Hannah Grimes Center
Tracks: Arts & Culture | Clean Energy | Community Journalism | Entrepreneurship | Land & Community | Main Street | LOR Livability Idea Slam
LOR Livability Idea Slam
September 24 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Sponsored by LOR Foundation
LOR is a private foundation that works with rural communities in the Mountain West to enhance livability and prosperity while preserving the character that makes each community unique.
