Check out: the Visual Resources Association Annual Conference in Providence, RI on Storify!

While Providence is a small city, it benefits from being located in the transportation-rich region of the Northeast Corridor, just an hour south of Boston. For its midyear meeting last summer, VRA Executive Board officers scattered about the country used a variety of travel methods—planes, trains, city bus, etc.—all without incident.

Getting to Providence by air:

PROVIDENCE (PVD)

Theodore Francis Green (TF Green) International Airport (http://www.pvdairport.com/), is located about ten minutes south of downtown Providence, in the suburb of Warwick. Ground transportation options include both taxi (around $35 one way) and public bus transportation ($2 cash fare one way) with both express and local routes to Kennedy Plaza directly adjacent to the Providence Biltmore. Again, please look to the conference blog for further details and links.

BOSTON (BOS)

This past summer I had the pleasure of visiting Providence for the first time. Getting there from the west coast was surprisingly easy and fun. I had never been to Boston before, and that was on my list of cities to see, so I arranged to fly into Boston’s Logan International Airport (www.massport.com/logan-airport/) and spend time exploring Boston before heading to Providence by train.

Flying into Boston was cheaper (at least $100 cheaper) from the west coast than flying into Providence’s Theodore Francis Green (TF Green) Airport (PVD) and I was able to fly non-stop, whereas flying from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to TF Green required at least one stop. Mark assures me that PVD offers competitive airfares (he’s opted to use Boston Logan just twice out of dozens of itineraries) so it will boil down to your origin city and travel preferences.

From Logan Airport you can take the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Silver Line from the airport to Boston’s South Station (http://www.south-station.net/) where you can connect to subways, buses and trains (the Silver Line is actually a city bus and is free of charge outbound from the airport to South Station). I took an Amtrak from South Station to Providence for around $15 because of my schedule, but the Boston Commuter Rail extends to the downtown Providence train station for half that price. The station is then only a short walk from the Providence Biltmore.

NEW YORK CITY (NYC)

It’s also possible to plan your trip to Providence by way of New York City and take a bus from the Port Authority or train from Penn Station to Providence. The Amtrak from New York to Providence can be pricey ($50-$125 one way) so you might consider Megabus or Peter Pan ($3-$15 one way).

So many affordable options! Rest assured, once you’ve encamped at the Providence Biltmore to join your colleagues at VRA2013 in Providence, Rhode Island, the only transport required will be of the pedestrian variety. I look forward to seeing you there!
John

Three R.I. restaurants make OpenTable’s ‘Top 100’ list

JetBlue kicks off service at T.F. Green

JetBlue adds service to T.F. Green

This is to announce that the deadline for this year’s VRA travel awards has been extended until Monday December 3, 10am EST. We look forward to receiving applications from amongst the well-deserving VRA membership!

Full details are once more copied below:

Visual Resources Association Conference Travel Awards 2013

VRA Travel Awards are available for attendance at the 2013 VRA conference “Capitalizing on Creativity” in Providence, Rhode Island April 3-6. The deadline for receipt of applications will be Monday, December 3, 10 am EST. The list of recipients will be announced on the VRA listserv the third week of December.

A preliminary conference schedule with a listing of workshops and sessions has already been posted at: http://vra2013annualconference.sched.org and information about costs is posted here: http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/vra31/registration/

Before you apply, PLEASE READ “Travel Award Rules and Guidelines”, “Tips for VRA Travel Awards Applicants”, and “Types of Travel Awards”, all linked here as PDFs: http://www.vraweb.org/about/awards/index.html#travel

THE APPLICATION

The form is also linked from the What’s New on the VRA homepage.

You do not need to be a member of the VRA to apply for a travel award, but please note that upon winning an award an applicant who is not a member of VRA must purchase a membership, with the option to use funding from the travel award to do this. This year by removing the membership requirement for all applicants, we hope to draw more interest and expand membership.

In order to allow funding to go further, Tansey awards will be distributed according to financial need i.e. full awards (up to $850) may be given to some, whilst lower amounts may be awarded to others with partial institutional/ other support.

For 2013, we are fortunate to have generous financial support from sponsors and funds provided by the membership:

* The Archivision award of $1000 for a international attendee and/or a media professional in an architecture library or program
* The Gallery Systems award of $750 for a media professional in a museum environment
* The Davis Art Images award of $250 for a conference attendee with partial funding
* The Kathe Hicks Albrecht award of $850 for a first-time conference attendee
* Two New Horizons awards of $850 each. These awards are aimed at members in the following categories: solo VR professionals, part-time VR professionals, geographically isolated VR professionals, VR professionals in smaller institutions, and/or first-time attendees
* The Joseph C. Taormina Memorial award of $250 for an applicant with partial funding
* A New Horizons student award of $300, for a full-time student enrolled in an accredited degree program and considering a career in visual resources
* $4800 in Tansey fund awards ranging from $250 to $850 each

Stay tuned and watch VRA-L and the VRA website for further details about the conference. Please email if you have any questions not answered by the documents noted above.

So don’t delay – apply today!

We look forward to receiving your applications,

Heidi Eyestone & Vicky Brown
Co-Chairs, VRA Travel Awards Committee

Providence’s South Main Street features slower paced shopping

The Travel Awards Committee is very pleased to announce Archivision has sponsored a travel award of $1,000 for an international applicant and/or an architectural image librarian to attend the annual conference “Capitalizing on Creativity” in Providence, Rhode Island April 3-6, 2013.  Thank you for making this possible, Archivision!

If you haven’t done so already, please go to the conference website to check out the program http://vra2013annualconference.sched.org and information about costs http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/vra31/registration/
http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/vra31/accommodations/

The deadline for receipt of applications will be Monday, November 26, 10 am EST.
Before you apply, PLEASE READ “Travel Award Rules and Guidelines”, “Tips for VRA Travel Awards Applicants”, and “Types of Travel Awards”, all linked here as PDFs: http://www.vraweb.org/about/awards/index.html#travel

THE APPLICATION

The form is also linked from the What’s New section on the VRA homepage.

You do not need to be a member of the VRA to apply for a travel award, but please note that upon winning an award an applicant who is not a member of VRA must purchase a membership, with the option to use funding from the travel award to do this.

So if you’re working in a foreign country (including Canada!) or are an image professional working in an architectural program, don’t delay – apply today!

Good luck,

Heidi Eyestone & Vicky Brown
Co-Chairs, VRA Travel Awards Committee

Boston’s Best Airport Bars

Cheers!

We are very pleased to announce Gallery Systems has sponsored a $750 travel award for a media professional working in a museum environment to attend the annual conference “Capitalizing on Creativity” in Providence, Rhode Island April 3-6, 2013.  This will be Gallery System’s 9th year for sponsoring a travel award to the VRA Annual Conference.  Thank you, Gallery Systems!

If you haven’t done so already, please go to the conference website for to look at the program http://vra2013annualconference.sched.org and information about costs http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/vra31/accommodations/
http://www.vraweb.org/conferences/vra31/registration/

The deadline for receipt of applications will be Monday, November 26, 10 am EST.
Before you apply, PLEASE READ “Travel Award Rules and Guidelines”, “Tips for VRA Travel Awards Applicants”, and “Types of Travel Awards”, all linked here as PDFs: http://www.vraweb.org/about/awards/index.html#travel

HERE’S THE LINK TO THE APPLICATION:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEM1Zkdsdlo2dGZ1TEJRN3hGQWxjR2c6MQ#gid=0

The form is also linked from the What’s New on the VRA homepage.

You do not need to be a member of the VRA to apply for a travel award, but please note that upon winning an award an applicant who is not a member of VRA must purchase a membership, with the option to use funding from the travel award to do this.

So if you’re a media professional working in a museum or collection, don’t delay – apply today!

Good luck,

Heidi Eyestone & Vicky Brown
Co-Chairs, VRA Travel Awards Committee