WORLD CONGRESS ON ART DECO®
A BRIEF HISTORY
The World Congress on Art Deco® is held under the auspices of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies (ICADS).
Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) founder Barbara Baer Capitman created the concept for the World Congress on Art Deco® in 1989. In January 1990 she conducted an 'organizing symposium' to insure the planned inauguration and launch of a series of such World Congresses. Barbara died in 1990. MDPL hosted the first World Congress on Art Deco® in Miami Beach, Florida in January 1991 during the annual Art Deco Weekend®. This was appropriate since Miami Beach was the first area in the world to recognise and take steps to protect a Twentieth Century historic district with Art Deco as the hallmark style.
The response to the World Congress was so enthusiastic that MDPL licensed it as a biannual event giving the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies (ICADS) the authority to vote on future sites for the Congresses.
The ICADS adopted a policy of alternating between U.S. host cities and sites around the world. The congresses have been held
in the following locations:
1991 – Miami Beach, Florida, USA
1993 - Perth, Western Australia
1995 - London and Brighton, England
1997 - Los Angeles, California, USA
1999 - Napier, New Zealand
2001 - Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
2003 - Cape Town, South Africa
2005 - New York, New York, USA
The World Congress on Art Deco is a registered trademark of the Miami Design Preservation League, Inc, of Miami, Florida, USA. All rights reserved worldwide.
