TORONTO — The 47 nominees for the 48th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards are being recognized for their extraordinary contributions to Toronto’s heritage in three categories: Public History, Book and Built Heritage.
There are 15 nominees for the Public History award including: Stories and Storefronts, an art exhibition on the culture, history, and geography of immigrant shopkeeping that featured the work of four artists who activated shop windows on the Danforth with sculpture, sound, and social practice; and Queer Spaces, a research project and public education campaign by the Toronto Society of Architects that shared the relationship between Toronto’s 2SLGBTQ+ community and the built environment. Also vying for the award is A Big Vision for Little Jamaica, a Black cultural history and mapping project for the city’s first Cultural District. Two awards will be presented in this category, including the Peoples Choice Award selected by event attendees and Heritage Toronto supporters.
Among the seven projects in the Built Heritage category are the revitalization of the Clark Centre for the Arts, a new cultural facility at the Guild Park and Gardens that houses specialized art studios and gallery spaces in a complex comprised of a new contemporary addition set back and rotated away from the historic 1964 building previously used for storage; the reimagining of an academic library with Robarts Common, a transformation of the 1973 Brutalist architecture with a transparent counterpoint that provides increased accessibility, modern study space, and a layout that encourages social interaction; and the restoration and renovation of the Victory Building at 80 Richmond St., a conservation project that reinterpreted the original Art Deco design of the 1929 office building and addressed unsympathetic alterations made during the late 1980s, the release adds. Three awards will be presented in the category.
One of this year’s 25 Book Award nominees is Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy, an investigation by Josh O’Kane into the Sidewalks Labs proposal for a high-tech neighbourhood on Toronto’s waterfront. Another nominee is The Underground Railroad: Next Stop, Toronto!, a collection of stories, based on original research, featuring the courageous men, women and children who overcame barriers of prejudice and racism to create homes, institutions, and a rich and vibrant community life in Canada’s largest city, states the release.
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