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Peruse through our curated list of free educational resources from our Historic Site Partners. There’s something for everyone young and old.
Thank you to everyone who applied. Winners will be announced in February 2027 at the annual meeting of the Heritage Chocolate Society.
Keynote Speaker Biographies
Strategic Insights for Overcoming the Three Biggest Pain Points for History Organizations in the Next Five Years
After the challenges posed by the pandemic and the reckoning with racial injustice over the past few years, history organizations are poised not only to face new challenges in the coming five years but to capitalize on some terrific opportunities as well. Colleen Dilenschneider will uncover the top three biggest data-informed challenges facing history organizations over the next five years, as well as some of the early data-informed solutions. How are history organizations’ audiences changing and what does this mean for future engagement? Why do some Americans still consider certain history museums and historic sites to be unwelcoming – and what matters most to overcoming these perceptions? What are the top digital dissatisfiers for history audiences, and how can organizations tackle these barriers? How much do Americans care about history, anyway, and why does this matter? Dilenschneider has the answers to help your organization not only survive but thrive over the next five years.
As the Co-Founder and Managing Member of IMPACTS Experience Colleen oversees audience engagement initiatives on behalf of clients in the cultural sectors. Colleen uses data to identify and predict emerging market opportunities, and helps nonprofit organizations maintain relevance and secure their long-term financial futures by building affinity with their onsite and virtual audiences. Colleen has worked with many of the most admired and successful entities in the nonprofit realm, and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the National Aquarium.
She is the author and publisher of the popular website Know Your Own Bone, a data-informed resource for cultural organizations, and has been frequently featured as an expert resource in publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Colleen earned her undergraduate degree from The University of Chicago and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California.
IMPACTS Experience delivers actionable, real-time intelligence and expert analysis to clients primarily in the visitor-serving cultural sector. Select current and recent clients utilizing IMPACTS technologies include projects concerning the European Union, Smithsonian Institution, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Stanford University, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), California Academy of Sciences, San Diego Zoo, National Park Service, Carnegie Museums, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The American Association of Museums, American Institute of Architects, Urban Land Institute, US Green Building Council, and Harvard Business School have recognized projects developed in partnership with IMPACTS for achievements in architecture, operational excellence, and financial entrepreneurship.
Human Insights and Cultural Shifts Impacting Our World
Our Day 2 Keynote, led by Adam Conley, will address the trends that are shaping the world around us, and how these trends are influencing how people are shopping and consuming differently. This data-driven talk will review what various audiences are looking for from their experiences and the brands that they choose to buy and engage with and why. Adam will also share how Mars Snacking is considering these trends to inspire how to proactively action these shifts in behavior for positive outcomes.
Adam Conley has worked in Marketing and Consumer Insights-based roles for 20 years with a focus on developing and driving brand strategy for several consumer-packaged goods companies. He is an award-winning Insights leader and received a reward from Insights250 by ESOMAR. This award celebrates worldwide pioneers, leaders, and innovators in market research, data-driven marketing, and insights. Adam has also received awards for breakthrough innovation in his sector at the Cannes Lions Health Festival.
Adam is a passionate presenter and has had the opportunity to present on the topic of Consumer Insights and Strategy to audiences in the United Nations in Switzerland, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., as well as conferences in London, U.K., and Cannes, France. Adam has been a frequent contributor to podcasts, webinars, and publications, and is also a recurring guest lecturer at NYU and F.I.T. Currently, he is the Director of Human Intelligence (Consumer Insights) for North America at Mars Snacking. Adam is originally from Upstate New York, and has also lived in Connecticut, England, and currently resides in New Jersey with his wife.
Convening Change: Teaching About the Past, Learning About Each Other
Museums have immense convening power, which can be used to create conversation and build community toward a better future. Christopher Wilson’s work for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is lauded for its ability to use history to bring people together through immersive storytelling, emotional learning, and compelling interactive experiences. At HCS 2024, he will share how history and cultural institutions can develop and produce a successful public history experience, including the key components for building engaging storytelling, staging, and staffing. Whether you are a large institution or a bespoke living history site, Wilson will share the key building blocks needed, no matter the size, for putting this powerful approach into action to create meaningful interaction and dialogue amongst your guests.
In leading Experience Design as well as the Museum’s African American History Program, Christopher Wilson works to engage visitors in conversation about our nation’s rich and diverse history. He founded three major program series at the museum: its History Alive! theater programs, which offers interactive and emotional presentations of stories of America’s past that resonate in the nation’s present; the National Youth Summit series, which seeks to engage high school students nationally and internationally in conversation about relevant history; and the History Film Forum, a film festival and discussion forum exploring history on the screen.
The director of the African American History Program since 2004, Christopher oversees the program's rich collection of oral histories, interviews, and recordings. He strives to use programming to enrich the experience of every visitor by offering them a glimpse into the rich history and culture of black Americans and an understanding that the American experience springs from many diverse stories.
Research, Digital Activation, and Collaboration: Achieving Impact for the 250th
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation will share the innovative work underway, and the extensive audience research underpinning it, to ensure that 2026 is a moment of collective learning for our nation. Engage with the History250 consortium, through which national history and civics institutions are collaborating around education initiatives, shared marketing and communications, and marquee national events for the semi quincentennial. Dive into the history.org project, which will create the essential US history and civics teacher resource site for the nation. And learn about how the Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios are reaching new audiences, including youth, and bringing the power of Colonial Williamsburg to many millions of people who may never be able to visit in person.
Mia Nagawiecki is the Royce R. and Kathryn M. Baker Vice President of Education Strategy and Civic Engagement at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. She is leading Colonial Williamsburg’s ambitious new digital and educational outreach initiatives, seeking to bring early American history and civic engagement efforts to tens of millions of people across the country and around the world every year.
Under her direction, Colonial Williamsburg is building a national coalition of history museums and civic education organizations to build collaborative digital resources to serve K-12 teachers and students and to plan large-scale programs for the public, all to ensure that the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026 is a moment of collective learning for the nation. Prior to stepping into this role in September 2022, Nagawiecki served as the Center for Civic Education’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, where she worked to advance the Center’s mission of providing meaningful civic and constitutional education to students, teachers, and citizens. She was the co-project director on the “Constitution EXPLAINED” video series with iCivics. Nagawiecki was previously Vice President for Education at the New-York Historical Society.
Under her leadership, New-York Historical's Education Division expanded from a local servicer to an award-winning national history education provider. A key initiative in this work, she conceived of and directed the Women & the American Story project, the first-ever comprehensive digital U.S. women’s history curriculum. She also serves on the board of directors of the National Council for History Education. In 2021 she was named to the Crain’s New York Business “40 Under 40” cohort. Nagawiecki holds a BA in history from Barnard College and a Master’s in American studies from Columbia University. In 2023, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences awarded her the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award.
Activating Your Archives with AI
This session invites museum executives – as vital knowledge-keepers and storytellers – to explore how generative AI can meaningfully empower and augment institutional archives and reinvigorate programming and engagement. An expert introduction to creative AI by artist, poet and researcher Sasha Stiles will be followed by a live, interactive demonstration of a custom model built in partnership with the Allen Ginsberg Estate as an experiment in combining cutting-edge technology with iconic American poetry.
Poet, language artist and AI researcher SASHA STILES has been writing with AI since 2018 and is widely recognized as a thought leader in generative literature and blockchain poetics. Author of the “instant techno-classic” Technelegy (Black Spring Press Group, 2021) and co-founder of theVERSEverse, her work has been honored by the Future Art Awards, Lumen Prize, Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and featured by Art Basel, the Serpentine, Cool Hunting, Design Wanted, the Guardian, Artforum, the Washington Post, Lit Hub, and more. Stiles became the first writer to bring AI-powered literature to a major auction house when her multimedia audio-visual poem “COMPLETION: When it’s just you” sold at Christie’s in 2022.
Stiles has been invited to speak at such venues as TED, Art Basel, The Brooklyn Museum, SXSW, Digilogue, the Ai4 Summit, and the Seattle Art Fair, and regularly exhibits at galleries, museums, and public art installations around the globe and in the metaverse.
A first-get Kalmyk-American and graduate of Harvard and Oxford, Stiles has served as Poetry Mentor to the humanoid android BINA48 since 2018, and lives near New York City with husband and studio partner Kris Bones.
The Human Story Behind America’s Culinary Heritage
Ramin Ganeshram’s Gala Dinner will be an entertaining lesson in how using something as simple as a prepared dish can help tell a story of a person through food, as well as help communicate difficult histories. Ramin will use every historical dish to tell a story about the individuals who originally prepared as well as consumed the food. Ramin will share how culinary pathways were literal ways to showcase the skills of enslaved chefs and cooks, and how those skills were nurtured through the process of food design and preparation. Though far from the empowerment someone in the culinary arts would experience today, she will share how the enslaved chef/cook’s training was an onramp to professional growth and entrepreneurialism.
The menu will be inspired by what Chef Hercules, the chef enslaved by George Washington, would have been cooking for the President. The dinner will demonstrate the bounty of foods that people in this period used. Chocolate, or chocolate products, will be at the center of this menu which provides an important way to tie in the influence of the West Indies/Caribbean in terms of flavor, spice, and methods of preparation.
Ramin Ganeshram is an award-winning journalist and historian. She focuses on the history of enslaved African Americans and mixed-race people of the colonial and Federal eras. Ramin spent ten years researching and writing The General’s Cook, about Hercules, the enslaved cook of George Washington. An activist-historian, Ramin also serves as the Executive Director of the Westport Museum for History & Culture. She has been recognized for evolving the 131-year-old museum toward an inclusive interpretation of the American History story by focusing on race, ethnicity, and gender. Ramin is also a chef professionally trained at the Institute for Culinary Education in New York City and the author of many cookbooks.
As part of its 250th planning, the Westport Museum is producing a series of graphic novels entitled The Real Revolution. Each issue will explore the American Revolution based on real stories of underrepresented people: Enslaved and Free Black Soldiers; indigenous people, women and children, and families torn by allegiances on opposite sides of the conflict. The first issue will be published in early 2024 and the last in the series in 2026. The novels will be accompanied by a year-long companion exhibit in 2026 with immersive programming including our highly successful escape room, based on Washington's Culper Spy Ring.
Assisting Ramin during the dinner will be Lorilynn Bauer, a private chef and TV personality where she was seen on Iron Chef America, serving as Cat Cora’s Sous Chef for 6 years. Lorilynn attended the Culinary Institute of America. She works as an estate manager for high-net-worth individuals, CEOs, and Fortune 100 moguls. Although not for publication, Lorilynn has cooked for celebrities including the Dalai Lama, P. Diddy, heads of state, and many others.
Chef Justin Cherry, Mount Vernon's Baker in Residence, will be working with Ramin Ganeshram to make the baked goods for the evening dinner event "The Human Story Behind America's Culinary Heritage".
Chef Justin Cherry is the owner of Half Crown Bakehouse, where he educates people about historic baking traditions, recipes and foodways. He spent his childhood participating in living history with his family and learning to bake from his mother and grandmother. While working at Husk Restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina, Justin developed a passion for historic grains and baking. Through his independent research and on-site archival work, he is exceedingly knowledgeable on colonial foodways and grains of the 18th century. He bakes in an oven modeled after a description of the ovens used by the Salzburgers in early 18th century Georgia and transports it to baking demonstrations year-round in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North and South Carolina.
In 2019, Justin was awarded a research Fellowship at the Fred W. Smith Library for the Study Of George Washington at Mount Vernon to research 18th century foodways. In 2022, he became the Resident Baker at George Washington's Mount Vernon, baking and demonstrating once a month for 3-4 days. In November of 2023, Justin became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Bakers in London. It is the second oldest Company in London and he is the first American to become a member. Justin is also the 2024 recipient of the Society of the Cincinnati Research Fellowship Program.
Caroline Klibanoff, Executive Director, Made By Us
Cameron Katz, Community Engagement Manager, Made By Us
Matthew Trey Delida, Communications Associate, The Council of State Government, MBU Fellow
Justice Brown, Student, Yale University, MBU Fellow
Chase Vincent, Student, American University
In 2024, Made By Us will hold local, in-person workshops across the United States to incubate meaningful and high-impact activities for the nation's 250th anniversary in 2026. These will bring together institutional leaders, who have a real say in what gets planned and executed – and Gen Z-ers, who are our nation's future inheritors and who have the most at stake. To kick off these program incubators, we will demo a workshop at the Heritage Chocolate Society Annual Meeting in Washington, DC in February 2024. With leaders and staff in attendance from historic sites, and youth participants provided by Made By Us, we will together generate appealing, meaningful points of entry to the U.S. 250th that sites can produce for Gen Z (along with other audiences) to experience.
As the Executive Director of Made By Us, Caroline Klibanoff leads a cross-institutional collaboration from America’s leading history organizations that engages the public, especially young people, with history and civic participation, connecting them with the past to power our future as we commemorate 250 years of the American experiment and look ahead to the next 250. She manages a steering committee including the National Museum of American History, the National Archives Foundation, Thomas Jefferson Foundation and Monticello, the Atlanta History Center, the Senator John Heinz History Center, HistoryMiami, and the New York Historical Society.
Cameron Katz is the community engagement manager for Made By Us, an alliance of 150+ museums from the Smithsonian and National Archives to local historical societies, joining forces to ignite and inform Gen Z civic participation.
Justice Brown is a Made By Us Fellow and originally from Oneonta, Alabama. She is currently a junior at Yale University, where she is double-majoring in psychology and ethnicity, race, and migration. She is on the Yale cheer team, a research assistant for the Leonard Learning Lab, and the creative director for Oye: Spoken Word.
Trey Delida is a public relations specialist with a knack for marketing, design and media. He is currently a Communications Associate at The Council of State Governments and a Made By Us Fellow. He was the former Social Media Coordinator at The Kentucky Historical Society.
TChase Vincent is a graduating senior at the American University, School of Communications majoring in public relations and minoring in marketing. At AU, she has been acknowledged as an influential voice for culture and impacting impoverished communities. Chase served as Creative Director for the digital student run magazine, BlackPrint, in addition as a lead blog editor for Revolution, an organization dedicated to documenting fashion culture. Chase aspires to build a global career in fashion PR and continue to help those in need to experience life more equitably.
Moderated by Gail Broadright, Senior Director Premium Brands Sales, Marketing, Ecommerce, Events, and Mars Family Properties, Mars Snacking.
Allison Wickens, Vice President of Education at George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Matt Briney, Chief Communications Officer, Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz, Vice President of Collections and Public Engagement, Stratford Hall
Jessica C. Adelman, Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Mars Snacking North America
In an era of extreme scrutiny, where the news cycle can drive a need for hyper-responsiveness to events in pop culture, having a strategy for anticipating and reacting to news has never been more necessary. Gail Broadright will lead a panel featuring historic site partners and communications experts who will weigh in on best practices in this arena to help guests navigate these often-turbulent waters. Real case studies will be shared, and time provided for Q&A and for the audience to share their own real-world experiences.
Gail embarked on her journey at Mars 33 years ago, crafting an impressive career path marked by diverse roles. She has served in sales, category insights, regional and national customer management, marketing, public relations, brand development, new chocolate ventures, and E-commerce.
Allison Wickens is the Vice President for Education and leads the Education and Guest Services division at George Washington’s Mount Vernon and oversees the history and civic learning goals for the institution’s onsite, offsite, and digital outreach programs. Allison advises the staff and leadership about trends and research in education and learning at museums, historic sites, and schools and has written on this subject in articles published in the Journal of Museum Education. Before arriving at Mount Vernon, she worked for over 15 years at the Smithsonian Institution. She received an MA in History and a certificate in Museum Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a BA in history from Grinnell College.
Matt Briney recently became the Chief Communications Officer for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. The Library is currently being constructed in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. Aiming for Living Building Challenge and beyond, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library encapsulates Roosevelt’s conservation ethos and sets a new standard for carbon positive buildings. There will be an on-site museum, classrooms and events, but the Library aims to have a fully digital collection extending beyond the reach of the Badlands to the world.
Prior to his new position, Matt was the Vice President of Media & Communications at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, where he oversaw Mount Vernon’s community and media outreach, marketing, social media, graphic design, and digital interactive development.
During his time at Mount Vernon, he oversaw the creation of Be Washington interactive theater, the Revolutionary War 4D experience, the Agent 711: Spy Adventure mobile app, and the Mount Vernon Augmented Reality tour.
Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz is the Vice President of Collections and Public Engagement at Stratford Hall and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of African American Studies at U.C. Berkeley. She holds a BA in Africana Studies and History from The College of William & Mary and an MA and Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Kelley is a public historian dedicated to researching the history of enslaved Africans and African Americans, elevating their stories, and amplifying the need for acknowledgment and reconciliation.
She is the author of the critically acclaimed book Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine, which was named one of the top ten books on food of 2017 by Smithsonian Magazine and later inspired a poem by Alice Walker. You can find her most recent work in Audible’s The Great Courses on the history of sugar, and her contribution to the cookbook California Soul, with celebrity and OWN TV star Chef Tanya Holland and author Alice Walker. Her work can be found in Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, several podcasts, The Conversation, USA Today, and in lectures on YouTube.
Jessica has over 25 years of experience as a global executive in CPG, food, and retail and currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Mars Snacking North America. In this role she sits on multiple global senior leadership teams, ensuring the global Corporate Affairs strategy leads the business strategy, the communications function is optimized and upskilled, and that Corporate PR, brand PR, Advocacy, and Industry efforts are best-in-class.
Jessica has direct responsibility for executive communications, corporate communications, media relations, corporate reputation, brand communications, crisis management, internal communications, issues management, social impact, and operations for the consumer care/call center. She is a Board member and Vice Chair of the Mars Snacking Global Philanthropic Foundation. Additionally, serving on the Board of Directors as Chair for the Budget, Audit, and Administrative Committee for the globally oriented National Endowment for Democracy (NED) gives her access to expert-level insight around the world in the 90-plus countries where NED operates. Prior to Mars, she was at Kroger for five years as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. Jessica speaks both Russian and French and has lived and worked in-market during her career.
