Visual Research Conference Call for Co-Organizers
The Society for Visual Anthropology Board of Directors is seeking applicants for co-organizers of the 2023 Visual Research Conference to be held the 14th and 15th of November in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
We are seeking to fill two co-director positions, one junior and one senior/mid-career director, who will work alongside existing co-directors. Applicants must also be active scholars in Visual/Multimodal Anthropology and have current membership in the Society for Visual Anthropology.
We are seeking colleagues who have interest in and experience in organizing conferences and meetings, can evaluate and provide fair and supportive feedback to applicants, and lead active, thoughtful discussions. As the Conference is an incubator for visual research and works-in-progress from across the social science spectrum, we expect co-organizers to be open to all forms of multimodal work and entertain ways of incorporating proposals based on a wide variety of theories, methods, and locales. Applicants should send their CV and a cover letter to the SVA Executive Committee (visualresearchconference@gmail.com) by MAY 1, 2023.
In the cover letter applicants should detail their interest if junior faculty and experience, knowledge, and/or familiarity with the Visual Research Conference if senior and highlight their research and scholarship in Visual/Multimodal Anthropology, and discuss their vision for the Visual Research Conference during their tenure as co-organizer. We are particularly interested in applicants who offer knowledge and experience with cutting edge technologies in research and display, can offer ideas for creative and collaborative presentations, and demonstrate a means for inclusivity, community building, and mentoring.
The selected junior director will serve for three years as active organizers (with fewer duties in year one) and the mid-career senior director will serve for 2 years as organizer and serve for at least one additional (1) year as a member of the VRC Advisory Committee (an ad-hoc position on the SVA Board). Conference organizers must be committed to maintaining the spirit and format of this works-in-progress conference and offering an accepting stage for all.
Responsibilities include:
Maintain the Visual Research Conference website with updated documents, photos and other media about the conference (past, present, and future).
Work with the SVA board to announce annual call for conference submissions.
Evaluate all submissions and develop the VRC program and abstracts.
Interface with each applicant and provide formative feedback to selected presenters.
Work with SVA executive committee to identify Conference meeting room at AAA site, request appropriate A/V equipment, furniture layout, and other installation/presentation needs.
Confirm A/V needs of presenters.
Develop and distribute program and abstract for the conference
Host a VRC presenters’ dinner the evening before conference begins
Coordinate, emcee, and run the two-day conference.
The Visual Research Conference co-organizer should commit to the following work effort:
One to two hours per week in January to update website and put out call for Conference.
Three to Five hours per week to sort, review and select submissions in April.
Two to Three hours per week in May to develop draft program, work with selected presenters in editing their abstracts, etc.
Up to Two hours per week from June through August fielding questions/issues from presenters regarding on-going research.
Three to five hours per week in October editing final versions of abstracts and working with each presenter to get material into appropriate format.
Conference co-organizers, become ex-officio board members of the Society for Visual Anthropology and should expect to arrive on Monday before the AAA meetings in order to attend dinner and then host the Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday; they are also expected to attend the SVA Board Meeting as well as the SVA Business Meeting and awards Ceremony.
VRC Co-organizers will receive a $350 stipend from the SVA to cover a portion of their travel expenses to the conference locale each year. As Co-organizers are the public face of the SVA, successful applicants will be required to sign an MOU accepting responsibilities as such before taking on the role of co-organizer.
