Preservation Detroit Recruitment Meeting

**PlymouthRes** · March-05-12, 07:26 AM

Preservation Detroit Volunteer Recruitment Meeting
Saturday, March 31, 2012 @ 10:00 AM
At the DavidMackenzie House
Preservation Detroit [[formerly Preservation Wayne) has scheduled a volunteer recruitment meeting for Saturday, March 31, 2012 @ 10:00 AM. The meeting will be held at the offices of Preservation Detroit located at the David Mackenzie House, 4735 Cass Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48201.
Preservation Detroit is looking for volunteer help—from marketing to tour guides—we have a place for everyone! If you like to do research, marketing, office work, tour guide and shepherding, events, fundraising, advocacy, education, and grant writing--we’re the organization for you! We’re an organization that loves our city, believes in preserving our past, and we’re doing something about it! Why not join a great bunch of people who have a passion for preservation?
The meeting will begin at 10:00 AM and will run until 11:30 AM. Afterward, we’ll give attendees a tour of Mackenzie House. Parking is on-street, metered, or at a paid lot across the street. Mackenzie House is next door to the Hilberry Theatre on Cass between Hancock and Forest.
Questions? Send an email to: info@preservationwayne.org.

**Gistok** · March-05-12, 12:39 PM

Thanks for the info PlymouthRes!

There is one criticism I have about the old organization. Back when Katherine Clarkson was the Executive Director [[late 1990s & early 2000s), we had voluntary weekly meetings [[only about a dozen or two ever showed up)... but while we were stuffing envelopes for Loft Preservation Workshops, or just discussing the latest rumors in preservation circles... it was a nice social interaction, where you got to meet with like minded individuals [[it was like DYES, but without the coarse remarks).

And often times our meetings were at the Charles Lang Freer House [[the PW group was alone in the mansion), up in the huge gallery room. It was just a pleasant interaction in a palatial setting. Michael Hauser was there, he's the Detroit guru on Movie Palaces [[that's where I got much of the scoop of old Detroit theatres) ... and also on Hudson's [[he's co-author of both Arcadia books). And I also got to meet and talk to Rebecca Binno Savage there, former head of the Detroit Area Art Deco Society [[DAADS).

And Katherine would hold annual Christmas parties at here spacious Highland Park home. You got to meet the theatre managers of the Fox and Fisher, as well as fold from the DIA at these functions.

However, since Katherine left in the early 2000s [[to take care of elderly parents in PA)... this tradition of social interaction among member [[and Detroit's preservation activists) has been lost.

Also with the demise of the Detroit Festival of the Arts, it further diminishes the contacts among members.

Today when you attend a PW [[or PD now) function... most of the people are strangers, and only those folks from long ago... or the tour guides that are on your tour giving itinerary are familiar to you.

I miss the social interaction/discourse that was common among active members of PW of yore ... today that interconnnectivity is sorely missing.

**dtowncitylover** · March-05-12, 01:10 PM

Thanks for the information! I'll most definitely be there; in my schedule now. I know alot about Detroit through my own research and studies [[and of course Dyes!), so it would be nice to put it to work more often through whatever means I can.

**PlymouthRes** · March-05-12, 05:51 PM

Gistok-
I appreciate your passion for the historical entities that compose the CoD and your concern for Preservation Detroit [[formerly Preservation Wayne) and its well-being. It is the stalwart, concerned voices like yours that have driven organizations such as ours to fight even harder to maintain the historical fabric of our city, and your comments are always welcome, especially to me.
I must say though, that volunteer organizations such as PD have always had difficulty maintaining their mission focus without some sort of thoughtful and gradual turnover in their executive ranks, and Preservation Wayne was one organization that suffered from that stigma, particularly from the 2009 to current day timeframe. When I joined the Executive Board back in June of 2011, that was certainly the case.
Many of the participants that had made PW so famous for its advocacy in the past 35 years had simply become overwhelmed in their effort to save the historical structures in the city, or had dropped out of participation entirely. The vision had somewhat gone astray due to the ever-mounting economic crisis and loss of confidence in the ED at the time. The organization was sorely in need of change, and after the resignation of the ED, we were forced to reinvent our organization, literally, from the ground up. Additionally, we collectively felt that a name change was due to separate our newly refocused and reformed organization from the old, hence the name change to Preservation Detroit, which was more in keeping with our objective rather than the more broadly interpreted Preservation Wayne.

We were lucky to have the support and guidance of then Board President Doug Atkinson, new interim ED Marion Christiansen, and Treasurer Steve L., in addition to a few senior Advisory Board members who remained faithful to our cause and helped us to revive the spirit that had waned so badly from within. Almost all new board members were elected, after a careful screening of their qualifications and backgrounds, filling our ranks with a revitalized and recharged group of people who dedicated our vision and mission in a way that I have never quite seen before in my 25+ years of volunteering my time to various 501[[c)3 I have served with. I am very proud to serve with such dedicated, caring individuals as now exist on the Preservation Detroit Board!
In the very near future, your requests [[and concerns) will be answered as well. We fully intend to re-engage our members with many, many new and exciting programs that will be announced very shortly and that will encourage the spirit of what you are looking for, as we are in the process of developing a plethora of events that will do exactly as you alluded to. We are excited to be establishing new ways to introduce the many factions that exist within the CoD to each other again, making us all one cohesive entity rather than the several entities we had become due to this lack of interaction. I will PM you with my personal contact information so that you, personally, will be included. Please look forward to hearing from me on a regular basis in the future to keep yourself abreast of the latest information regarding our beloved organization, the new and more dedicated Preservation Detroit.
Thanks again for your comments and feel free to contact me anytime you wish, whether to express concern or offer advice as you see fit. It is the folks, such as yourself, that we wish to serve, as your long-standing support of our efforts is greatly appreciated.
Res

**PlymouthRes** · March-05-12, 05:53 PM

DTCL-

We would love to have you with us. I look forward to meeting you at the event. Thanks for volunteering to come out and check us out!

Res

**Detroitnerd** · March-05-12, 06:17 PM

Good luck!

**PlymouthRes** · March-05-12, 06:22 PM

Thanks DN! It has been a rough few months for PD, but we are back and going strong again thanks to some very dedicated people!

**Gistok** · March-05-12, 07:08 PM

Thanks Res! Hope things get better! I agree that a name change is long overdue, to make it more logoical with the mission.

And in my longing of the Katherine Clarkson era, I don't mean to say that things didn't fare well under Francis and Karen. I admire both of them greatly, and was saddened that they both went off to find other pursuits.

It is sad that so many people have come and gone in the 14 years I've been involved with the group, that I am grateful that Michael Hauser and Rebecca Binno Savage are both still active pillars in the city's preservation... and also that so many of the same dedicated guides are still involved [[Lisa Rush, Joan Vidalich, Joe Luzinski, et al...) and also all the board members that work behind the scenes that the tour guides and others don't easily get a chance to meet.

**PlymouthRes** · March-05-12, 07:22 PM

You are welcome, Gistok. I hope I assuaged your fears about communication, meet-ups and I also hope I was clear that we intend to provide a much better line of communication with our membership then we have in the last few years. Things are already much, much better with the new Board steering the ship.

Check out our new website, FB page and newsletter to keep yourself on top of PD as we move forward, and feel free to contact me with the info I provided in the PM to you.

Res

**Gistok** · March-05-12, 07:29 PM

Also, Res... perhaps it's time we took a cue from the different groups that were involved with Belle Isle...

To paraphrase Ben Franklin.... it's better we all hang together than to hang separately.

Maybe studying the model of such successful preservation group such as the Los Angeles Concervancy or C.A.P.A. [[Columbus Association for the Performing Arts) or the Playhouse Square folks in Cleveland are being looked at [[although many of their missions are beyond preservation).

But I am encouraged that the board is aware and proactive!