College Art Association - The CAA Annual Conference

The CAA Annual Conference

The College Art Association holds an international conference in February every year. Special events and speakers are planned for the two conferences spanning CAA's centennial year in New York in 2011 and in Los Angeles in 2012. Approximately four to six thousand members attend, depending on the location, which alternates among major cities in various regions of the United States. The convention is the largest and most important of the year for makers and interpreters of visual art and visual culture; major university and many smaller college art and art-history departments interview candidates for teaching positions at the convention, although hiring occurs all year long. In addition to such job-placement activities, several hundred programs including presentations of papers and panel discussions on diverse topics (special sessions, forums, exhibitions, media presentations, governance meetings) and social events such as receptions and dinners hosted by academic art and art history departments and allied or affiliated organizations, as well as massive book exhibits located in one of the main hotel or convention center exhibition areas, fill the convention's four days from early morning through late evening. The name CAA is often used colloquially among academics to refer to this convention (as in "Are you planning to attend CAA this year?"). Previous presenters to the conference include George Anastasios Magalios, Barry Schwabsky, and Elaine King.

The College Art Association recognizes nearly seventy Affiliated Societies. Some of these originated and largely operate outside the arena of CAA and its annual conference, like the International Association of Art Critics and the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. Others originated within CAA and generally operate at or in parallel to the annual conference, chief examples being the Visual Culture Caucus and the New Media Caucus.