Announcing the VRA 2025 Travel Awards! ✈

We are delighted to announce that VRA Travel Awards are available for attendance at the 2025 VRA conference in Portland, Oregon, October 7-9, 2025! The application submission deadline is August 22 at 11:59 pm EDT​. The list of recipients will be announced on the VRA listserv the week of September 1. Contact our committee at travelawards@vraweb.org with any questions.
The conference schedule can be found on Sched, here. To assist with budgeting, please review the conference fee overview under the registration section of our conference site.

Before you apply, PLEASE READ "Travel Award Rules and Guidelines” for VRA Travel Awards Applicants. You do not need to be a member of the VRA to apply for a Travel Award. 

Travel Awards Application

Please also note that award checks are scheduled to be mailed to recipients after the Awards ceremony at the conference and as such, recipients will not have acce​ss to those funds ​ahead of the conference to set against travel expenses. 

Travel Awards are intended to provide partial support for an individual's conference attendance, and typically supplement support from one's employer and/or personal resources​. 

For 2025, we are fortunate to have generous financial support from sponsors and funds provided by the membership including: 

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Award: up to $1,000

Earmarked for applicants from underrepresented and underserved communities, which may include but is not limited to: neurodiversity, persons with (in)visible disabilities, gender identity, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, socioeconomic status, religion, sex, age.

New Horizons award: $825

Earmarked for applicants in one or more of the following categories:  first-time conferee, solo, part-time, or geographically isolated practitioner.

Kathe Hicks Albrecht award: $850 

This award is earmarked for a first-time conference attendee. 

Tansey awards: $1000-$400 each

These awards are intended for applicants with insufficient (or no) institutional support from their employer or academic program.

Tansey Top-Up awards

These awards are intended for applicants who have demonstrated need for only partial support on top of other funding (typically from employers or graduate programs).  

New Horizons Student award: $300

Earmarked for a currently enrolled student.

Garneta E. Taormina Memorial Student Travel award: $300

For full-time graduate students enrolled in an accredited degree program and considering a career in visual resources and/or digital humanities. 

More awards may become available and will be announced on this listserv. Also, stay tuned and watch VRA-L and the VRA website for further details about the conference. Please email (travelawards@vraweb.org) if you have any questions not answered by the documents noted above. 

So don't delay - apply today!

VRA 2025: Registration is now open!

The Visual Resources Association 2025 Conference Registration is now open! Register now to take advantage of reduced Early Bird registration rates, and join us October 7–9 on-site at the The Porter Portland in downtown Portland, Oregon. Check out the conference website for more information. The program is available on Sched, with full descriptions of each session.

New this year: If you're unable to join us in person, our virtual pre-conference offers diverse programming at a relaxed pace on both Wednesday, October 3 and Friday, October 5. All registration options include access to the virtual pre-conference. You may also register for the virtual pre-conference only. There are no hybrid or virtual events during the in-person conference.

Register for Conference

❓Questions about the registration form? Please contact Membership Services Coordinator Lise Hawkos at join@vraweb.org if you need help completing your registration.

📢 For Speakers & Volunteers

All speakers must register for the conference ahead of time. If you are attending the full conference, you are eligible for $50 off full conference registration. When you register, you will use the same registration form as all other conference attendees. When you get to the end of the form where it says “How would you like to pay?” please select “Invoice Me” from the list, then click on the “Pay Later” button. Please ignore the first automatically-generated invoice you receive immediately after registering — Membership Services Coordinator Lise Hawkos will add your discount and send you an updated invoice to complete your payment. 

If you have questions about your eligibility for this discount, please contact initiatives@vraweb.org. Please note, this discount is only applicable for full conference registrations. If you are only attending the day of your presentation, you may register for a day pass.

🏢 Ready to book your stay? To reserve a room at The Porter Portland at the a special VRA Conference rate of $145 (+taxes and fees) per night, use the VRA 2025 Annual Conference Booking Link. Be sure to make your reservation before Monday, September 15, 2025 to secure this rate (subject to availability).

VRA 2025: Call for Poster Proposals

The annual conference of the Visual Resources Association (VRA) is happening October 7–9 in Portland, Oregon. This in-person conference will begin with a virtual pre-conference the week before (on October 1 and 3), allowing more opportunities for engagement. A poster session presents a topic using visual aids in conjunction with direct interaction with conference attendees. Posters can depict workplace initiatives, research in progress, and other topics of contemporary interest.

The VRA Conference Planning Committee welcomes applications for both in-person and virtual poster presenters.

Application deadline: Monday, July 7, 11:59 p.m. PDT

Apply here: https://forms.gle/PWp6ztcnpgHzfz2n8

In-Person Posters (Print or Digital Formats)

For the in-person poster session, accepted applicants may choose to print their own poster or to display a digital poster of up to 3 slides. During the Community Happy Hour event on Wednesday, October 8, presenters will have the chance to discuss their posters with other conference attendees.

Poster presenters are responsible for printing their materials and mounting them in the display area at the conference ahead of the scheduled viewing time. If using presentation slides, presenters will need to bring their own laptops. Easels and tables will be provided.

Virtual Posters (PDF)

For those unable to travel to Portland, consider submitting a digital poster for the virtual pre-conference! PDF posters of up to three pages will be shared with pre-conference attendees about a week before the event, allowing them to peruse colleagues’ projects on their own time. The pre-conference will include a Virtual Social Hour event on Zoom on October 3, where poster presenters will have the opportunity to discuss their work (on video or via chat) and answer any questions.

Suggested poster topics include:

• Community outreach

• Copyright/intellectual property

• Digital asset management, digital curation, digital preservation, etc.

• Digitization (workflows, digital capture and imaging technologies)

• Digital scholarship and digital humanities

• Diversity, equity, inclusion, cultural competencies, social justice

• Project management (communication, grant writing, prioritization, leadership, etc.)

• Linked data

• Materials/Objects collections

• Metadata/Cataloging ethics (decolonizing vocabularies, radical cataloging)

• Technologies (GIS and mapping, 3D imaging, etc.)

• Tools: open source, evolution, future trends

• Workplace cultures and professional transitions (academic departments, libraries, cultural heritage institutions, archives, corporate, etc.)

This is not an exhaustive list! All ideas are welcome and will be carefully reviewed.

Please contact initiatives@vraweb.org with any questions. We look forward to seeing your work!

Announcing the VRA 2025 Portland Artist!

We are excited to share this year's conference artist, K. Fry Draws! Fry (she/they) is a graphic recorder, illustrator, and educator who believes images are a powerful tool for creating positive change. Her interest in visual work is founded in an appreciation for deeper levels of listening, cultivating new mindsets, and allowing space for people to be creative. She is currently based in Portland, Oregon. All conference attendees will receive a tote bag featuring this year’s art.

VRA 2025: Call for Proposals Deadline Extended!

Great News: The Call for Proposals Deadline Has Been Extended!

If you need more time to develop your idea for VRA 2025, you’re in luck! The deadline for submissions has been extended to Monday, April 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm PDT. 

👉 View the Call for Proposals

👉 Submit a Proposal 

This year’s Annual Conference will be held at the Porter Hotel in Portland, OR, October 7–9, 2025, and we want YOU to be part of it! Whether you’re a longtime VRA member, a first-time attendee, a student, or a seasoned professional, this is your chance to share your knowledge, spark meaningful discussions, and connect with an engaged community.

Bring your expertise, challenges, and insights to the table—whether it’s about metadata, digital scholarship, copyright, storytelling, workplace culture, or something entirely new. We encourage you to take advantage of this extension and submit a proposal for a lightning talk, session, panel, workshop, or discussion. 

💡 Need a little inspiration? Check out past conference schedules or connect with colleagues on our Virtual Whiteboard, a collaborative space to brainstorm, refine ideas, and find potential co-presenters. Don’t miss this opportunity to share your work, spark new conversations, and help shape the future of our field. Submit your proposal today!

🗓️ Schedule:

April 7, 11:59 pm PDT: Extended Call for Proposals closes

On or around May 12: Notification of final decisions

On or around June 2: Tentative programs released

For questions, reach out to initiatives@vraweb.org. We can’t wait to see what you bring to VRA 2025!

VRA seeks partner to create design 2025 Annual Conference in Portland, OR

Objective

The Visual Resources Association (VRA) seeks a partner to create a design for the Association’s 2025 Annual Conference in Portland, OR, October 7–9, 2025.

About the VRA

The VRA was founded in 1972 as a professional association for visual resources curators working with collections of 35mm slide and photograph collections at universities and cultural heritage institutions. 

Today’s VRA is a multi-disciplinary, international non-profit organization dedicated to furthering research and education in the field of media management within the educational, cultural heritage, and commercial environments. The Association offers a forum for issues of vital concern to the field of digital and analog curation, including: preservation of and access to media of visual culture; cataloging and classification standards and practices; integration of technology-based instruction and research; digital humanities; intellectual property policy; visual literacy and other topics of interest to the field. Through collaboration, partnership, and outreach with the broader information management, educational, and scholarly communities, the Association actively supports the primacy of visual information in documenting and understanding humanity’s shared cultural experience.

Recent surveys of the membership indicate that the VRA community is known for its collegiality and emphasis on practical knowledge.

Project Description

The design should communicate both the VRA’s identity and the character of the host city. The illustration will be used in electronic media related to the conference, including the Association’s social media, website, email communications, and slide deck templates. The illustration will also be printed on a tote bag and other promotional materials (e.g. stickers or buttons) given to all conference registrants.

The following deliverables are desired by May 2, 2025:

• Screen printing-optimized files for Enviro-Tote’s Economist Tote (10” x 10” imprint area): maximum of 5 colors preferred

• Web-optimized files appropriate for website and social media use (e.g. 1584x396 Linkedin background, 2880x953 conference website banner, 1080x1080 Instagram post)

• Hi-res vector format files

• Sufficient logo variations to meet the format limitations of most use cases

Interested artists should provide their rates for design services that encompass the project description and desired deliverables. Please reach out to initiatives@vraweb.org with any questions.

VRA 2025: Call for Proposals opens January 27!

The Visual Resources Association invites proposals for our 2025 Annual Conference, to be held at the Porter Hotel in Portland, OR, October 7–9, 2025. The submission deadline is Friday, March 14, 2025, at 11:59 pm PDT.

View the full call for proposals

Whether you are a current member or a potential attendee, we encourage you to reflect on your experiences, ideas, and expertise. We encourage submissions from VRA members and non-members, seasoned attendees and first-timers, as well as students, early-career, mid-career, and senior professionals.

Please direct any questions about the submission process to VRA’s Directors for Events & Initiatives at initiatives@vraweb.org. 

VRA 2025: Conference Format

As we look ahead to VRA 2025, we are excited to announce a carefully considered shift in the structure for our upcoming annual conference. 

Five years since the onset of the pandemic, the landscape of large-scale conferences has profoundly transformed. Priorities have shifted, placing greater emphasis on health and safety, accessibility, affordability, and environmental sustainability. These changing expectations have inspired us to reimagine how we structure our conferences to better serve our community.

Over the past three years, the VRA Annual Conference has embraced a hybrid model, accommodating virtual and in-person attendance with a mix of in-person and remote presenters. However, in 2025, we are embarking on a new approach to enhance the experience for all participants.

VRA 2025 will feature two distinct components: virtual pre-conference programming held a week prior to the main event, followed by three days of on-site conference programming at the Porter Hotel in Portland, OR.

On-site conference attendees will automatically be registered for the virtual pre-conference, and folks unable to attend on-site will have the option to register for the virtual pre-conference programming separately. 

This change is designed to ensure flexibility and accessibility while creating a more engaging experience. It will also lessen the burden on both our organization’s finances and the volunteers who make this event possible. Furthermore, by separating virtual and on-site programming, we aim to avoid the challenges posed by the hybrid model, which often leads to a fragmented experience for both in-person and virtual participants.

To help us in this effort, we invite you to share your feedback through an anonymous survey. Your voice matters, and we want to hear from you as we work toward a more inclusive and engaging conference. Click here to access the feedback form.

Working together, we can design a conference experience that adapts to the evolving expectations of our field for 2025 and beyond.

Please direct any questions about the conference format to VRA’s Directors for Events & Initiatives at initiatives@vraweb.org.