Conference Agenda

Wednesday April 8, 2026

1:30 - 4:00 pm

Tour Option 1 - "Metal Museum - The Spark Adding Fire to Memphis Cultural Moment" | (Address)

Veteran’s Plaza Drive at Overton Park

Description: Tour the site of the Metal Museum at its new home in Overton Park. The national AIA award-winning modernist building, first opened in 1959 and former home of the Memphis College of Art, has been renovated while maintaining its historical integrity. The building redesign by WHY with LRK, includes a new foundry and blacksmith shop, with renovated terraces, and courtyards. The enhanced site includes 14 impressive metal sculptures by world-renown artists. RSA will review site design and construction, accessibility and historic credit compliance issues, and planting of native plants compatible with the park's context and Overton Park Conservancy's objectives.

Tour Leader(s): Carissa Hussong, Executive Director and Madison Miller, Director of Development and Communications, Metal Museum, with Ritchie Smith, ASLA and Lissa Thompson, ASLA, Ritchie Smith Associates.

The tour will conclude with a walk through the adjacent Overton Park Shell and Greensward to learn about plans for future improvements from Chet Winstead, ASLA of A2H.

Tour Option 2 - "Memphis Art Museum - The Brooks Comes to the Bluff"| Front Street at Monroe Avenue

Description: Experience the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art's transformative move from Overton Park to downtown atop the Mississippi River bluff. Begin with a walk along Front Street and navigate a series of relationships that inform design ideas for renewing street life and engaging the Mississippi River. Participants will learn about the drivers behind the construction and landscape design for the project, renamed Memphis Art Museum, in a series of snapshot moments that connect with some of Memphis' most iconic landscapes. We’ll discuss the project’s realization, the complexity of tight sites, and the multidisciplinary collaboration merging international practice with embedded local knowledge and history.

Tour Leader: Richard S. Roark, PLA, FASLA, CPO, and Partner, The Olin Studio

RECEPTION & SPONSOR EXPO

Halloran Center

5:00 - 6:00 pm

OPENING REMARKS

6:00 - 6:10 pm

DINNER & KEYNOTE SPEAKER

6:15 - 7:15 pm

Keynote: Master Plan for the Orpheum - Cultural Catalyst |Daiquiri Baptiste, VP&COOM Orpheum Theatre Group

AWARDS PRESENTATION

7:15 - 8:15 pm - Sponsored By: Tennessee Concrete Association

AFTER PARTY