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Past Event

Resiliency to Preserve Art and Culture

The Paris Agreement and How Museums are Preparing for Climate Risk

10/17/2018

Merci beaucoup to Alexander David Bervik for the recap article

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The Louvre
Paris, France

The Whitney Museum of American Art
New York

The Museum of the American Revolution
Philadelphia

Wednesday, October 17th, 2018
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

presented in partnership with

Freeman's Auction House
1808 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Our distinguished panel discussed the Paris Agreement, climate risk,
and how three resilient museums fought the elements to preserve art and culture.

Guests enjoyed French wine, American Refreshments, and
a selection of hors d'oeuvres & pastries from J'aime French Bakery.

There was a networking and a business card drawing for prizes!

Sold Out Program!

The landmark Paris Agreement (Accord de Paris), the international climate accord, was signed in late 2015 with signatories from over 190 countries. In mid-2016, and again in early 2018, the Louvre made headlines as the Seine’s rising water levels threatened the premises and irreplaceable works of art following torrential rains. "Beyond the emergency, this flooding phenomenon, which is more and more recurrent in Paris, reminds us how important it is for our city to adapt to climate change," wrote Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

In New York, Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc at the Whitney Museum during construction. Closing museum doors and construction delays mean immediate economic impact and revenue loss. How are museums preparing for future disasters? And if museums aim to educate and inspire, can the lessons of a local example, the Museum of the American Revolution, raise both awareness as well as literacy on resiliency and emergency preparedness after a neighborhood fire?

Agenda

6:00 PM Registration, Networking, Videos, & Refreshments

6:30 PM Presentation by Panel and Q&A

8:00 PM Business Card Drawing for Prizes, More Networking & Refreshments

- Museum of the American Revolution: 2 Museum Passes

- FACC: A Bottle of French Wine & 2 Admissions to the 11/15 Savor Wine Festival at the Pyramid Club
- Freeman's Auction House: $250 Gift Card for a 2018-2019 Auction

8:30 PM Program Concludes

Merci Beaucoup to Our Sponsor

Hor d'oeuvres & Desserts by
Chef Pâtissier/Owner Bastien Ornano

Meet Our Speakers

Moderator

Joyce Lee, FAIA, LEED Fellow, is President of IndigoJLD, providing green health, benchmarking and resiliency planning services for exemplary projects and communities. She is among a group of 350 LEED Fellows worldwide. Joyce recently served on the board of trustees of the LEED Gold certified Grand Rapids Art Museum.

She has been an Architect Fellow at the National Leadership Academy for Public Health and one of the first LEED accredited professionals in New York City. Joyce served under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg. She was the Chief Architect at the New York City OMB overseeing the survey of major city-owned buildings (over 200 million sq.ft.) and waterfronts with the goals of enhancing long-term planning and identifying green design and development opportunities. During her tenure, the program grew over 25%. The Active Design Guidelines, a publication she co-authored, had won recognition from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as well as the Sustainable Building Industry Council.

Joyce is the recipient of numerous awards including the HHS Good Neighbor Award, Platinum Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies, the President's Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York State, and the Aga Khan Award from Harvard/MIT.

Panelist

Raphaël Gernath, MA, The Urban School of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (SciencesPo), earned a masters in urban governance. He has worked on urban development projects in Paris and Mumbai (India), focusing on issues such as access to housing, infrastructure planning and public transport. At the Urban Design Research Institute in Mumbai, he helped draft policy proposals for inclusion in the city's Development Plan, and while in Paris he conducted research work with the Société du Grand Paris, an urban planning body. Working with government agencies, think tanks and community-based organizations has allowed him to see how it is through collaboration between diverse actors that the greatest learning opportunities arise.

Raphaël resides in New York City, where he has worked as a real estate paralegal with an emphasis on affordable housing projects. He is currently a program manager with NYC's Department of Youth & Community Development. His passions are in sustainable planning and inclusive urban design. Raphël hopes to use his international background to positively impact policy-making in cities around the world.

Panelist

Matthew Mahoney is the VP of External Affairs for SUEZ North America. Matt oversees government and external affairs and is responsible for crafting SUEZ’s public policy and legislative agenda along with maintaining relationships with stakeholders across the political, non-profit and advocacy spheres.

Prior to joining SUEZ, he was the Associate Commissioner at the NY City Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), which manages the water supply, providing more than 1 billion gallons of water daily to over 9 million people. Following Super Storm Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg appointed Matt as the community recovery director for Manhattan and the Bronx. In 2002, he became a founding member and VP at Giuliani Partners, LLC, specializing in Government Affairs and Operations consulting. From 1998-2001, Matt served as the Deputy Director of Advance for Mayor Rudy Giuliani. After September 11, 2001, he coordinated the visits of foreign heads of state, US government officials and other dignitaries to Ground Zero.

He earned a B.A. in Political Science from SUNY at Stony Brook and attended Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (Senior Executive in Government).

Panelists

ZeeAnn Mason is Chief Operating Officer of the Museum of the American Revolution. She joined the organization in 2002 as the second staff member, working for the CEO. She has been actively involved in all facets of the Museum’s planning and development. She was a critical member of the leadership team that opened the 118,000 square foot, Leed gold museum on time and under budget with a $5 million operating reserve and a $50 million endowment. $173 million was raised against the $150 million capital campaign goal.

From 1996 to 2002, ZeeAnn was Senior Vice President, EMC Consulting, a firm specializing in business planning for non-profit cultural and educational institutions with a focus on enhancing earned revenue generation. From 1982-1996, she worked for The Franklin Institute Science Museum. As Director of Marketing and Communications she was responsible for all aspects of museum marketing, public relations, publications, group sales, promotions, and market research. During her tenure, she managed the launch and rebranding of the Museum in conjunction with the opening of a $72 million, 90,000-square-foot addition to the museum.

ZeeAnn began her career working as an editorial and production assistant for WGBH, a flagship PBS radio and television station, located in Boston, MA. She is married to artist Max M. Mason and has two daughters.

John McDevitt is the Director of Design & Construction of the Museum of the American Revolution, since coming on board in 2014. He will join ZeeAnn at the podium to share his perspective on how Philadelphia's newest museum demonstrated resiliency, mitigated risk, and saved the precious exhibitions from smoke damage during a neighborhood fire that took out most of homes and businesses across the street.

He was the Vice President of Operations for the Please Touch Museum from 1999 to 2013, and Vice President of Operations & Construction at the Franklin Institute from 1979 to 1993.