[Heritage] 2026 Oregon Heritage Conference: Call for Session Proposals

[INFO Heritage * OPRD]

2026 Oregon Heritage Conference: Stories, Culture, Place - Weaving Community Heritage
The Oregon Heritage Conference will be April 29 - May 2, 2026, in Woodburn and surrounding areas!
The Oregon Heritage Conference brings together people who share a common passion for Oregon's heritage and history to share insights, understand connections, develop relationships, learn new ways to address issues and opportunities, reinforce the value of the work, and leave energized to keep moving forward.
Designed to be interdisciplinary and cross-pollenating, the conference focuses on all sectors of cultural heritage, such as historic preservation, museums, archives, libraries, Main Streets, historic cemeteries, archaeology, Tribes, genealogy, public history, and local, state, federal government.
Our amazing conference partners are the City of Woodburn and Oregon Museums Association<https://www.oregonmuseums.org/>!
This is one of the best ways achieve the statewide Oregon Heritage Plan<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Documents/2020_Oregon_Heritage_Plan.pdf> and Oregon Historic Preservation Plan<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Documents/2024_OR_PreservationPlan_%20English_web.pdf> goals.
Communities are complex and varied, how they are viewed by visitors and residents is informed by the long history of human experience in that place combined with their own experiences. The Oregon Heritage Conference will explore the intersection of stories, culture and place to develop community heritage. This heritage is the anchor for engagement, economic development, connection, and possibilities for a vibrant and healthy community.
Oregon Heritage invites creative proposals! Panels and lectures are welcome, as well as facilitated conversations, debates, practical training, roundtables, meet-ups, or other suggestions.
Conference sessions must be formatted in the following ways:

  *   45 Minute Session
  *   75 Minute Session
  *   Half-Day Workshop (3-4 hrs)
  *   Full-Day Workshop (6-8 hrs)
  *   Tours
  *   Poster - share your info or project on a poster to show at the conference.
  *   Ideas - Don't feel you have a full session, but you have something to share, submit it!  We may be able to combine submissions.

Please submit your proposal here<https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Mmk_qnz6tEegzqWYytFhz6rvnEfO1C1NqVwFob07LS9UM1JBOUo4S0hNVFFWN0IwQUg3MUNSMUtESy4u>, have the following information ready:
1) the organizer's name, organization (if applicable), and contact information
2) a session title (or topic if not a session idea)
3) select the session format
4) select session style (workshop, lecture, roundtable, discussion, panel, meet-ups, etc.)
5) a description of the session proposal and how it relates to the theme in 75 words or less.
6) information on any additional presenters
7) any additional details

The deadline for proposal submissions is September 5, 2025. Applicants will be notified of decisions by October 3, 2025.

Contact Kuri Gill with any questions or accessibility needs, including translation. Kuri.Gill at oprd.oregon.gov<mailto:Kuri.Gill at oprd.oregon.gov> or 503-383-6787

***********************

Follow us on Facebook at @oregonheritage, on LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/company/oregon-parks-and-recreation-department/>, on the Oregon Heritage Exchange blog<https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/>.
Oregon Heritage News is a service of Oregon Heritage, a division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department that includes the State Historic Preservation Office. Learn more about our programs at www.oregonheritage.org<http://www.oregonheritage.org/>. The news editor can be contacted at heritage.info at oprd.oregon.gov<mailto:heritage.info at oprd.oregon.gov>.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/heritage/attachments/20250715/63694e28/attachment-0001.html>