SMOF News, volume 1, issue 14

WisCon appeals for help, and news in brief.

WisCon Needs Help

WisCon is a feminist science fiction convention dating to 1977, held every year in Madison, Wisconsin (excepting an online event in 2020). It is the latest convention to appeal to the fannish public to help it continue past 2021.

Treasurer Kit Stubbs lays out the problems in a blog post here. First, SF3, the organization behind WisCon, faces a shortfall of at least $76,000, more if the 2022 convention doesn’t fill its room block. Second, it has an even more drastic shortfall of volunteers to help run the convention. Third, it is attempting to do more work lately:

WisCon’s roots are grounded in white feminism, and WisCon continues to struggle with racism and with finding ways to center attendees of color who have been harmed. The Town Hall marks a key point in our antiracist work to bring WisCon, particularly as experienced by our attendees and volunteers of color, into better alignment with our values—even if this means that white attendees will have to sit with discomfort.

Working towards a more antiracist con is just one of the major challenges that we face. Unless we, the WisCon community, also take significant action this year in terms of finances and our volunteer pool, within the next few years we will no longer be able to run WisCon.

SF3 is accepting donations via PayPal, but would also be just as happy if people could register for WisCon and buy tickets to its bonus fundraising event.

Details on some volunteer positions, including expected time commitment, are in a previous blog post. Stubbs also encourages interested parties to attend WisCon’s upcoming online volunteer info session.

Tone Madison has more background and further information, along with a sampling of reaction from the WisCon community. The initial response has been encouraging, ut there is a long way to go:

Some larger donors have stepped up to offer $15,000 in matching funds, Stubbs says. As of Monday night, about $3,500 in other donations had come in toward the match, and 21 new volunteers had signed up.

In Brief

• The Ditmar Awards (fan-voted for Australian sf and related work) are normally presented at the Australian national sf convention, but the convention was cancelled for 2021. Instead, they were instead presented in an online ceremony November 20th. Results here.

• The San Diego Times-Union has a look at opening day of the Comic-Con Museum, revealing that it is not a museum of Comic-Con, just of pop culture.

Event Calendar

Weekend of December 3-5

• Smofcon Europe (con-running), Lisboa, Portugal

• Weymouth Steampunk Christmas, Weymouth, UK

• Midwest Furfest (anthropomorphic), Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Dragonmeet (gaming), London, UK

• Shorehammer (miniatures gaming), Ocean City, Maryland, USA

• Anime Frontier, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

• Nashville Anime Day, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

• For the Love of Sci-Fi 2021 (media), Manchester, UK

• Geek Days Lille (media), Lille, France

• Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle, Washington, USA

• L.A. Comic Con 2021, Los Angeles, California, USA

• Naiccon 2021 (media), Nairobi, Kenya

• Mini-Mini Con (media), San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Abilene Comic Con, Abilene, Texas, USA

Weekend of December 10-12

• RADP 26 (Disney theme parks), Walt Disney World, Florida, USA

• PAX Unplugged (tabletop gaming), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• Anime Pasadena, Pasadena, California, USA

• Tekko 2021 (anime), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• Yama-Con 2021 (anime), Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA

• Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, Chicago, Illinois, USA

• Ocean City Comic Con, Ocean City, Maryland, USA

• TFCon Toronto (Transformers), Missisauga, Ontario, Canada

Weekend of December 17-19

• DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, Washington, DC, USA

• TwinConRPG (gaming), London, UK

• Sac Gamers Expo (video games), Sacramento, California, USA

• Power Up South Bend (video games), South Bend, Indiana, USA

• Holiday Matsuri (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Con+Alt+Delete (anime), Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• AnimeFest 2021, Dallas, Texas, USA

• Comic Con Revolution, Ontario, California, USA

• Fan Party vol. 5 (media), Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

Weekend of December 24-26

• Nothing yet

Weekend of December 31-January 2

• Comic Market 99 (amateur comics), Tokyo, Japan

• Painted Desert Fur Con: Neo Tokyo (anthropomorphic), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• Ikkicon (anime), Austin, Texas, USA

• OKiCon (anime), Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Coda

• The Ones Who Take the Train to Omelas (hat tip: File 770)