2025 Conference Sponsors

Fort Mason Center for the Arts & Culture
Fort Mason Center for the Arts & Culture
Fort Mason Center for the Arts & Culture
Fort Mason Center for the Arts & Culture
The Maria & Robert Kelly Stewardship
City of Sacramento
State of California - California State Parks
Getty Conservation Institute
Preservation Sacramento
Wiss Janney Elstner Associates, Inc.
Capitol Area Development Authority
Rincon
SMUD
Carstens, Black & Minteer LLP
Dennis Hill, Content Creation
Dudek
Groundwork Planning & Preservation
Heritage Architecture and Planning
Interactive Resources
Kitchell
PGAdesign
Sapphos Environmental, Inc.
TYLin
Artistic License
Napa County Landmarks
ICOMOS-USA | World Heritage USA
Stanford University
 

Annual Sponsors

WJE
Spectra Company
Architectural Resources Group & ARG Conservation
Page & Turnbull
California Office of Historic Preservation
CAW Architects, Inc.
Environmental Science Associates
Evergreene
IS Architecture
Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture, Inc.
Rainbow Waterproofing & Restoration
Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Tef Design
TreanorHL
ZFA Structural Engineers
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Why Attend?

  • Obtain Continuing Education Units available for all educational programs at no additional cost (CEUs not available for Doors Open events)
  • Network with friends and colleagues across the country and internationally in our unique online, interactive events.
  • Keep up with the latest research and scholarship in historic preservation, city planning, equity issues, design, archaeology, and architecture.
  • Gain unique and unparalleled access to California’s hidden histories and masterworks of design.

Continuing Education

All live programs qualify for continuing education units through the AIA, AICP, ASLA and CLG.  All attendees can take advantage of our continuing education program at no additional cost. Many sessions qualify for Health, Safety, and Welfare units (HSW). Some sessions will qualify for AICP legal and ethics credits.

For More Information

Photo Courtesy Sacramento Real Estate Photographers, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0

2025 California Preservation Conference

Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges

Sacramento Convention Center, Sacramento, Calif. | May  6 to May 10, 2025

Join your colleagues at the Sacramento Convention Center, Sheraton Grand Sacramento, and other key locations across the region for an engaging and forward-thinking conference. Through insightful discussions and innovative ideas, we’ll explore how to bridge divides and overcome challenges, fostering a future that honors our shared heritage while advancing economic opportunity, safety, and community well-being.

The California Preservation Conference brings more than 600 participants from across the state to learn, network, and share successes. The conference will include over 40 sessions, special events, networking activities, and site tours in and around Sacramento.

Conference Hotel and Room Rates

The Conference Hotel is the Sheraton Grand, Sacramento. We have reserved room blocks available at discounted rates for all conference attendees. Room reservations will be required.

Book your group rate for California Preservation Foundation

Event Summary:
California Preservation Foundation
225.00 USD per night

Last Day to Book: Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Book your group rate for California Preservation Foundation.

General Details

Your registration includes full access to our interactive conference mobile app.

Heritage conservation and preservation advocacy play a key role in important and pressing societal challenges, including housing, sustainability, community cohesion, and economic development. Through five tracks and special programs on Housing, Advocacy, and Fire Resiliency, we’ll delve into the challenging crossroads and positive steps taken in “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges.”

  • Over 40 in-classroom sessions and off-site tours and mobile workshops

Network with friends and colleagues at special events and mixers

  • 2025 California Preservation Awards Reception & Ceremony at the California Museum (5/9)
 
Keynote Address

Keynote Address

This year, we welcome Sara Bronin, recent Chair of the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation to speak to our conference theme of “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges.”

Sara C. Bronin is a Mexican-American architect, attorney, Cornell University professor, and policymaker whose interdisciplinary work focuses on how law and policy can foster more equitable, sustainable, well-designed, and connected places. She wrote Key to the City: How Zoning Shapes Our World, and she founded and leads the National Zoning Atlas, which is digitizing, demystifying, and democratizing information about zoning in the United States.

Bronin is one of the foremost American scholars in property, land use, zoning, and historic preservation law, having (co-)authored two treatises, four books, and dozens of articles. She has been a reformer and change-maker in public roles at the local, state, and federal levels, including a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed role chairing the federal historic preservation agency. She holds a J.D. from Yale (Harry S Truman Scholarship), M.Sc. from the University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholarship), and B.Architecture and B.A. in Plan II from the University of Texas. A seventh-generation Texan, Sara is a native Houstonian.

Full Conference Schedule

Conference Schedule

For full conference schedule with descriptions and speakers, visit https://cpf.lineupr.com/cpf25/ 

TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2025

1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Lobby Day for Historic Preservation Advocacy

Offsite

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025

9:00 AM – 12:30 PM

T

The Powerhouse Museum: From History to Science and Curiosity

Bus

9:30 AM – 11:30 PM

T

Architect and Artist Alfred Eichler: A Walking Tour

Walking

1:00 – 5:00 PM

Balancing Housing and Preservation: Policies, Case Studies, and Strategies

B8

1:00 – 5:00 PM

T

Sacramento Railyards: Transforming the Past for a Sustainable Future

Walking

1:30 – 5:30 PM

T

Behind the Scenes at the California State Parks Collection

Bus

6:00 – 7:30 PM

T*

Opening Reception at the California State Railroad Museum

Offsite

7:30 – 9:30 PM

 

Emerging Professionals – K Street Bar Crawl

 Walking ^

THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2025

9:00 – 10:30 AM

Plenary Session, St. John’s Lutheran Church

Offsite ^

10:40 AM – 1:30 PM

T

Touring Sacramento’s Historic Districts

Walking

10:40 AM – 1:30 PM

T

Sacramento’s Chinatown: The Lasting Impact of Redevelopment

Walking

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Uncovering California’s Underrecognized Heritage: Case Examples from a New CPF Program

B8

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Water Infrastructure as a Historic Resource: Challenges and Solutions

13

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Maximizing Historic Tax Credits: Public and Non-Profit Strategies

B7

1:00 – 4:00 PM

Office of Historic Preservation – State Preservation Plan Listening Session

B8

2:00 – 3:30 PM

The Future of Heritage Conservation with Immersive Technology

13

2:00 – 3:30 PM

Navigating Historic Discretionary Reviews

14/15

2:00 – 3:30 PM

Creative Adaptive Reuse for the Housing Crisis

B7

3:45 – 5:15 PM

New State Housing Policies and Their Impact on Historic Resources

B7

3:45 – 5:15 PM

CEQA Historic Resources: Hot Topics and Expert Insights

14/15

3:45 – 5:15 PM

Synchronicity! Preserving Memorial Auditorium as a Performing Arts Hub

13

6:00 – 7:30 PM

T

President’s Circle Reception (invite only) – Leland Stanford Mansion

Offsite ^

8:00 – 9:30 PM

 

Pub Crawl: Exploring Sacramento’s Historic R Street Corridor

Walking  ^

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2025

9:00 AM – 12:15 PM

T

Adaptive Reuse Housing in Sacramento: Touring Two Success Stories

Bus

9:00 – 10:30 AM

Community-Driven Preservation: Updating Your Program and Code

14/15

9:00 – 10:30 AM

California’s Delta: History, Identity, and Change

B8

9:00 – 10:30 AM

Championing African American Cultural Heritage

13

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Multicultural Chinatown: Celebrating the Past & Supporting the Future in Salinas

14/15

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Blueprints for Change: Student Innovations in Preservation & Public History

B8

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Empowering Underrepresented Voices in Historic Preservation

13

10:45 AM – 12:15 PM

Revitalizing Sacramento’s Historic Hotels: Creative Conversions

B7

2:00 – 5:15 PM

Safeguarding History: Disaster Preparedness Strategies for California’s Cultural Heritage

B8

2:00 – 5:15 PM

T

Reviving Sacramento’s Iconic Solarpunk Office and Community Atrium

B6/Walking ^

2:00 – 3:30 PM

Contextualizing and Caring for Modernist Outdoor Public Art

B7

2:00 – 3:30 PM

Protecting Cultural Heritage in Disinvested Communities

13

2:00 – 3:30 PM

Small Housing, Big Lessons

14/15

3:45 – 5:15 PM

Advocacy for Historic Rail Stations: Oakland Southern Pacific Station in Focus

B7

3:45 – 5:15 PM

Lessons Learned from the Battle to Save the Sacramento State Capitol

13

6:00 – 10:00 PM

T*

Preservation Design Awards – California State Museum

CA State Museum

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2025

9:00AM – 5:15 PM

T

Discovering the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta’s National Heritage – A Tour

Bus

10:00 AM – 12:15 PM

T

Walking Tour of Lavender Library / Lavender Heights + LGBTQ+ Survey

Walking

9:30 – 11:30 AM

T

Sacramento’s Terra Cotta Buildings – A Walking Tour

Walking

Hotel Information and Discounted Rates for Conference Attendees

The Conference Hotel is the Sheraton Grand, Sacramento. We have reserved room blocks available at discounted rates for all conference attendees. Room reservations will be required.

Book your group rate for California Preservation Foundation

Event Summary:
California Preservation Foundation
225.00 USD per night

Last Day to Book: Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Book your group rate for California Preservation Foundation

Conference Pricing & Ticket Options

Conference Registration

Conference Ticket Prices (2025)

MEMBER Ticket

Cost

Full Package (Includes Opening Reception and Awards Reception) – a 20% savings

$580

Regular Registration

$360

Single Day: Thursday Registration Member Rate

$185

Single Day: Friday Registration

$185

   

NON-MEMBER Ticket

 

Full Package (Includes Opening Reception and Awards Reception) – a 20% savings

$625

Regular Registration

$390

Single Day: Thursday Registration

$200

Single Day: Friday Registration

$200

   

Tickets for Students/Speakers/Moderators

Cost

Student Registration (ID Required)

$75

Speakers & Moderators (All Conference Sessions – Special Events not Included)

$75

   

Special Events / Tours / Awards Programs

 

Advocacy Day

Free

Housing Summit

Free

Museum of Science and Curiosity / Powerhouse Tour

$75

California State Library Tour & Alfred Eichler Tour

$40

California State Parks Collection

$75

Railyards Tour (Starting Contruction Early May???)

$40

OPENING RECEPTION California State Railroad Museum

$125

Emerging Professionals – K Street Bar Crawl

Free

Plenary Session, St Johns Lutheran Church

Free

Planning for the Future: Sacramento Historic Districts Tour

$40

Building Inclusive Preservation Programs: Japantown to Chinatown Tour

$40

President’s Circle Reception – Leland Stanford Mansion

Invite Only

R Street Bar Crawl

Free

Housing & Heritage – Blast from the Past – Globe Mills / WAL – ADAPTIVE REUSE

$75

MOBILE WORKSHOP – Tech Forward California (Bateson Building)

$40

Preservation Design Awards – California State Museum
– Exhibits Open – 6:00 – 7 PM
– Ceremony – 7 – 8 PM
– Reception – 8 – 10:00 PM

$225 (discounted for conference registrants only)

Delta Tour

$125

Walking Tour of Lavender Library / Lavender Heights + LGBTQ+ Survey

Free

Terra Cotta Tour

$40

Conference Tracks

Our conference will include six thematic Tracks:

  • Planning for the Future. Examining our existing regulations and planning tools to address challenging preservation problems and to protect and adapt our most valued historic landmarks.
  • Tech Forward California. Innovative methods, treatment approaches, and technologies that break new ground or revolutionize preservation practices.
  • Building Inclusive Preservation Programs. Ensuring the rich diversity of California’s heritage is recognized and celebrated with creative methods on how to engage underrecognized communities and to make true stakeholders of community partners.
  • Central Valley Visions. Approaching the unique challenges of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Central Valley.
  • Housing & Heritage. Expert-led training and case examples drawn from historic preservation practice for the retention and adaptive reuse of historic structures for housing, both market rate and affordable.
Sponsorship
As a Conference Sponsor you will have access to widespread opportunities to promote your products and services to preservation professionals from across the country and internationally. Our reach extends to all 50 states and 14 countries. Sponsorship levels start at $500 for non-profit organizations and $1500 for commercial partners and are available for the California Preservation Conference starting in December 2022. Questions about Sponsorship? Contact us at cpf@californiapreservation.org or call 415.495.0349. 
Volunteer Application

Volunteers receive complimentary access for the same amount of time they volunteer. A full volunteer information packet is available for download here. 

All interested volunteers must submit a volunteer application on the form below. 

Volunteer for the Annual Preservation Conference

Volunteer Contact Information

Address
City
State/Province
Zip/Postal

Mandatory Volunteer Training Selection

Please select which mandatory volunteer orientation session you will attend (2 Hours). Note: These are online training sessions.

Preferred Volunteer Dates and Times

Please check off the time slots during which you are available to volunteer during the Conference.

Conference Volunteering Preferences

Please rank your Conference volunteering preferences in order (1 - 6). Please only use each number once.
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Past Conference Programs

Interested in Our Past Programs? 

Click the year of the program below for all the fun details from the last three years at the CPF Annual Conference.

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2024 Conference Details
2023 Conference Details
2022 Online Conference Details
2021 Online Conference Details
2020 Online Conference Details
2019 Palm Springs Conference Details
2018 Palo Alto Conference Details