ortheast Regional Honors Council
2025 Conference Speakers
2025 Keynote Speaker
Lenwood Sloan
Lenwood (Leni) Sloan
serves as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Monument Project which preserves, conserves, and rededicates historic and cultural monuments throughout the state. In that capacity, he spearheaded the placement of the first monument in the United States dedicated to the 15th and 19th amendments at Pennsylvania’s Capitol.
He is co-chair of the building committee for the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Smith Center for History and Democracy targeted to open in Lancaster in October, 2025.
Sloan served as Pennsylvania Governor Wolf’s appointee to the Commonwealth Capitol Preservation Committee (CPC). In addition, he was a founding board member for The African American Irish Diaspora Network (AAIDN).
In addition, Sloan has provided stewardship as a member of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAFA), the Pennsylvania Downtown Association (PDA), the Lancaster (Pa.) Heritage Society (LHS), the Lancaster (Pa.) Public Arts Program. (LPAP), the Harrisburg Sprocket Mural Project, and is co-convenor and moderator of Lancaster: ARTS TALK!
Sloan is well known across the U.S. as a catalytic agent, animator, and facilitator of cultural and heritage programs. His artistic credits include creating the “Art in the Marketplace” programs for the Rouse Corporation in New Orleans, St. Louis, Boston, and Baltimore. In addition, he participated as a movement specialist on the artistic team for the film12 Years A Slave, and four national public television documentaries, Treme - Untold Story, Emmy award winning Ethnic Notions, Stephen Foster, and the Emmy award winning Dance Black America.
Sloan was guest artist with the International “Silk-Road” Project for PBS and Irish Public Television released in fall of 2024.
For over 30 years, Sloan collaborated with the renowned late Dr. Mick Moloney presenting programs, concerts and masterclasses on the convergence, contributions, and conflicts of Black and Irish experiences in the United States. Their collaboration took the pair from New York to San Francisco and Cuba to Limerick, Ireland.
Two Roads Diverge, a film about their collaboration premiered October 28-29, 2024 at New York’s Irish Repertory Theater.
2025 City as Text Speaker
Frank Grumbine
Frank Grumbine is the Central Pennsylvania Community Preservation Coordinator for the State Historic Preservation Office. Frank provides technical assistance to communities and municipalities about preserving historic places, cultural resources, and community identity. Prior to this position, Frank was the historic preservation specialist for the City of Harrisburg where he managed the City’s municipal historic preservation program. Frank has experience in historic preservation planning, landscape conservation, rehabilitation construction, zoning reform, building science, and public policy. Frank is a graduate of Shippensburg University and is a lifelong resident of Central Pennsylvania.
Artist Talk
Jeff Copus
Jeff Copus is an award-winning artist, educator, and public art producer. In 2014, he co-founded Sprocket Mural Works, a nonprofit that collaborates with neighborhoods, artists, and organizations to create vibrant community murals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Sprocket seeks to nurture community pride and civic engagement through creative action. In 10 years, Sprocket has completed 150 murals and public art installations in the central Pennsylvania region.
As an artist, Jeff has personally created 20 murals and public art pieces around the Harrisburg area. His paintings have been displayed in galleries around the region including the Susquehanna Art Museum and the Art Association of Harrisburg. As an author, his published works include a chapter on using art as a form of resistance to address community blight and a mural how-to manual.
Jeff teaches Visual Arts at Harrisburg Academy, an International Baccalaureate Continuum School. He previously taught classes at Penn State Harrisburg and York College. He received an MA in Communications from Penn State Harrisburg and a BS in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Jeff currently serves as the Vice President of Sprocket Mural Works, and he enjoys living with his wife and son in Harrisburg, PA.