The Campaign’s team helped plan and execute this year’s International Preservation Trades Workshop, held at Re:Purpose Savannah in early October. The IPTW is the annual conference for the Preservation Trades Network, is a 501(c)3 non-profit membership organization founded to provide education, networking and outreach for the traditional building trades.
The three-day event features hands-on demonstrations from experts in the traditional building trades, including carpentry, timber framing, stone and brick masonry, plastering, roofing, and more. Attendees get the opportunity to meet and mingle with industry-leading professionals and learn from the masters.
This year, we persevered through a couple of hurricanes and windy weather, and still, nearly 150 were able to attend the event! The theme, Trades: Deconstructed, highlighted the role deconstruction can and does play in the preservation trades. A newer feature was a dedicated Roundtable session area to discuss issues related to the preservation trades, including advocacy, business management, and training. While these sessions didn’t demonstrate hands-on trades, it broke down essential features that support the businesses that practice preservation trades.
Twenty master craftspeople from across the country came to demonstrate their skills and connect with new people in the field. Notably, the PTN operates scholarship funds–the Misia Leonard Scholarship and Christopher Robinson Scholarship–to help emerging tradespeople access training opportunities. The annual Auction proceeds support these scholarship funds. During the Auction Dinner, the PTN also celebrates the recipient of the Askins Achievement Award. This Award recognizes people who have made significant contributions to the field of preservation trades and education. Congratulations are due to Rob Cagnetta, the 2024 recipient of this prestigious award!
The IPTW is a unique event that brings together a variety of different tradespeople from across the globe. It fosters special and important relationships that help build and grow the field of preservation trades. The Campaign is an organizational member of the PTN and plans to participate in future IPTWs. If you want to get involved as well, you can join the Network, help support the scholarship funds, nominate deserving craftspeople for the Askins Award, and join committees. Visit ptn.org to learn more about these opportunities.
