SAVANNAH, GA. – OCT. 27, 2022 – Historic Savannah Foundation is hosting its annual meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Savannah Repertory Theatre located at 402 East Broughton St. The evening’s speakers, Suzanne Mayer and Shawn Dunwoody from Hinge Neighbors, will speak about their efforts to reconnect the neighborhoods long separated by the Inner Loop North in Rochester, New York.
This event, which is free and open to the public, includes important updates about Historic Savannah Foundation as CEO and President Sue Adler and HSF Board Chair Austin Hill deliver the annual report, announce the election of new Board of Trustees members and officers, and recognize outgoing Board members. The annual meeting is designed to highlight HSF’s work and initiatives throughout the previous year, and acknowledge and thank HSF members and the community for their continued support of the foundation. A light reception with refreshments in the Murray C. Perlman & Wayne C. Spear Preservation Center will follow.
As founder of Sirius Change LLC, Suzanne has led organizational change initiatives in the banking, professional, and manufacturing industries for more than 30 years. She has experience with the life cycle of organizations from startups to fully mature organizations. Presently dedicated to Hinge Neighbors, she continues to practice all those skills learned in the corporate world. The placemaking environment of today requires constant study about zoning, design, urban planning, and it extends into corporate behavior in understanding how cities work or don’t work. Living in an activist’s world requires a sense of humor which she shares with her Hinge co-founder, activist and artist, Shawn Dunwoody.
Dunwoody has over 20 years of experience as a director, producer, educator, designer, and developer, and first and foremost—an artist. This experience has given him the opportunity to establish public art practices that focus on creative implementation and innovative planning. He believes bringing people from different backgrounds together can create the most progressive movements for change. Dunwoody has been a resident lecturer on public engagement in art and muralist in the United States, Europe, and South America. As Vice-President of Hinge Neighbors, he approaches each project with an arts-focused community-building process that has been documented in many publications and videos internationally including The B1M, Forbes, NBC, The Washington Post, USA Today, PBS, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He believes that artistic place-making is about strengthening the relationship between public space, the people who live in the community, and their capacity to change where they are—physically, emotionally, and economically.
“We are honored to welcome Suzanne and Shawn as this year’s annual meeting speakers and look forward to an enlightening evening of shared knowledge, inspirational experiences and insights on historic preservation,” said HSF CEO and President Sue Adler. “Engaging with our future and current membership is something we always strive to achieve with these meetings, so we’re excited to share information from other parts of the country.”
Historic Savannah Foundation, a leading nonprofit preservation and cultural institution, saves buildings, places, and stories that define Savannah’s past, present and future. Following its formation in 1955, the nonprofit organization started a Revolving Fund to save endangered historic properties – now totaling over 400 buildings – throughout several Savannah local historic districts. HSF is committed to continuing to build capacity within HSF’s operations, secure new financial resources, improve HSF’s image and visibility, and increase public policy efforts to protect Savannah’s historic districts.
For more information about the annual meeting or HSF, please visit www.myHSF.org.
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