The Forum Workshop at the 2013 VAF needs your expertise.

The Forum Workshop invites you to bring the questions and issues of your own research, case studies, or models to contribute to the conversation in the Gaspé Peninsula. What are the questions, the useful theories, the universal truths, and the heart breaking realities that we face in our own work? What are the analogous case studies or lessons from your own practice that might help stakeholders plan the peninsulas future, more specifically that of the Gaspé-Percé region?

This list of possible sites and problems indicates the range of challenges we face:
-  The interpretation of buildings and sites once occupied by prominent fish merchants in Rivière-au-Renard (Fox River);
-  The adaptive reuse of an extant general store in Val-dEspoir for community use;
-  The preservation of a modest home as part of a larger community-driven agricultural heritage conservation project in Anse-au-Griffon (Griffins Cove);
-  Exploring the viability of introducing commercial-based activities as a means of protecting the homesteads of fishermen-farmers in Forillon National Park;
-  The preservation and interpretation of a heritage parish theatre, Holy Name Hall, in Douglastown and the restoration of an art-deco presbytery;
-  Finding a new vocation for a centenary-home, maison LeGros, bequeathed to Nature Conservancy, an organisation whose primary mission is the conservation of plants and wildlife;
-  Revitalising Cap-de-Rosiers, a village amputated by expropriation;
-  The protection of the component buildings and features of an Anglican parish in Malbay;
-  Developing alternative heritage tourism circuits in small towns such as Percé and Gaspé.

Panellists will be distributed among working-groups according to their expertise in such a manner as each site benefits from the widest range of disciplines and practices as possible.

Whether you are an art- or architectural historian, geographer or historian, architect or planner, restoration specialist or museum conservator, student or full professor, policy-maker or financial analyst, in the public or private sector, we invite your participation.

How to participate?

Submit a brief (maximum 400 words) statement of expertise clearly outlining your potential contribution to an in-depth historic preservation and interpretation discussion. What observations from your research or practice do you think relate to the issues facing the Gaspé-Percé region? Can you frame questions that make the issues you faced relevant to the peninsulas particular challenges?

To promote wide-ranging debate and the confrontation of different viewpoints, a maximum of 50 participants will be selected (5 in each of the 10 break-out sessions). The results of working-group discussions will contribute to the plenary session that will follow the small group workshops.

Please indicate whether you are English-speaking, French-speaking or bilingual. Attach a one-page CV to your proposal submission.

The deadline for proposals is November 15, 2012.