Get ready to Elevate Your Image in Denver this March!
The Colorado members of the VRA are excited to welcome our colleagues to Denver for the 2015 VRA Conference, Elevate Your Image!
Denver City was incorporated in 1861 and became the territorial capital of Colorado six years later, when the city’s name was shortened to Denver. Mining and cattle brought prosperity to the city and both endeavors remain strong components of Denver’s and Colorado’s economies (you’ll see cattle frequently in public art around Downtown). You’ll delight at the cultural offerings brought by Denver’s twenty-first century innovation economy, most of which are within easy access of our conference hotel.
The conference hotel, the Westin Downtown, is well situated for access to museums, innovative restaurants of all price ranges and types, a variety of entertainment options, and public transportation. The Westin sits adjacent to the 16th Street Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall with free bus transportation (the Mall Ride) running along its mile length. The Mall Ride runs from the recently remodeled Union Station to the conveniently located Civic Center Bus Station near the “Golden Triangle Museum District.” A great map of Downtown is available as a pdf on the website for visitors to Denver:
http://www.denver.org/includes/content/docs/media/Downtown.pdf
You can see the Westin is almost dead center (a little up from center) on Lawrence, between 16th and 17thStreets.
Denver’s excellent bus and lightrail service make getting around town a breeze:
Take advantage of public transit to visit Denver’s diverse cultural institutions! A brief list of museums you might want to visit can be found here:
http://dusaahvmc.blogspot.com/p/vra-conference-2015.html
Denver’s nickname is the Mile High City because we are 5280 feet above sea level (a number you may see frequently during your visit!). If you find yourself a bit “breathy” using the stairs or walking around town, remember you’re a mile up! Drink lots of water and, if you feel a headache coming on, drink more water. For tips about dealing with the altitude, check out the official site for Denver visitors (which is chock full of information in general about Denver):
http://www.denver.org/about-denver/high-altitude-tips/
Colorado is also one of the few states to legalize recreational marijuana. Visitors to Colorado who are curious about this subject should check out the official Colorado website on the topic:
https://www.colorado.gov/marijuanainfodenver/
Denver is situated on the “Front Range”--the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide (the western side of the Divide is known as the Western Slope). The weather in Denver can be quite changeable (one day in early January this year the temperature rose 50 degrees from sunrise to afternoon!). Keep your eye on the weather forecast before the conference and bring layers. And bring your sunglasses—Denver gets over 300 days of sunshine a year!
The local VRA members look forward to helping the 2015 Conference attendees have a great experience in the Mile High City! If you have any concerns or questions, don’t hesitate to contact one of the local VRA members!
Heather Seneff, Co-Chair, Local Arrangements Committee
Hannah Unsderfer, Co-Chair, Local Arrangements Committee
Elaine Paul
Lynn Lickteig
Plenary speakers for Denver conference; registration begins tomorrow
Dear VRA colleagues,I am very pleased to announce the exciting plenary speakers for our upcoming 33rd Annual Conference in Denver (March 11-14, 2015). Opening speaker Aaron Straup Cope, Head of Engineering at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum and also an artist, will discuss how the New Cooper Hewitt Experience engages visitors with interactive and immersive creative technologies. Closing speaker Emily Gore, Director for Content with the Digital Public Library of America, will address the strategic vision for DPLA content and oversight of the DPLA Hub program.Kudos and many thanks to Vice President for Conference Program Steven Kowalik for coordinating these innovative thinkers' presence at our conference.See the conference website for more information about the preliminary program (including more details about our plenary speakers), accommodations, travel arrangements, and more. As you will see from the preliminary program, we have stellar sessions, workshops, meetings, and events lined up for attendees.And get ready: conference registration begins tomorrow! Keep an eye out for an e-mail with registration information.I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in the Mile High City for what promises to be an outstanding conference.Best wishes,Elaine
VRA Travel Awards November Member Challenge - final total and thank you!!!
Dear all,We are absolutely delighted to announce to you that as of theclose of play on the final day of the our challenge yesterday(November 30), the membership had donated an astonishing $1390! Thatmeans that we didn't just meet our initial target of $850, nettingthat extra travel award to fund attendance at VRA33 in Denver, but wesurpassed it by $540, meaning that we will be able to make one otherTA applicant a happy recipient of the 'Member Challenge Award'.A colossal thank you to you, the membership, for your generosity.It makes us feel proud to be members of this association.The committee has been deliberating the many strong TAapplications it has received this cycle and will be announcing theoutcome to the VRA-L in the next couple of weeks. It's great that wehave not even just one, but two other awards to bestow this year, sothank you once again.Warmest wishes,Vicky & Jeannine
GREAT NEWS! And TA Application re-opened
Good Morning VRA Members,1. We have fantastic news from the November Member Challenge - we have reached our initial goal of $850 and an additional travel award (the Luraine Tansey Memorial Travel Award) for the Denver conference (in fact we've received donations totaling $937)!!! A sincere thank you goes out to all of those members who have helped us reach this goal, your generosity is much appreciated.As per the terms of our anonymous donor, we can shoot for another $850 - that's just $763 to earn by the end of November. To help make this happen, go to the VRA Membership ‘Join’ page and select ‘Separate Donations and Chapter Membership’. Sign in to MemberClicks and enter the amount of your donation, large or small (every little helps!) in the Tansey Travel Award Donation box. If you are renewing your individual membership, you can donate via this form too.2. We are also happy to announce that we have received donations for two awards sponsored by our generous vendors. Archivision will be supporting an international travel award in the amount of $1000 and Gallery Systems will be supporting a museum professional with a travel award in the amount of $700. Thank you to Archivision and Gallery Systems!3. In light of these developments we will be re-opening the Travel Award Application this morning and will accept applications until 12:00 PM EST on Friday November 21st. If you were on the fence about applying, now is the time to take the plunge!http://goo.gl/forms/96FqOULrVOBefore you apply, PLEASE READ "Travel Award Rules, Guidelines and Tips” for VRA Travel Awards Applicants, and "Types of Travel Awards", both linked here as PDFs.Again a sincere thank you goes out the membership and our travel award sponsors. We look forward to seeing you at a great conference in Denver!!!Jeannine and Vicky