The Visual Media Association (VMA) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) last night, and reported a strong year, led by the resurgence in member engagement, strong financials, and the introduction of several important initiatives.
For VMA, the year was defined not only by progress, but also transformation – one grounded in vision, unity, and the “unwavering strength of the industry community”.
Membership subscriptions are up by $159,121 to $851,763, which the Association said demonstrated solid member engagement and retention, as well as strong support and confidence from its industry partners. Sponsorship income saw a significant increase to $612,500, from $332,049 the prior year.
“We take immense pride in welcoming back former members and embracing new members as the peak industry body, with our mission to unite and strengthen our sector being absolute,” said Rodney Frost, acting president of the Association.
“Together, a united industry remains our goal, and continued engagement to bring our industry together is critical to our future success. There’s so much opportunity across our evolving industry, and we are stronger as one.”
In terms of financial performance, the Association achieved a net surplus of $94,376 in 2024 (up from $80,546 in 2023), which the VMA said reflected a continued focus on financial sustainability, while expanding its value members. Total revenue grew to $1.85 million, an increase of 17 per cent from the previous year. The Association's financial position remains strong with $1.96 million in cash and term deposits.
“Financial achievements through the 2024 financial year were strong, with solid results in terms of profit and revenue. The Board executives have worked hard to reinvigorate and build new programmes to deliver the Association’s stability and ROI for members,” Frost added.
The Inkers programme, sponsored by Konica Minolta, and which is designed to build a support network for the emerging talent across the industry, was also highlighted, with Northwood introducing two of the NSW representatives – Olga Plastourgos, marketing executive, Kyocera Document Solutions, and Zaf Haq, project manager, IVE Group.
“This is all about supporting people in our industry 35 years or younger, or have been in the industry for five years or less, and really providing that support for them to keep them in our industry,” said Kellie Northwood, chief executive officer of the VMA.
“We work so hard to bring people into the industry, and we lose them – given 57 per cent of our national apprentices are not completing their courses. This is the reason why we wanted to build this very important support programme.”
Another initaitive noted was the Buy Australian Print campaign – in which the VMA is lobbying for Federal, state and local governments’ procurement policies to include a clause that all print work must be sourced locally if possible.
“If it can be produced here, it should be produced here. We employ 238 Australians directly, and we’re a very high contributor to the economy because of that. And this is the messaging that we are working on with the government,” Northwood added.
The Association’s mental health support programmes and environmental certification ambitions were also highlighted.