The 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York has given new wind to the legacy of Susan B. Anthony and the only National Historic Landmark Museum bearing the reformer’s name is ready to welcome groups.
As the former home of Anthony and basecamp for organizing suffragist and other civil rights campaigns, the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House in Rochester hosts up to 35 attendees in its Carriage House for day-long retreats, private events and luncheons. Meetings and incentives groups will find a treasure trove of memorabilia, artifacts, furnishings and photographs, many of which will undoubtedly inspire their own brainstorming sessions. Lectures with local historians and university professors take place every Monday evening and groups can jump in on any number of professional development programs year-round. Here are three more Rochester meetings themes to consider.
Indigenous Programming
Segue into this experience after visiting the Seneca Art & Culture Center at the Ganondagan State Historic Site at the fringe of the city. Here, groups will learn about the Seneca nation, one of six Native American nations within the Iroquois Confederacy. As a matriarchal culture, the women of the Iroquois Confederacy are said to have not only inspired the work of Anthony, but the US Constitution and democracy as we know it. Attendees can peruse interactive exhibits and nature-inspired CSR projects that explore this history such as learning the cultural significance, harvesting traditions and recipes of Iroquois White Corn, and guided nature walks where the medicinal uses and spiritual significance of herbs and plants are revealed. Groups can listen to the stories of elders in a replica of a full-size 17th-century bark longhouse dwelling or break into teams for a traditional Iroquois game that is similar to baseball and dodgeball combined.
Artful Event Venues
Back in the city, ArtisanWorks, housed in a 40,000-sf art-festooned factory with eclectic event spaces (more like neighborhoods), in-house artists and more than 500,000 art pieces, recently unveiled its Casablanca Room, themed after the classic film “Casablanca.” More than a few gin-inspired cocktail receptions will likely happen in this joint. ArtisanWorks art also adorns the Hyatt Regency Rochester, which recently received a top-to-bottom renovation that better connects the property to the essence of the city. Highlights include a design refresh of the Grand Ballroom, now featuring floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Main Street, completely redesigned public spaces, diversity in dining—the 7,500-sf Morton’s The Steakhouse to global street food—and a bookable rooftop terrace.
Historic Heights
Another interesting space is the historic Alliance Building’s new 7,000-sf Ballroom on Main, which will retain its dramatic architecture while managed by the Hilton Garden Inn Rochester Downtown. The space and hotel are adjacent to the Rochester Riverside Convention Center and countless attractions and historic sites; a guided architectural heritage tour with the Landmark Society of Western New York, one of the oldest preservation organizations in the country, can help with this last one.
