April 29, 2026

A SYMPOSIUM THANK YOU

Gratitude.

 

This past week, guests from near and far gathered in The Factory for the 2026 Project Threadways Symposium, three days of meals, presentations, conversations, and hands-on making connected by the theme of Regeneration.

 

The theme reflects the core values of this community: slowness as care, sustainability as origin, and education as liberation. Regeneration reckons with the harms of industrialized and extractive systems, offering repair through circularity, agency, and authorship.

 

 

Presenters, who shared their work, stories, and reflections:

Jason McCall
Marcie Cohen Ferris
Stephen Satterfield
Polly Leonard
Libby O’Bryan
Frederick Murphy, Curtis Flowers, and Karen Curry
Shradha Kochhar
Marwan Pleasant
Kyle Tibbs Jones

 

Event partners, including Florence Arts and Museums and the Shoals Community Theatre.

 

Guests, for engaging with and furthering these conversations.

 

Grantors and organizational supporters, including the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, the Alabama Humanities Alliance, the Florence-Lauderdale CVB, and the Caring Foundation.

 

Lisa Donovan, the inaugural Project Threadways Culinary Arts Resident, Fourth Planet BBQ, and Grassroots Wine.

 

The Project Threadways team and board members.

 

The community of the Shoals, for believing in and championing this work.

 

Thank you for this opportunity to come together, make, question, and dream. Those who were not able to attend this year’s event can purchase a recording here. Recordings will be available and shared later this week.

 

Mark your calendars for the next symposium, April 15-17, 2027. We’ll see you in our new home at The Maker Lab, in downtown Florence.

 

Onward.