Hello! I hope this post finds you all doing well and staying healthy and happy during this unprecedented time of challenges as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 GBAC organizers, chair Daron Duke and his team, and the GBAA Board have been hoping and waiting, waiting and hoping, but we cannot wait any longer and we finally worked out arrangements with the conference facility. So, I am sure this is a message you all expected and have been waiting for and it’s no shocker that the 2020 GBAC has been canceled due to the pandemic, or as I like to say postponed to October 13-16, 2021. So, plan for 2021 and let’s make it one of the best conferences ever. I know we are all going to need a good soiree and a time of gathering and community. Information for the 2021 GBAC will be posted on the website as it develops.
You’ll notice some changes to the website. We now have a Donation page so that you can help support your GBAA. Due to outlays for the conference, our bank account has taken a hit, which is true for many of us. But, if you can, please consider a small donation to help us keep your GBAA solvent and to support our maintenance of the website. I’ll kick it off with a $100 donation today, but even $10 helps!
We will also be developing a Sponsors page so our many gracious past, present and future sponsors can be acknowledged on our Home page and provide announcements and advertisements on the Sponsors page (in development). If you would like to become a GBAA sponsor on our website and FB pages, please contact Tammara Norton.
Finally, in my last email I announced a call for nominations for the GBAA Board. (https://greatbasinanthropologicalassociation.org/2020-gbaa-board-nominations/) Even though the conference has been postponed we will be electing new GBAA officers this fall. Check the announcement on our website for positions available. Please consider serving and giving back to the GBAA. You’ll receive an announcement in September for the election.
You know, as I reflect on my 30 years as a professional archaeologist, there is one thing that has been a foundational constant for me and a bi-annual highlight, that being the Great Basin Anthropological Conference. I gained so much as a young archaeologist from the GBAC and I continue learning and making new professional and personal acquaintances at every conference. As such, I have always looked for ways to contribute to the GBAC, giving a paper, chairing a symposium, co-chairing a conference, and serving on the Board as both vice-president and president.
If the GBAC is important to you, join me in supporting the GBAA and let’s keep the GBAC alive and well as one of the premier conferences in the Americas. We are a community, so take care of yourselves and each other and we’ll see you in Vegas in 2021. Look for updates on the web page and on Facebook.
Be Well,
F. Kirk Halford
GBAA President