NUNU announces Summer Discussion Series on Architecture, Community Development, and Historic Preservation

The series takes place on the third Saturdays of the month from May through August from 2 to 4 at NUNU Arts and Culture Collective.

May 17, 2025 - Karen W. McKinney

June 21, 2025 - W. Geoff Gjertson

July 19, 2025 - Dr. Diane Jones-Allen

August 19, 2025 - Page Comeaux

In partnership with the Louisiana Historic Preservation Fund, Levity, and Art Transit Authority, NUNU’s is excited to announce a new series of community residencies and afternoon discussion tables with historic preservation experts to inform the public on their fields.

NUNU Art and Culture Collective (NUNUs) is a repository for conversation, and a gathering point for citizens within the tri-community area of Sunset, Grand Coteau, and Arnaudvill to discuss cultural topics. In their 2024 report, the National Academies of Sciences has outlined the realities of community-driven relocation in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region due to the changes in the insurance policy landscape. The tri-community area can expect a population influx within the next decade. Within this migration is a need to prepare to present, share, and change existing architecture, lifeways, and culture. Development will increase the interest and need for preservation projects within the area, and pressure local citizens to quickly engage with and understand cultural change and historic preservation.

Aware of these changes, NUNU’s is developing programming to establish relational connections to the Historical preservation process.

Building with is a series of four free public discussion tables designed to increase community knowledge of programs that enhance a broader collective understanding of historic preservation strategies and resources.

The monthly events will take place on Saturdays from May to August 2025. The series aims to foster dialogue in the Sunset, Grand Coteau, and Arnaudville area, which are inherently linked through shared history, communities, businesses, and built architectural culture. The tables are designed to invite local architecture firms, historic home owners, and historians community-wide discussions on dreaming of future projects in the area, and provide interaction and dialogue with experts to catalyze future projects. It is an opportunity to network and understand the local field in order to create, support, and advocate for historic preservation within the community.

Through this series NUNUs shall invite leading architects, historians, anthropologists, and policy makers to discuss preliminary topics in historic preservation through a 1-2 day stay within the existing NUNU residency program. Each residency shall include a tour of local area and a public program on their professional expertise. The knowledge shared within these residencies directly addresses needs of historic preservation, cultural resources, and conservation.

he goal of this program is to increase agency, engagement, and collaboration in the future of the community. The public understanding and relational ties are vital components to the region’s next phase of growth to ensure the communities are prepared to take on projects to celebrate while welcoming the future of their changing composition. These relational connections are a critical foundation for designing connected projects, and create the preliminary environment for developing informed historic preservation and community development.

Contact the host of Building With - A Series on Architecture, Community Development, and Historic Preservation