2027 SPE Annual Conference Overview

Community in Contrast

When March 11-14, 2027
Where Online Event

The Society for Photographic Education

2027 National Conference
March 11-14
Minneapolis, MN 

Community in Contrast

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"When despair prevails, we cannot create life-sustaining communities of resistance." ― bell hooks, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope

For over six decades, The Society for Photographic Education has provided a network of support for photographers, artists, educators, students, curators, critics, and historians. Not only are we practitioners and scholars, members of SPE have illustrated that we are a resilient and steadfast community that will weather adversity with strength and grace.

In a sustained climate of social, political, environmental, and technological uncertainty, The Society for Photographic Education's 2027 National Conference supports a Community in Contrast to contemporary conditions of power. We foster a community that highlights diverse perspectives, recognizes our lived experience, and resists efficacy-driven models of education and art practice. As scholars, critical thinkers, image-makers, and viewers, we examine contemporary perspectives on community, addressing questions of belonging, solidarity, equity, and agency. 

SPE invites our current and prospective members to submit proposals for SPE's National Conference: Community in Contrast, taking place March 11-14th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are seeking visual presentations, workshops, panels, and other forms of inquiry that explore our communities, both chosen and inherent, and how the diversity of our educational spaces can deepen scholarly research and active learning. 

SPE will issue a two-part call for the 2027 National Conference. There will be a Call for Session Topics/Session Chairs, as well as presentations (Individual, Student, Workshops), from March 30 to May 15, 2026, followed by a second Call for Session Panel Participants from June 15 to July 31, 2026.

Community in Contrast is specifically interested in presentations and explorations in various formats, addressing but not limited to any of the following subcategories: 

Art Administration 
Art Education 
Art History 
Collaboration and Building Community Engagement
Change in the Classroom
Commercial Photography
Curatorial Studies 
Documentary Photography 
Experimental Practices
Editorial Photography 
Identity and Representation Photographic Art 
Photographic Scholarship
Place-based Investigations
Scientific Photography 
Shaping the Future 
Social Justice & Advocacy 
Studio Art 

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