in Hollywood and New York, first at the NBC International Theatre (1953) and then at the NBC Century Theatre, after which the ceremony took place solely in Los Angeles. The Oscars moved to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, in 1961. By 1969, the Academy decided to move the ceremonies back to Downtown Los Angeles, this time to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Music Center. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the ceremony returned to the Shrine. In 2002, Hollywood's Dolby Theatre (previously known as the Kodak Theatre) became the presentation's current venue. Awards of Merit categories Current categories In the first year of the awards, the Best Directing award was split into two categories (Drama and Comedy). At times, the Best Original Score award has also been split into separate categories (Drama and Comedy/Musical). From the 1930s through the 1960s, the Art Direction (now Production Design), Cinematography, and Costume Design awards were likewise split into two categories (black-and-white films and color films). Prior to 2012, the Production Design award was called Art Direction, while the Makeup and Hairstyling award was called Makeup. In August 2018, the Academy announced that several categories would not be televised live, but rather be recorded during commercial breaks and aired later in the ceremony. Following dissent from Academy members, they announced that they would indeed air all 24 categories live. This followed several proposals (among them, the introduction of a Popular Film category) that the Academy had announced but did not implement. Discontinued categories Proposed categories The Board of Governors meets each year and considers new award categories. To date, the following categories have been proposed: Best Casting: rejected in 1999 Best Popular Film: proposed in 2018 for presentation at the 2019 ceremony; postponed until the 2020 ceremony at the earliest (yet to be implemented) Best Stunt Coordination: rejected every year from 1991 to 2012 Best Title Design: rejected in 1999 Special categories The Special Academy Awards are voted on by special committees, rather than by the Academy membership as a whole. They are not always presented on an annual basis. Current special categories Academy Honorary Award: since 1929 Academy Scientific and Technical Award (three different awards): since 1931 Gordon E. Sawyer Award: since 1981 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: since 1957 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award: since 1938 Academy Special Achievement Award: from 1972 to 1995,