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SMOF News, volume 1, issue 51
ConFusion joins the ranks of successful fundraisers, Worldcon bid churn, and news in brief.
How a Convention Is Saved
Back in January, the chair of this year’s ConFusion (Novi, Michigan, USA) issued an urgent plea for help to save not just this year’s edition, but all future ConFusions. Enough money was raised to do that. But as her latest update reveals, the con survived with severe cuts:
We cut out printing the schedule on paper. We had no Signage Print Order. Our Reg Team printed badges at their own personal expense. We did not provide pizza parties to Kid/Teen Fusions. We hacked Consuite’s Budget down to minimal. We did not provide extra budgeting for upgraded Programming Items. (No Dance, No karaoke event, No Film Room, No Filk/Music Stage, No budget for new items for Kids/TeenFusion.) We cut a large portion of programming items due to expenses. AV Costs are huge, and I knew this year had to be bare bones in order to survive. Expenses for items like swag stickers, or fun decor, or pizza parties for staff and volunteers; we had none of that.
Not only did we cut our budget massively, compared to budgets of the past ConFusions, but we faced new, increased expenditures. Room nights that were comp’d typically in the past from contracts, 2022 did not get. We did not meet our contract, thus we lost all the concessions. Every item we typically buy for a con each year, we faced supply chain issues, increased item costs, last minute “oops we don’t have that now, sorry for your luck!” items.
Extreme belt-tightening is likely to be the story of many local conventions of all types over the next few years. As COVID-19 lingers and the majority of fandom remains cautious, membership numbers are expected to remain down for a while at all but the biggest marquee events.
Worldcon Bid Lineup Changes
Bidding to host the World Science Fiction Convention is a process which takes years of effort, which makes it unavoidable that plans will change and bids will occasionally be abandoned altogether. The current pandemic has helped to accelerate the churn. After multiple recent changes, this is how the lineup looks:
The only bid for 2024 remains Glasgow, UK, although recent moves toward another independence referendum have some asking whether it will still be in the UK by then. The current proposed date for the referendum is October 19, 2023 (subject to approval by the UK’s top court), making it unlikely that Scotland would be able to disentangle itself by the planned Worldcon in August 2024 even if the referendum is held and passes.
The only currently active bid for 2025 is Seattle, Washington, USA. A competing bid for Brisbane, Australia went silent last year and is widely believed to be aiming at 2028 now, though its website and Twitter feed still say 2025.
For 2026, a bid for Nice, France has dropped out and one for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has retooled to bid for Cairo, Egypt instead (no website or social media available yet). It has now been joined by a new bid for Los Angeles, California, USA.
The lone contender for 2027 at this time is Tel Aviv, Israel.
In 2028, the rumored bid for Brisbane is joined by a confirmed one for Kampala, Uganda. If successful, it would mark the first Worldcon in sub-Saharan Africa— in fact, if not for the sudden switch from Jeddah to Cairo for 2026, it would have been the first announced bid for a Worldcon anywhere in Africa.
2029 is occupied only by a marker for a return to Dublin, Ireland, the site of the 2019 Worldcon.
There are no bids for 2030 yet, but there is one for a city to be determined in Texas, USA in 2031. And, jumping far into the unknowable future, there is one for somewhere in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA in 2073.
Most of the bids through 2028 have submitted answers to a standard questionnaire which are available (as PDFs) at Chicon 8’s website. Missing is Los Angeles in 2026, though it has a nice HTML version of its answers on its own website.
In Brief
Final voting has opened for the Dragon Awards, which are administered and presented by Dragon Con (September 1-5, Atlanta, Georgia, USA). Voters do not need to be members of the convention. Local fans can access copies of all the nominees through the Fulton County library system.
Event Calendar
Weekend of August 19-21
SchlossCon 3/SFCD-Con 2022 (German national sf convention), Schwerin, Germany
Epic Nerd Camp, Darlington, Maryland, USA
NecronomiCon Providence (weird sf), Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Discworld Convention 2022, Birmingham, UK
DenFur (anthropomorphic), Denver, Colorado, USA
Game & Party Con, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
MaricopaCon 9 (gaming), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Ragnarok XP (gaming), Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
QuestCon Orlando (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA
Coulee Con 2022 (gaming), La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
HistoriKC Fest (miniatures gaming), Overland Park, Kansas, USA
Nashcon 2022 (miniatures gaming), Nashville, Tennessee, USA
SCG Con Baltimore (collectible card games), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
MAGWest 2022 (video games), San Jose, California, USA
Delta H Con (anime), Houston, Texas, USA
Shikkaricon (anime), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Kitacon (anime), Warwick, UK
Flame Con (diverse comics), New York City, New York, USA
Nerd-Vana (media), Oxford, Mississippi, USA
Soda City Comic Con, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Emerald City Comic Con, Seattle, Washington, USA
Kelowna ComiCon, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Hub City Comic Con, Lubbock, Texas, USA
Weekend of August 26-28
F-Con (59th Japanese national sf convention), Fukushima, Japan
Bubonicon 53, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Dni Fantastyki, Wrocław, Poland
Asylum Steampunk Festival, Lincoln, UK
Eurofurence 26 (anthropomorphic), Berlin, Germany
Camp Feral! (anthropomorphic), Algonquin Park, Ontario
Furrydelphia (anthropomorphic), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
IndyFurCon 2022: Furries on Broadway (anthropomorphic), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Dragonflight Gamecon 42, Bellevue, Washington, USA
FallCon 35: Return to Analog (gaming), Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Tacticon (gaming), Aurora, Colorado, USA
Epic.LAN Tabletop Edition (gaming), Coventry, UK
Tabletop Scotland (gaming), Perth, UK
Great Escape on the Lake (gaming), Bradford, New York, USA
Draconicon 2022 (gaming), Tel Aviv, Israel
2D Con (video games), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Kokorokon (anime), St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Kazokukon (anime), Toledo, Ohio, USA
Kin-Yoobi Con (anime), Union City, California, USA
PopCult Anime Con, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
AniNite 22 (anime), Vösendorf, Austria
HanamiCon 2022 (anime), Graz, Austria
Stars of Time (media), Weston-super-Mare, UK
Fan Expo Canada (media), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
East European Comic Con, Bucharest, Romania
Comic Conroe, Conroe, Texas, USA
Everfree NW (My Little Pony), Bellevue, Washington, USA
Power Morphicon (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), Pasadena, California, USA
Weekend of September 2-4
Dragon Con, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
CoKoCon 2022, Tempe, Arizona, USA
San Diego Afro Con (Afrofuturism), San Diego, California, USA
Oxonmoot 2022 (J. R. R. Tolkien), Oxford, UK
Big River Steampunk Festival 2022, Hannibal, Missouri, USA
Tails & Tornadoes Fur Con: Ren Fur (anthropomorphic), Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Mephit Fur Meet 2022: Trick or Treat (anthropomorphic), Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Pacificon Game Expo 43, Santa Clara, California, USA
SaltCON End of Summer (gaming), Layton, Utah, USA
Alamo City Game Convention, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Electric City Dice and Cosplay (gaming), Great Falls, Montana, USA
WGGCon (gaming), Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA
LincCon (gaming), Merrill, Wisconsin, USA
PAX West 2022 (gaming), Seattle, Washington, USA
Gateway 2022 (gaming), Los Angeles, California, USA
TCEP 2022 (gaming), Sterling, Virginia, USA
GrandCon 2022 (gaming), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
ConsimWorld Expo 2022 (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA
NOVA Open 2021 (wargaming), Washington, DC, USA
ReaperCon (miniatures gaming), Denton, Texas, USA
Pixel Expo (video games), Perth, Australia
SCG Con (collectible card games), Columbus, Ohio, USA
Nan Desu Kan 25 (anime), Aurora, Colorado, USA
San Japan 13 (anime), San Antonio, Texas, USA
Tracon (anime), Tampere, Finland
Anime Escape Fest, Grand Prairie, Texas, USA
Saboten Con 2022 (anime), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Comic Con Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Fanboy Expo Orlando (media), Orlando, Florida, USA
Tucson Comic Con (media)/RinCon (gaming), Tucson, Arizona, USA
Long Beach Comic Con, Long Beach, California, USA
Robcon (media), Abingdon, Virginia, USA
Giganticon (media), Killeen, Texas, USA
Meta Con Minneapolis (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Whooverville 13 (Doctor Who), Derby, UK
Weekend of September 9-11
OutsideCon, Burns, Tennessee, USA
Bouchercon 2022: Land of 10,000 Thrills (World Mystery Convention), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Furry Migration: Galactic Space Race (anthropomorphic), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
FursonaCon 2022: Academy of Magic (anthropomorphic), Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
Impossible Realities #21: Damage Control (gaming), St. John, New Brunswick, Canada
ZorCon (gaming), Lake Jackson, Texas, USA
Ludesco (gaming), La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Tabletop Central (gaming), Savoy, Illinois, USA
Escape Winter Con (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA
Dice Tower Retreat (gaming), Miami, Florida, USA
Sugoi Expo (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA
Anime Oklahoma, Midwest City, Oklahoma, USA
Arkansas Comic Con, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Rose City Comic Con, Portland, Oregon, USA
Colossalcon East (media), Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, USA
Power Comicon, Florence, South Carolina, USA
International Comic Expo, Birmingham, UK
Popcorn! (media), Rotherham, UK
Ottawa Comiccon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Elstree-Con (media), Elstree, UK
Unicon & Game Expo (media), Minsk, Belarus
D23 Expo 2022 (official Disney fan convention), Anaheim, California, USA
Weekend of September 16-18
FenCon XVIII, Irving, Texas, USA
16. Elstercon: (N)IRGENDWO (N)IRGENDWANN, Leipzig, Germany
Copernicon, Toruń, Poland
FantasyCon 2022, Heathrow, UK
Albacon 2022, Albany, New York, USA
Furry Takeover: Alien Invasion (anthropomorphic), Fontana Dam, North Carolina, USA
Furdance Budapest (anthropomorphic), Budapest, Hungary
8th Annual Steampunk Fair, Kennebunk, Maine, USA
32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
SIBCON XXVI (gaming), Butler, Pennsylvania, USA
MegaMooseCon (gaming), Richburg, South Carolina, USA
Strong Tower Gaming Convention, Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA
B-Con 2022 (gaming), Northglenn, Colorado, USA
Tabletop Gaming Live 2022, Manchester, UK
ShireCon 2022 (gaming), Falls Village, Connecticut, USA
Game Devs of Color Expo, online
Southern Front 2022 (miniatures gaming), Morrisville, North Carolina, USA
Anime St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
Avalon Expo 9 (media), St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
AncientCityCon (media), St. Augustine, Florida, USA
Incredible Con (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Granite State Comicon (media), Manchester, New Hampshire, USA
Edmonton Expo (media), Edmonton, Alberta, USA
Fandom Kissimmee (media), Kissimmee, Florida, USA
Extremicon (media), St. Robert, Missouri, USA
Incredible Con (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA
CaperCon (media), Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Coda
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