Please join us for our annual Philip A. Morris Fund for the Design Arts Lecture. This year, we are honored to host Mary Means, the award-winning founder of Main Street America, as our distinguished speaker. 

The lecture will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Birmingham Museum of Art's Steiner Auditorium. A cocktail reception in the 8th Avenue Lobby will follow the presentation. Doors will open at 5 p.m.

Mary Means led the team that launched the Main Street movement. From a risky three community pilot in the late 1970s, to a six state/30 communities expansion in the early 1980s, the pioneering preservation-based revitalization strategies she and her team developed are now central to the Main Street programs thriving in Alabama and 43 other states, a network now known as Main Street America. Today, active Main Street organizations assure town center vitality in more than 1600 communities across the country.

In  2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation gave her the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award, the highest honor in historic preservation. She is the author of Main Street’s Comeback and How It Can Come Back Again and a memoir, Something Worth Saving, scheduled for publication in 2025.

Tickets are only $5. Reserve your spot today!