August 2024 - VRA Board Buzz
Ciao! How’s your August? Is it a busy time?
Have you ever been curious about how the Board manages VRA’s finances?
As mentioned on the History page of VRA website, VRA emerged from meetings of visual resource curators in the late 1960s. Since its inception, VRA has been dedicated to uniting professionals with specialized technical expertise and knowledge in areas such as art making, art history, museum practices, and cultural studies, to support each other and develop best practices. VRA supports a highly select group of cross-disciplinary professionals who explore topics that extend beyond the scope of established groups like libraries, archives, museums, and digital asset management organizations.
As a non-profit organization, VRA is primarily funded by membership dues, donations, and investment earnings. Currently, membership dues alone do not cover the costs of essential services we offer to our community, including awards, grants, workshops, publications, and more.
Each spring, the Board reviews the budget plan prepared by the Treasurer, making decisions based on the previous year’s expenses and requests from committees and groups. Naturally, current financial trends play a significant role in shaping these decisions. The Board aims to keep expenses reasonably low, directing funds to key areas that sustain VRA’s operations and special projects. While budget requests to support members’ initiatives are welcomed, the Board remains cautious to avoid jeopardizing VRA’s financial stability. It’s a balancing act.
The annual conference is always the largest expense for VRA. Costs include, but are not limited to, a hotel contract that includes equipment and room rentals as well as food and beverages and as well as fees for invited speakers. Although increasing registration fees significantly is an option, the Board believes it is essential to keep the conference affordable. Balancing these factors can be challenging, but ensuring the success of this annual event remains a top priority.
One important aspect of the conference is sponsorships. The Board greatly appreciates the support of conference sponsors, whose contributions alleviate financial pressure and enhance the conference program. Potential sponsors, if you have yet to complete your sponsorship, don’t worry! There are still sponsorships available for VRA 2024.
Additionally, the Board frequently explores alternative strategies to alleviate conference expenses. If you have ideas to help improve the conference, please consider joining the Conference Experience Planning Group or running for the board. The two Director for Events and Initiatives positions switch off every other year, so there is always room to get involved!
Despite the many uncertainties the Board faces, one thing is clear: your participation in the conference is valuable to both the visual resources profession and the VRA as an organization. With the 2024 conference just about two months away, there's still time to plan your trip. VRA exists to facilitate connections and growth among members who share similar professional passions, so don’t miss this annual opportunity to strengthen your network and deepen your connections with colleagues.
If conferences feel out of reach, join us for a workshop instead, or take part in a community hour with the Equitable Action Committee. Every way you engage with the community makes a difference for both you and the organization.
I hope this message offers insight into how the Board manages the conference finances. If you’re interested in more detailed financial information and specific money figures, please refer to the Treasurer’s Report for the fiscal year 2022 and 2023 by Ann McShane, or feel free to reach out to the Board. If you have ideas to assist the Board with this aspect of work, consider joining the Financial Advisory Committee also led by Ann. I also want to thank Ann and Will Fenton, our past and current Treasurers, for sharing their knowledge with me on this topic.
Best,
Xiaoli
Special thanks goes to this year’s conference sponsors:
JSTOR (ITHAKA) — Platinum Sponsor
ExLibris, Part of Clarivate — Gold Sponsor
vrcHost — Bronze Sponsor
VRA Happenings & Reminders
VRA 2024 Annual Conference Early Bird Registration Ends Soon!
The conference will be held October 8–10, 2024, at the Embassy Suites in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, MN. VRA 2024 follows a single-track hybrid conference model. Register before September 6th to take advantage of reduced Early Bird registration rates. Check out the conference website for more information. The program is available on Sched, with full descriptions of each session. If you’ve never been to Minneapolis, the Attendee Guide is a good place to start learning about the local area.
Announcing the 2024 Travel Awards Recipients!
The VRA Travel Awards Committee is pleased to announce the recipients of Travel Awards for the 2024 VRA conference in Minneapolis, MN. The application pool this year was strong and we are pleased to be able to fund eleven excellent applications. Check out the full list of recipients on the VRA blog.
Register for the Next VRA Online Regional Workshop: "How to Sustainably Utilize Drones for Research and the Classroom," Sept 27th 12-4:30PM EDT
The next workshop of the VRA 2024 Workshop Season is coming soon! Check out the full description on our website and register here. If you have any questions, please send an email to the Regional Workshop Implementation Team at vraf.rwit@gmail.com.
New for this season: VRA members will receive a nearly 25% discount on all of our workshop registration fees! For online workshops, the VRA member rate is $50 and the non-member rate is $65.
VRA Bulletin 50th Anniversary Edition Out Now!
The 50th Anniversary Edition of the VRA Bulletin (VRAB) is now available. This special edition celebrates 50 years of VRAB and all of the editors, advisors, and authors who have contributed to its legacy.