Dear ICARUS members and friends,

As we all are summing up the year of 2024, I would warmly thank everyone for participating in the activities of ICARUS: preparing and taking part in the conventions and workshops, organizing the meetings, and supporting the community on local and international level in our joint adventurous journey.   

There have been many outstanding events during this past year, but I’ll highlight four of them:

• On 13–15 March, the 9th ICARUS Croatia Days took place in Osijek under the title of “Heritage Beyond Borders: Cultural and Educational Practices and New Perspectives” bringing together around 300 participants and 72 presentations. Thank you, Vlatka, and your colleagues all over Croatian memory institutions for organizing the event with many inspired meetings and workshops.
• On 5–7 June we met in the Convention #32 titled “Archives and Research – Between the Analog and Digital” in Novi Sad, Serbia, hosted by the Archives of Vojvodina and the Historical Archives of the City of Novi Sad. Thank you, Ljiljana, and your most helpful colleagues for offering a large variety of highly fruitful topics with up to 47 presentations and several workshops.
• On 18–22 September took place the conference “Digital History & Citizen Science” in Halle, Germany. ICARUS among the co-organizers (CompGen, NFDI4Memory, Archion and Martin-Luther-Universität as host) performed three presentations (Monasterium, Topotheque, ICARUS Community) and one panel discussion (on digital transformation of archives). Thank you, Žarko, Thomas, Karl, Daniel, and the others who helped with management and promotion of our activities.  
• On 16–18 October we enjoyed the Convention #33 titled “European Travel Routes through GLAM. The Challenge of Becoming Digital” in Portici, Italy, hosted by the Department of Humanities and MUSA of the University of Naples, and co-organized by Icarus Italia and the Municipality of Portici. Thank you, Antonella, Antonello, Maria Rosaria, Marco and your very dedicated students for making the event together with 55 presentations a great success.

Thank you all for your commitment to the organization and keeping our joint actions meaningful, influential and successful!

Hoping you all enjoyed a peaceful Christmas and are ready to start the new year with many fresh ideas to come true in 2025! 

Birgit Kibal

During the last General Assembly at the ICARUS Convention in Portici, Italy, on 16 October 2024, the executive board proposed a change of membership fees. Unanimously accepted by the members present at the Assembly, there will be a raise of membership fees starting from 2026:

• Category A (90+ institutions) annual fees from currently 100 euros to 150 euros
• Category B (30 institutions) annual fees from currently 500 euros to 600 euros

The new rates of membership fees will come into effect in 2026, giving each of our member institutions a year's time to adapt and manage all the necessary administrative issues that might be connected to this change.

If you're having concerns or difficulties to manage your contribution, please inform us beforehand and we'll help to find a suitable solution!

We thank you in advance for your support!