There are two libre graphics related meetings coming up early next year. The annual Libre Graphics Meeting (in Spain this year), and something entirely new: a libre graphics track at SCaLE. How exciting!

The Libre Graphics Meeting is going to be in Seville, Spain this year. They recently published their Call for Participation and are accepting presentation and talk proposals now. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend this year, but there’s a pretty good chance some friendlier folks from the community will be! We’ll update more about who will be making it out as soon as we know, and maybe we can convince someone to run another photowalk with everyone. (On a side note, if anyone from the community is going to make it and wants a hand putting anything together for a presentation just let us know - we’re here to help.)

This year we have a neat announcement - due to some prodding from Nate Willis, we have been given a day at the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE) to hold a Libre Graphics focused track! The expo is at the Pasadena Convention Center, March 8-11, 2018.

We first had a chance to hang out with LWN editor Nate Willis during the Libre Graphics Meeting 2016 in London, and later out at the Texas Linux Fest. GIMP was able to have both Akkana Peck and myself out to present on GIMPy stuff and host a photowalk as well.

The organizer for SCaLE, Ilan, was kind enough to give us a day (Friday, March 9th) and a room for all the libre graphics artists, designers, programmers, and hackers.

You could come meet the face behind these avatars.

I will be in attendance promoting GIMP stuff in the main track, Dr. Ullah (Isaac Ullah) will hopefully be presenting, and Mica will be there (@paperdigits) as well. I’m pretty certain we’ll be holding a photowalk for attendees while we’re there - and we may even setup a nice headshot booth in the expo to take free headshots for folks.

We would love to see some folks out there. If you think you might be able to make it, or even better submit a talk proposal, please come and join us! (I was thinking about getting an AirBnB to stay in, so if folks let me know they are going to make it out we can coordinate a place to all stay together.)

The libre graphics community is thrilled to announce that a special, one-day track at SCaLE 16x will be dedicated to libre graphics software and artists. All those who work with free and open-source tools for creative graphics projects are invited to submit a proposal and join us for the day!

SCaLE 16x will take place from March 8 to 11 of 2018 in Pasadena California. Libre Graphics Day: SCaLE will take place at the main SCaLE venue on Friday, March 9.

The libre graphics track is an opportunity for teams, contributors and practitioners involved in Libre Graphics projects to share their experiences, showcase new developments, and hear new and inspiring ideas.

By libre graphics we mean “free, Libre and Open Source tools for creative uses”. Libre graphics is not just about software, but extends to standards and file formats used in creative work.

People from around the world who are passionate about Free/Libre tools and their creative applications are encouraged to submit a talk proposal. Sessions will be 30 minutes in length.

Developers, artists, and activists alike are invited. First-time presenters and established projects of all sizes are welcome to submit.

We are looking for:

Reflections and practical sessions on promoting the philosophy and use of Libre Graphics tools.

Technical presentations and workshops for developers.

Showcases of excellent work made using Libre Graphics tools.

New tools and workflows for graphics and code.

Reflections on the activities of existing Free/Libre and Open Source communities.

Please submit your proposal to graphics-cfp@socallinuxexpo.org.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me on the forum.

The deadline for submissions is January 10th, 2018, and participants will be notified by the end of January 2018.