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Introducing the ACM SIGGRAPH Rainbow Affinity Group

Jul 10, 2025 |

Formally established in May 2025, the ACM SIGGRAPH Rainbow Affinity Group seeks to connect, empower, and support LGBTQ+ individuals in the fields of computer graphics and interactive techniques. Through skill-development opportunities, mentorship, showcases, and dedicated venues for socializing, collaboration, and networking, both at the annual conference and year-round, the group fosters an inclusive and vibrant professional community.

The group’s vision is to support all individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ through inclusive mentorship and community connection. In particular, it aims to uplift emerging professionals and students as they find their voice within the broader SIGGRAPH community, while also continuing to provide more established members with a welcoming space to reconnect, celebrate, and sustain long-standing relationships.

Modeled in part after the successful model of Women in SIGGRAPH, the Rainbow Affinity Group traces its roots to 2002, when a small coalition of students and early-career professionals began organizing informal gatherings in response to the absence of visible LGBTQ+ spaces within the SIGGRAPH ecosystem. What began as a grassroots, do-it-yourself effort has since evolved into a thriving annual Birds of a Feather (BoF) meeting, drawing hundreds of attendees from across SIGGRAPH’s diverse disciplines and professional backgrounds.

Over time, the scope and inclusivity of the group have expanded significantly. Once focused primarily on gay men, the modern Rainbow Affinity Group affirms a broader spectrum of LGBTQ+ identities, reflecting the richness and complexity of queer experience today. A pivotal moment came during the 2024 Rainbow Meetup BoF, when participants, particularly students, expressed a strong desire for more sustained engagement, community-building, and formal recognition within ACM SIGGRAPH. That feedback galvanized longtime organizers to take the next step: establishing a standing affinity group dedicated to fostering a lasting and visible LGBTQ+ presence within the organization.

At a time when diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts face mounting challenges in many sectors, the Rainbow Affinity Group stands as a clear commitment to building a safe and affirming space for intersectional queer identities. Its members represent the full range of SIGGRAPH’s creative and technical community: artists, designers, engineers, storytellers, directors, and scientists. And they reflect the full spectrum of LGBTQ+ identities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, asexual, intersex, non-binary, Two-Spirit, pansexual, questioning, and others.

By establishing a sustained structure for visibility, connection, and professional development, the Rainbow Affinity Group ensures that LGBTQ+ members are not only included, but celebrated.

The Rainbow Affinity Group Chair is Jeffrey Weekley. Other committee members include AJ Christensen and Victor Zordan.

Governance Advisory Board Chair Wanted

Jul 8, 2025 |

The Governance Advisory Board (GAB) ensures that the structure, policies, and procedures of ACM SIGGRAPH are reflective of what we do, what we should be doing, and are the most effective and efficient possible. The scope of the GAB is all of ACM SIGGRAPH, both the major conferences (SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia) and all of the subunits (Standing Committees, Advisory Boards, and Affinity Groups). The GAB does not make final decisions on issues but sends them to the Executive Committee for approval. Changes are reflected either in the ACM SIGGRAPH Policy Guidelines or in the Bylaws. The ACM SIGGRAPH Chair shall always be a member of the Governance Advisory Board. The other members of GAB are either Executive Committee Directors or Chairs of other ACM SIGGRAPH units. For example, as of July 2025 the GAB consisted of the Chair-elect, Chair, Past-Chair, Past-Past-Chair, Treasurer-elect, CAG and SACAG Chairs, and the Chair of the Arts Advisory Board. The GAB has a bi-weekly Zoom meeting. Since the meetings are virtual, there is no budget associated with the GAB.

The Chair’s responsibilities are:

  • Is an ex officio member of the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee
  • Attends all EC meetings and acts as parliamentarian and advisor on policy issues.
  • Tracks all senior leadership position terms that are not tracked by the Nominations Committee (Affinity Group Chairs, Advisory Group Chairs, and Award Sub-Chairs) and reports to the Chair of EC when a term is nearing end.
  • Oversees the GAB’s compliance with ACM SIGGRAPH and ACM policies.
  • Ensures that meetings are properly planned and conducted efficiently.
  • Presents all GAB proposed policies to the ACM SIGGRAPH EC for approval.
  • Supervises and/or develops documents and policies: specifically, the Chair maintains the GAB To Do list, the Change Log for the ACM SIGGRAPH Policy Guidelines, and the annual report. The Chair will also be responsible for updating the ACM SIGGRAPH Policy Guidelines when new policies are approved.
  • Ensure that the Committee’s activities are in line with its objectives and mission.
  • In consultation with the committee shall identify initiatives, tasks, a need for subcommittees and areas for the GAB to pursue. 
  • Oversees management of GAB initiatives and ongoing projects.
  • Maintains open and frequent communication with the GAB members. The Chair shall keep GAB members informed of all important deadlines, initiatives, and other GC related information and provide updates at least quarterly.
  • In consultation with the committee shall identify the need for additional GAB members. 

Interested applicants should send their applications to project-manager@acmsiggraph.org. 

Computer Animation Festival Advisory Board Chair Wanted

Jul 8, 2025 |

The Computer Animation Festival Advisory Board (CAFAB) is composed of
past and future directors of the Computer Animation Festival from both
SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia. The CAFAB provides long term vision to
the CAF while helping to promote the SIGGRAPH Organization and
Conferences.

The Chair interacts with the CAFAB members to help with high-level
tasks and issues related to the upcoming (and future) SIGGRAPH and
SIGAsia Computer Animation Festivals. This extends to year-round
activities like the Computer Animation Festival Traveling Show.

As with other advisory groups, the CAFAB chair also interacts with
other SIGGRAPH committees on issues pertaining to the CAF.

Applicants should send their applications to project-manager@acmsiggraph.org.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst

Jun 10, 2025 | ,

At the EC meeting in February and then again in May, finances were a pressing item on the agenda. The February meeting has typically been the meeting where the SIG budget, also called the organizational budget or “org budget”, is deliberated, and for the most part, finalized. In February we discuss what we know about projections around the SIG’s income and expenses, including the projections around the upcoming SIGGRAPH conference provided by the Conference Advisory Group (CAG). By the time May rolls around, the CAG starts to adjust projections around the conference income and expenses based on early activity. These insights make the May EC meeting a good time to deliberate on the costs of our portfolio of year-round activities and standing committees of the organization.

Our organizational income comes from three sources: the conferences, membership dues, and digital library revenue, in pretty much the same ratio as it did back in 2021.  The majority of the revenue from conferences comes from our two flagship conferences, SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia. Specialized conferences do not generate a significant surplus in typical years, and when they do, we allow them to use half of that surplus amount toward the next year’s conference. For the SIGGRAPH conference, the conference chair, in consultation with the CAG, puts together a budget which projects income and expenses. When the conference closes, any surplus gets deposited in the organizational reserves. In a low year, we have the ability to draw on the reserves to make up any losses. SIGGRAPH Asia is a different financial model. At this moment, KoelnMesse, an international event organizer, assumes the financial risks associated with that conference and our organization receives a minimum fee along with a small percentage of the profit, if any. The SACAG, though analogous to the CAG in terms of its mandate to maintain year to year continuity in terms of the conference experience, does not have the same level of visibility or authority over SIGGRAPH Asia finances, decisions around locations, choice of contractors, etc. As a result, the really big source of revenue for the organization is the SIGGRAPH conference.

So, what has been top of mind for the EC this May? That while we hope for the best, it will be prudent to plan for the worst.

The amount of digital library revenue we can expect in the coming financial year has a question mark next to our (and ACM’s) best projections because it remains to be seen how authors and institutions respond to the move to ACM OPEN. Membership has been declining over the past thirty or so years (see Figure 1) in each category (affiliate members are those who are members of the SIG but not ACM members). Membership revenue is thus unlikely to make up for deficits in other sources of revenue. If the conferences do not return a surplus, or worse, if they run into losses due to the factors that are outside of our control, we will deplete our reserves quite quickly (see Figure 2). The EC that navigated SIGGRAPH through previous financial crises prescribed a reserve amount over and above the ACM mandated reserve. If this reserve gets hit, then the fiscally responsible thing to do by the conference (by which I mean the SIGGRAPH conference) and the standing committees of the organization (including the EC) is to take drastic steps whether that involves reducing expenses or generating revenue or both.

The EC considered this sobering situation in the May meeting. The EC talked about contingency planning. Some of the ideas that emerged in that discussion: reviewing our approach to large contracts as those are multi-year agreements that are a big part of conference costs, reviewing our approach to contributor and volunteer recognition and associated expenses, considering new conferences (SIGGRAPH Europe?), exploring ways to grow specialized conferences and examining the tradeoffs involved in static versus moving conference locations. Readers, this is your SIG– I invite you to send the EC your thoughts and ideas via this Google form.


(Figure 2)
(Figure 1)