Smart risk management is not a simple checkbox. Integrate cultural reviews early to keep your project on schedule, on budget, and moving forward.

Great news for Minnesota! Small Legacy Grants have increased from $10,000 to $20,000. Learn what this means for your project and how to apply…

Grants help communities bring meaningful, inspiring ideas to life. The key is knowing how to connect your project with the right funder, tell your story clearly, and demonstrate that you can deliver what you promise.

We’re excited to announce that 106 Group has expanded into Illinois with the opening of our Chicago office!

Say hello to Bill Walker, Proposal Manager and Cultural Heritage Planner! Bill has decades of experience in interpretation, planning, and cultural resources management.

Meet Lindsey Wallace, recently promoted to Services Director at 106 Group! In her new role, Lindsey provides strategic oversight and direction for our project work.

106 Group recently presented “Best Practices for Partnering and Collaborating with Tribes” at the National Association of Environmental Professionals Virtual Conference. Together, with Paul Backhouse (Seminole Tribe of Florida), we shared best practices for tribal consultation and engagement and successful tools for building long-term relationships with Tribes.

Preserving and honoring LGBTQ+ heritage sites can help create anchors for ownership/pride, stabilize communities, and elevate Queer stories.

106 Group, a leading cultural heritage company, is excited to announce a strategic series of promotions across various management roles.

Terminal expansions, runway repairs, hangar upgrades. These are just some of the many airport improvement projects that 106 Group historians and archaeologists contribute to at dozens of airports throughout the region.

Earlier this fall, 106 Group Sr. Architectural Historian and Planner, Lindsey Wallace, co-facilitated an interactive session at the 2023 Preserve MN Conference in Mankato. The session, “Continuing the Conversation: Working Towards Equity in Historic Preservation,” laid out key DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) concepts, including differences between equality and equity.

In 2023 the Minnesota State Legislature updated the Private Cemeteries Act (MS 307.08). Read on to understand how these changes might affect your project.

CEO Anne Ketz introduces a framework for how to tell truthful stories in interpretive exhibits and heritage planning. She draws directly from the four notions of truth developed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission during the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa. This post is adapted from Anne’s virtual presentation for the 2023 ICOMOS Conference, held in Sydney, Australia.

Last month, Anne Ketz, the CEO of 106 Group, had the distinct honor of addressing an audience at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. IAIA, an esteemed institution, stands as a beacon of progress in the ongoing empowerment of Native communities. Through its commitment to education, financial support, and the cultivation of self-sufficiency, IAIA exemplifies the transformation that is unfolding within Native communities nationwide.

Imagine you’re just getting started planning an exhibit project. Your team is outlining key themes and topics and you already know you’d like to make your exhibits more accessible with durable tactiles. Great! But wait—there’s more to designing a tactile than meets the eye.

We’re excited to share news that Bill Walker, has joined 106 Group as a Proposal Manager. Bill is an expert on cultural resource management, Section 106 review process, and has more than 20 years of experience in the field of cultural history for the National Park Service and a variety of local historical societies and museums.

In order to create a successful project, building trust with the community is essential. By incorporating authentic culture and heritage, the project team can better reflect all voices in the community and create more effective plans.

If naming is claiming, how do city, state, and local agencies create naming policies and practices that honor the people, land, and events of a particular place, while building relationships throughout the community in the process?

Through our documenting work in archaeology and history, we see that the story of a place is so much more than what is written in a regulatory report. The history of a place, written and unwritten, and the stories told through archaeological and architectural resources can contribute to the future design of a place and enhance its uniqueness.

106 Group’s Anne Ketz has been nominated to the Minnesota Women Business Owners’ Hall of Fame. In a recent interview, Anne reflects on her role in cultural heritage planning and a career dedicated to increasing knowledge, understanding, and preservation of cultural sites and resources around the world.

We’re excited to share news that Lindsey Wallace, has joined 106 Group as a Senior Architectural Historian and Planner. In her new role within our History Team, Lindsey will lead a range of projects for public and private clients.

106 Group recently presented at the National Association for Interpretation Conference. Our interpretive planners, Regine Kennedy and Julie Davis, along with Joshua Tree National Park staff, Jennie Albrinck and Jo Lombard, shared strategies for mitigating the compounding effects of climate change and other challenges that parks face related to sustainability.

Section 106 regulations require federal agencies to consider the effects of their activities on cultural resources within their proposed projects. If your project will be federally funded or licensed, then your project may require consultation with American Indian Tribes.

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are two of the principal federal laws intended to protect environmental and cultural resources. Any project conducted with federal funding, or requiring a federal permit, license, or approval, is required to comply with these laws. So, how are they similar? How are they different? How does compliance with these laws impact your project?

Steve Gallo, Architectural Historian at 106 Group, is a published historian whose work focuses on built environments of the United States. He brings skills in researching neglected histories to his work in cultural resources. This summer, Steve's article on the history of Atlanta’s Grant Park was published in an issue …

Within the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Cultural Tourism program, proposed development of a new Akwesasne Heritage Complex was a key initiative. The Complex will be the heart of the tourism program, visitor experience, and community heritage and cultural programming. Developing a Business Case is an important step to support tribal decision making as they develop the Heritage Complex.

We recently had the opportunity to participate in an important conversation on Equity in Preservation Planning at Preserve Minnesota 2020, hosted by the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office.

Strategic planning for cultural tourism guides the process for communities to realize their vision and establish procedures and operations necessary to achieve that vision.

National, state, and regional parks have seen overwhelming numbers of visitors amid the pandemic. A dream on paper, this has a downside. Interpretation can be a part of the solution. Consider these strategies used by parks to protect the resources and keep visitors safe.

We are honored to have been a contributor to the Saint Paul African American Historic and Cultural Context. The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) recently recognized this document with an Award of Excellence.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission that emerged during the dismantling of South Africa’s apartheid system acknowledged four kinds of truth as part of a societal healing process. See how these truths are reflected in recent interpretive planning at Thomas Jefferson’s retreat home, Poplar Forest.

This is the third and final article in a series examining the role that cultural understanding plays in the community engagement process.

Our CEO and Services Director, Anne Ketz, has been re-elected as VP to ICIP for the International Council for Monuments and Sites. In this role, she continues her work to preserve, protect, and uncover the stories beyond the hundreds of heritage sites around the world.

We are proud to announce that our work with Andersen Engineering and the MN VA to renovate Fort Snelling’s Building 222 is a recipient of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota’s Impact award.

On the east side of Saint Paul, Minnesota, at the base of an impressive bluff line, is a cave that the Dakota call Wakan Tipi and that Euro Americans have named Carver’s Cave.

At the heart of Saint Paul’s African American history is the Rondo neighborhood. That history is often excluded from mainstream documentation. Now, the Aurora Saint Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation is trying to change that.

Regine Kennedy shares her top community engagement tips after attending the Minnesota Transportation Conference. After years of experience in the fields of engagement and interpretation, Kennedy brings new light to this incredibly valuable service.

The Interpret Europe: Mechelen 2016 conference recently explored how heritage interpretation can help evolving communities approach issues such as human rights, peace, and active citizenship. Anne Ketz’ paper, “Interpretive Planning Methods and Processes as an Effective Mechanism for Community Building,” was presented at the conference.

In a rapidly changing world where local communities are becoming more diverse, and needing to be more holistic in their thinking, public engagement can get people talking, learning from each other, and working together to identify problems and create solutions.