May is Heritage Preservation Month -- Santa Fe's Awards Move Online

© Melanie West from the 2018 Heritage Preservation Awards Ceremony and reception

 Images from the 2018 Preservation Awards Ceremony, © Melanie West

- May is Preservation Month -
2020 Awards Announced Online Soon

A Letter from HSFF Executive Director Pete Warzel on the 2020 Awards

Every May, state and national agencies, local foundations and city departments, all associated with the honorable commitment to preservation of architectural and cultural history, celebrate Preservation Month, across the country. This year is no different.

The concept was started in 1973 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a week-long celebration. In 2005 the focus became an entire month, given the depth of history, successes and related events across the country. Now is not the time to stop an almost fifty-year-old tradition.

What is different this year is that public events are cancelled or postponed. These cancellations do not diminesh the significance of Preservation Month. Our recognition is happening in more modest fashion this year, and we all are trying to make it equally as relevant as the public ceremony.

The annual Heritage Preservation Awards ceremony, that has found a home at San Miguel Chapel for the past three years, has been cancelled. Likewise, the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division/CPRC Heritage Preservation Awards presentation has been postponed indefinitely. Normally, a full calendar of events around the state in honor of, and immersive to, Preservation Month is published by NM HPD, but not this year.

However, the city awards at San Miguel Chapel – jointly presented by the City of Santa Fe’s Historic Preservation Division, the Old Santa Fe Association, and the Historic Santa Fe Foundation – and the traditional reception at HSFF’s El Zaguán now canceled, we will be recognizing the awardees virtually. We will list and celebrate the slate of awardees online, highlight their properties, and commend their efforts, as the city, OSFA, and HSFF all applauded the commitment of the award recipients in the press and on their individual websites.

This is a collaboration that has existed for many years, and we all feel that we cannot let it pass this year, in spite of the health crisis that keeps us from celebrating in person. It will not be the same as sitting in the wonderful space that is San Miguel Chapel, then walking up E. DeVargas and Canyon Road to HSFF’s El Zaguán and our elegant garden for food and drink. We will, however, do our best to illustrate the significance of each recipient’s contribution through the online awards.

The award recipients will be announced in press releases and online at the three collaborators web sites during the week of May 11. The original date for the San Miguel ceremony was Thursday, May 14, 2020, and we are trying to stick to that date virtually, in order to do business as usual in a very unusual time.

This has been an interesting time for all of us. The Foundation's home and office at El Zaguán has been closed in order to protect staff and residents. That includes the garden, which is coming into its own given the spring weather. Staff has been working at home, and one of us rotates to the office to pick up mail, scan invoices, deposits, etc., to keep administration running smoothly. Events have been cancelled and exhibitions have been installed, unseen, and put online for sale. The current show, Tom Leech from the Palace of the Governors Press, and Patricia Musick, is extraordinary. The artists selected and illustrated quotes from Shakespeare – some of which are very pertinent to the times — to create unique objects on handmade, marbled paper with the quotes hand-drawn in calligraphy. Please visit our website and take a look, and buy if you have the inclination. These are one of a kind creations, not multiple prints, and they have been selling rapidly.

We will keep you informed of our accessibility status as we move into May, and hope to see you all again soon. In the meantime, please enjoy of blogs, emails, online exhibitions and lectures, and keep in mind the nature of Preservation Month. Look to our email, website, and press for the 2020 award recipients of the Heritage Preservation Awards.

Please stay home and read, and be very safe.