ACONS LIVE!
After three years of virtual programming, the Alliance hosted its first ACONS LIVE event on Thursday, September 21 on Nantucket Sound at The Beach Club in Centerville. Lively sessions were presented throughout the day, with local experts discussing Nantucket Sound’s robust environment, tribal history, and historic value to the Cape and Islands.
Our Keynote Speaker was former State Senator Rob O’Leary.
GUEST SPEAKERS:
Karen Moore Dourdeville, Sea Turtle Research Coordinator, Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Seth Engelbourg, Naturalist Educator, Linda Loring Nature Foundation
Greg Ketchen, U.S. Coast Guard Captain, Coast Guard Heritage Museum
Zak Mertz, Executive Director, Birdsey Cape Wildlife Center
Wendy Northcross, Executive Director, JFK Hyannis Museum
Bettina Washington, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
Elizabeth York, Executive Director, Cape Cod Maritime Museum
Attendees enjoyed a Cocktail and Networking Hour, and live music performed by singer-songwriters Mark Alan Lovewell and Molly Conole.
Launched in September 2020, ACONS (A Celebration of Nantucket Sound) is an educational webinar series designed to celebrate Nantucket Sound’s exceptional environment, rich maritime and tribal history, and economic importance to the Cape and Islands. The webinars have provided free, accessible, and fun learning opportunities for individuals and families through Zoom. Each webinar features a renowned expert, who discusses one of the Sound’s unique values (i.e., the Blue Economy, marine mammals, shipwrecks, historic properties). To date, this successful series has welcomed over 3,000 registrants through 20 webinars. Our goal is to increase awareness about the Sound’s exceptional history and environment, strengthen its identity, and foster environmental stewardship.