Message from the AIA Oregon Executive Vice President

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Curt Wilson, AIA
AIAO Executive Vice President/CEO

The summer is in full swing, 2020 is more than half over, and we’re in month four of limited physical interactions due to COVID 19.  Personally, I’ve been in the role of AIA Oregon Executive VP/CEO for a year now, so I want to take this opportunity to mention what we are working on.

Website Update

Communication has been a priority over the past year, including a more comprehensive use of the Thursdays@Three (T@3), introduction of the Message From feature, expansion of the website, and a more active approach to social media. We recently completed the first of two phases of our communication plan, and hope to start phase 2 in the Fall.

The upgrades to the home page as described in the newsletter reflect some of the recent planning. Up next is the addition of a Find an Architect feature and I expect to announce the roll out schedule soon.

Social Justice Plan

Society’s response to the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer was a wake up call for many of us to the systemic racism that we’ve already allowed to fester for too long.  AIA, AIA Oregon, many firms, and many individuals vowed to no longer remain silent, and to commit to doing more and doing better.  AIA Oregon held a Social Justice Listening session on June 5, which was attended by more than 130 people.  In response to the listening session, we developed a Social Justice Action Plan.  Check out the update on the SJAC from the 7/1 T@3.

The overall objective, to “Dismantle Systematic Racism within the Architecture Profession” is a daunting task, and will require a coordinated effort from all members, and future members, of our profession.  This is overwhelming, and will remain overwhelming until we develop an incremental plan to address tasks.  This is the current effort of the steering committee that is leading the action plan, and we plan to update our progress in early August.  Please let me know if you would like to be involved.

Design Awards Task Force

AIA Oregon created a task force to evaluate the various design recognition programs we have, including the Portland Architecture Awards and the Eugene People’s Choice Awards programs, and to recommend refinements or changes.  This includes developing purpose statements to clarify why we have these programs and what we are trying to achieve.  The task force’s work will be complete soon, and they will provide an overview in the July 23 T@3.

The task force and board are in agreement that we should implement the changes we want to see through improvements to our existing programs, and those programs will occur in 2020 in a virtual format.  Look for more information about the schedule for the Portland Architecture Awards and Eugene People’s Choice program in the July 23 T@3.  We also hope to have an update on the status of people’s choice programs in other sections at that time. 

I want to comment on the name “Portland Architecture Awards”.  This is an established program by the former AIA Portland Chapter and is one of, if not THE best awards program within AIA.  The board and task force agree this program will transition to the chapter-wide awards program, however we have not yet defined the transition schedule, including the change to the title.  All agree that eligibility to participate is available across the chapter.

AIA National Business Meeting

An impact of the pandemic was the cancellation of the AIA Conference on Architecture in Los Angeles in May.  The AIA Annual Meeting is typically held during the Conference on Architecture, and this is when national board officers are elected and resolutions authorized by delegates from all chapters.  The 2020 AIA Annual Meeting has been rescheduled to September 1 as a virtual meeting, and all members are welcome to participate.  The AIA Oregon board will identify the candidates we support at the August 21 board meeting, and your input is welcome.  We will schedule a discussion in early August open to all members to review the candidates.  Check the event page on the AIA Oregon website in the next few weeks for the date.  Information on the candidates, including videos, are available here, and in the News from National section of the AIA Oregon’s Website.

Event Planning for 2020

In response to the pandemic, we significantly scaled back our events and programs.  Since April, we’ve focused on the Digital Design Series (see the listing of upcoming presentations in this week’s T@3 newsletter), Virtual Happy Hours, luncheon learns, and monthly committee meetings.  The Digital Design Series has been a delightful addition to our programming line up and I expect we’ll continue the series as part of our regular programming.  We record all of the presentations, and you can check them out here.

Moving forward, we intend to expand our event and program offerings in 2020.  We expect this will include virtual versions of the following programs:

·       Future Vision (by CoEDI)

·       Green Champion Summit (by CoTE)

·       PATH to Leadership and the Business of Architecture Series

·       Portland Architecture Awards

·       Eugene People’s Choice

Most of these programs will be implemented through multi-session series, and all will be virtual.  The staff team is researching digital platforms and video production options to deliver quality beyond a typical Zoom session.  Please note that we expect these events will occur between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, so it will be a busy fall for AIA Oregon.  Please let me know if you are interested in assisting in the planning effort for any of these programs.

You will notice the Chris White Golf Tournament is not included above.  I don’t anticipate we’ll hold the event in 2020 in a manner we’ve done recently, but we continue to hold the reservation at Langdon Farms for the afternoon of September 25, and the need to fundraise for emerging professional scholarships remains a critical need.  What do you think?  How should we move forward here?

Curt Wilson, AIA
cwilson@aiaoregon.org