LREDA Fall Conference 2023: Make a Joyful Noise! Celebrate / Play / Resist

 Wed October 11th (Evening) - Sun October 15th (Lunchtime)

Join UU religious education colleagues from across the continent for our 2023 Fall Conference: Make A Joyful Noise! Celebrate / Play / Resist in Milwaukee, WI, from October 11th - 15th at the lovely Hilton Milwaukee City Centre in downtown Milwaukee. 

Celebrate the power of rest, play, and resistance through multi-platform worship, workshops, and identity programming that helps us engage with some of the most pressing issues in UU religious education today: creating spaces for meaningful & joyful connection, leading for anti-racism in majority-white spaces, and supporting LGBTQIA+ families & resisting anti-trans legislation. 

Curated rest & play spaces for IBPOC attendees, and trans attendees, respectively, will be open while those with majority identities are learning. Social and spiritual time together rounds out our annual conference, along with the UU Identity Renaissance Module offered immediately following the conference. See you in Milwaukee or on Zoom!

Pre-conference programming takes place during the day on Wed 11th: LREDA Small, LREDA Large, IBPOC meet-Up, and First Time Meet & Greet.

A UU Identity Renaissance Module will be held on Sunday afternoon to Monday lunchtime after the conference.

Register and Pay before May 31st for the best rates:

In-Person Rates:

• Early Registration (before May 31st): $450
• Regular Registration (between June 1st - Aug 30th): $500
• Late Registration (after Sept 1st): $550

• Early Registration (before May 31st): $175
• Regular Registration (between June 1st - Aug 30th): $200
• Late Registration (after Sept 1st): $225

The Hilton in Milwaukee

Location: Hilton Hotel, 509 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53203

Where possible please stay at the hotel, and use the LREDA Booking Portal. Staying at the conference hotel helps us fulfill our contract with the hotel and ensures we don’t have to pay additional fees for use of the conference space. Book before Sept 15th.

Pay for the Conference here

To pay by check, make the check payable to LREDA, and mail it to 284 Hartford Ave #1002, Bellingham, MA, 02019. 

Email Juliet (admin@lreda.org) to request an invoice.

October 12-16 2022

Content from last year's conference, including all presentations, worship services, and slides, are shared in the LREDA Member Resources Portal under 8th Principle Resources. To access this site you need to be a member of LREDA.

This conference was a deep dive into the work of the 8th Principle, grounded in Civil Rights History and included a visit to the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration

We had a great team of presenters and worship leaders. Our presenters were Dr. Paula Cole Jones and  Sheila Schuh. Rev. Denise Graves was our Spiritual Care Director, supporting our members through the conference. Beverly Horton and the Rev. Chris Long lead our worship services.

The conference content supported Religious Educators in their individual and congregational anti-racism and anti-oppression work. We engaged with strategies to dismantle white supremacy within our Unitarian Universalist spaces, and where our power lies to create a Unitarian Universalism where faith can be made real.

Religious Educators who are Black, Indigenous, and other members of the Global Majority were affirmed into a LREDA community of support, encouragement, and learning. 

White Religious Educators were challenged and stretched in their places of power and privilege.

Intentional space was made for people of all identities to process the feelings that arose during this conference. 

The LREDA Board committed to offering a conference that centered liberation, love and community care rooted in our Unitarian Universalist faith.

Courtney McKenny - LREDA Board Member at Large - Continental Events

Mx Katharine Childs - Fall Con Planning Chair and President Elect

Eleanor Van Deusen - LREDA Conference Planning team

About the Legacy Museum

This year the conference included a visit to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, AL on Thursday 13th October.

The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration is situated on a site in Montgomery where Black people were forced to labor in bondage. Blocks from one of the most prominent slave auction spaces in America, the Legacy Museum is steps away from the rail station where tens of thousands of Black people were trafficked during the 19th century.