An international group dedicated to fostering community development across a range of disciplines is making its first visit to Lexington, with plans to exchange ideas and best practices found here and far away.
The 46th annual Community Development Society (CDS) Conference will be held downtown July 19 to 22.
“We are excited to bring the world to Kentucky to experience our culture while [participants] learn about effective practices from around the world,” said Dan Kahl, a CDS board member and assistant professor in community leadership and development at the University of Kentucky.
The CDS is a nonprofit organization that supports the advancement of community development through a variety of initiatives including publications and learning opportunities.
This marks the first time the organization has visited the city for its conference. This year’s event theme is “Creativity and Culture,” and Kahl said much of the conference planning has been about looking at the role of integrating the arts into public conversation.
“We will have mobile learning workshops, which have been coordinated to highlight some of the Kentucky heritage culture and ways the arts have been integrated into communities here,” he said.
One workshop will focus on the horse culture and how it has become part of the area’s identity as well as an economic and cultural force, Kahl said.