200 Years of Victoria
A Symphonic Celebration of our City
What does Victoria mean to you?
Words are not enough to describe all there is to love about Victoria, which means we need your photos to show all that makes our city a wonderful place to live. We want to see community celebrations, street fairs, and festivals, Victoria’s storied history, your favorite places, food, nightlife and sporting events, music-making, dancing and the Arts, treasured landmarks and murals, personal photos, volunteerism and church gatherings, images of the Coastal Bend region’s breathtaking beauty and diversity, recreational activities (like biking, paddling and running), portraiture, and sweet acts of kindness among our residents. Your pictures are what we need to help orchestrate this special story of Victoria.
Celebrate the life, culture, and natural beauty of our Victoria!
To celebrate Victoria’s Bicentennial, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra is creating
a stunning visual concerto titled “200 Years of Victoria—A Symphonic Celebration of our City”.
“200 Years of Victoria” will feature photographs you submit on a giant 440-square-foot screen above the orchestra. The music you’ll hear to accompany this extraordinary new work is Paul Creston’s Dance Overture, which perfectly captures the esprit de corps of our beloved city!
Please submit your photos for “200 Years of Victoria”
Submit as many photos as you would like—both newly created and those you have already shot or inherited. Whether you’re an amateur or a professional, if you have pictures that capture the heart of Victoria, we want to see our home through your eyes.
STEP 1: Sign our electronic photo release. Photographers retain sole ownership and unrestricted use of all photographs submitted. The release allows for the limited use of your images for this project.
STEP 2: Use this link to upload your images. You may upload as many images as you’d like. You must use the following image file name format: FirstName_LastName_Photo#
Photo Specs
- JPEG or TIFF file format
- Minimum resolution 3300 x 2200 pixels (higher-res is preferred)
- Smartphone, scans, and DSLR photos are all welcome
- No watermarks on photos
- Color images preferred for present-day material
- All photos should be from Victoria and the Coastal Bend region
- Format for image file names: FirstName_LastName_Photo#
Westwater Arts Release Form for 200 Years of Victoria Concert
I understand and agree that I retain ownership and unrestricted use of all my photographs that are submitted to the Victoria Symphony and Westwater Arts for possible inclusion in a multimedia project, “200 Years of Victoria” with Victoria Symphony on March 1, 2025. I hereby grant the Victoria Symphony and Westwater Arts the irrevocable right to use these submitted photographs, without limitations or compensation and as they deem appropriate, when the use is related to the promotion, performance, documentation, and any potential future performance of “200 Years of Victoria” with the Victoria Symphony and Westwater Arts. I have obtained all needed rights and clearances to use the photographs I am submitting and assume full legal and financial responsibility for the same. I will retain copies of my photographs PRIOR to submission to the Victoria Symphony and Westwater Arts. I agree and fully understand that the copies of my photographs (including digital files) submitted to the Victoria Symphony and Westwater Arts will not be returned. I also fully acknowledge that my submitted photographs may or may not be included in the finished “200 Years of Victoria”, which is at the sole artistic discretion of Westwater Arts. For all submitted photographs, Westwater Arts may also crop, color correct, and adjust images to fit the needs of “200 Years of Victoria”.
IMPORTANT: If I want photo credit, my first and last name (and/or organization name, if appropriate) will be in the digital filename of each submitted image (e.g. “FirstName_LastName_1.jpg” or “Organization_1.jpg”)
The deadline for image submissions has been extended to Sunday, January 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM.
Anyone whose photo/s are chosen to be a part of this project will receive a 10% discount for the 200 Years of Victoria celebration concert and will be invited to the dress rehearsal!
Westwater Arts will create this project for the VSO
“200 Years of Victoria” will be created by Nicholas Bardonnay, the Creative Director & CEO of Westwater Arts. Nicholas is a photographer and multimedia artist. His photography has been exhibited in galleries in London, Los Angeles, Portland and Hong Kong, among others. Since joining Westwater Arts in 2009, Nicholas has worked on more than 120 concerts with orchestras in cities across the U.S. as well as Scotland, England, Singapore, Canada, Poland, and Germany. His latest projects are Mágico, National Park Suite and Visions, which respectively celebrate Mexico’s vibrant culture, the legacy of the National Park Service, and America’s First Peoples. Nicholas will join us here in Victoria as technical and artistic director for “200 Years of Victoria”.