I sat on the Organising Committee for the biennial conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, overseeing two key strands: Arts and Creative Practice and Environmental Change and the Anthropocene.
Originally slated to be held in London, England, on the 26th to 30th August, the conference pivoted to fully virtual in April as a result of the pandemic. ACHS 2020: FUTURES offered a blend of pre-recorded presentations, all available On Demand from the 12th August to the 8th September, and live Q&A sessions across the original conference dates. Alongside 138 oral sessions, 19 discussion panels and 4 poster sessions there were 6 plenary sessions across the five live dates of the conference. For full details of the conference programme, please see the conference website.
The move to virtual, and the associated lower registration fee, meant that the conference was larger and more inclusive than it would have been had it taken place as a face to face event. With over 1100 submissions accepted, the conference included over 800 presentations and attracted a significant number of non-presenting attendees.
Colin Sterling 