Celebrating 50 years of education and advocacy, with an eye toward the future
By Peggy Nolan
To celebrate our 50th anniversary, our Advocacy Interviews this year have featured people who helped make the Madison Trust what it is today. We conclude the series with Madison Trust President Rick Chandler, who reflects on the organization’s evolution and opportunities for the future.
Rick Chandler
How, when and why did you get involved with the Madison Trust?
I’ve always been interested in history and architecture. I like exploring cities and learning about how cities have evolved, so I think that’s what drew me to joining. Our tours are called historic architecture walking tours, so we talk about history, we talk about architecture, and we talk about people — the people who lived in the buildings and influenced Madison’s history. All of those things are fascinating to me.
I’ve been a member of the Madison Trust for a long time, probably for 30 years or so. Over the years, I think I had taken most of the tours. When I retired five years ago, my wife encouraged me to become a docent and start giving the tours. After a couple years doing that, I was invited to join the Board. I’ve now been a Board member for a little more than three years.
How has the Madison Trust evolved in its 50 years of existence?
I think the Madison Trust has gone through a number of different phases. At the start, we considered purchasing historic properties. That turned out to be a fairly formidable task.
From there, things evolved into education and advocacy as our key goals. I think everything we’ve done over the last 50 years relates to those two things. They both work together. The more people are educated about Madison’s history and the importance of preserving the best of our past, the easier our advocacy job is.
The tours have been around since the early 2000s, and they’ve evolved over time. They have really turned out to be a great thing for the Trust. They’re probably the way more people get to know us than anything else. We reach a lot of people each year. This year, we provided about 60 tours with more than 1,300 guests. Our regular tours were filled to about 90% capacity, and the specialty tour sold out, so there’s really a lot of interest, often through word of mouth.
We’re doing more and more in the advocacy area, too. We’ve had the historic awards event for many years. And we’re attracting people through some of the things we’ve just added in the last five years, like the architectural series of webinars in the winter. We’ve gotten to a point where we’re reaching people in a lot of different ways, so that’s good.
How well do you think the Madison Trust accomplishes its key goals?
In terms of providing opportunities to explore, learn about and appreciate Madison’s history, architectural and cultural, we’re doing the most in that area. I think we’re doing a really good job there. The tours, the architectural webinar series and historic awards allow us to reach people in a lot of different ways to enable them to learn about our history and to talk about the importance of preserving the good parts of our history.
Promoting and supporting the continued viability of Madison’s historic places and traditional neighborhoods is part of our advocacy area. We’re more active in that area than we have been in the past. The challenge is there's so much to do. There's a lot of activity and many projects to keep track of, and we have to figure out how to prioritize our resources and maximize our effectiveness.
Regarding support for projects that preserve, restore and reuse existing and historic buildings, we just started our historic preservation grant programs. We’ve also held workshops where people can learn about things they can do to preserve historic buildings, and we’ve given awards to people who are helping with restoration.
Looking forward to the next 50 years, what issues or challenges do you predict the Madison Trust may encounter, and how do you think they can be surmounted?
I think the biggest challenge is trying to take advantage of all the opportunities that are out there. The fact that our tours are so popular shows that there are probably more people that would like to take tours if we had more capacity. In the advocacy area, I think we can think about ways to do more and be more effective, but it’s a matter of keeping track of all the things that are going on and prioritizing our effort so we have the biggest impact we can. I think there are plenty of opportunities out there. The challenge is to mobilize our resources and attract more volunteers. When I look at everything that’s going on, our volunteers are doing a heck of a lot, but there are opportunities to do a lot more. So I think for the next 50 years, it’s a matter of expanding on the groundwork we’ve laid in the last 50 years.
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What’s the most important thing people should know about the Madison Trust?
First, it’s important work. People appreciate the work we do. Sometimes people think we’re opposed to all development, and that’s not the case at all. We understand that Madison is changing and developing, and that’s a good thing. That’s been a constant throughout our history. We want to support development that’s going to bring in increased housing and jobs, but we also want to make sure the best elements of the past are preserved. I think most people who live here or visit here feel the same way.
Also, historic preservation is not just talking about a few grand mansions or important civic buildings. Those are important, but it’s also important to preserve neighborhoods and streets, like State Street, and to preserve landscapes. All of those are things that give Madison its character. It’s not just the fanciest mansions; it’s a lot of middle-class or working-class homes and neighborhoods that give us our character. So we need to think about preserving those types of places and not just a few architecturally grand buildings.
Another thing people should know about the Madison Trust is it’s easy to get involved as a volunteer. We have so many opportunities for things people could do as volunteers. You could lead tours as a docent; you could support tours in other ways. We’ve got an events committee that always does an outstanding job, but we could always use more people to help in that area. We just formed a communications and community engagement committee last year, and there are lots of opportunities to help get the word out. We had an article in the Wisconsin State Journal and in Madison Magazine and a feature on Spectrum News, and those are the result of that committee’s efforts. We can always use more help in the advocacy area.
I think sometimes people may think we don’t need volunteers because there’s a lot going on, and they don’t realize we need a constant stream of volunteers to keep things going on. Sometimes people might think they need specialized knowledge, and that’s not the case. You just need an interest in history and architecture. Volunteering is a great opportunity to learn about Madison, to meet interesting people, to have fun and feel good about what we’re doing.