ACO announces return of annual Symposium in Toronto on September 29

The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) has announced the return of their annual Symposium this September.

Each year, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario’s Toronto Branch hosts a symposium that aims to explore current heritage ideas. This year’s symposium will examine the phenomenon of Intangible Heritage—or heritage that is distinct from built form.

In the past, themes have included Housing and Heritage, Main Streets, Modernist Schools, and Demolition.

This year’s event is set to take place on September 29, 2024, and will be hosted at the Cecil Community Centre in Toronto, Ont.

“Intangible Heritage can relate to traditions, activities, commerce, communities, identities, and storytelling. There’s a sense in which all heritage has intangible elements,” reads the event page. “While it certainly has relationships with physical spaces, what makes Intangible Heritage different from built heritage is that its significance lies outside traditional evaluations of architectural merit. It is use, not aesthetics, that defines Intangible Heritage.”

The first panel will feature speakers including Lisa Prosper, Cultural Landscapes and Indigenous Heritage, Dane Williams, Black Urbanism, and Chiyi Tam, Chinatowns. The second panel will feature Sneha Mandhan, Suburban Banquet Halls, Nicholas Jennings, Music Venues, and Michael McClelland, The Church-Wellesley Village.

For 91 years, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario has protected, documented, and conserved culturally and historically significant sites throughout the province and created educational programming that makes that heritage more accessible.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

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