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Eddorians win: Arisia science-fiction convention canceled
By adamg on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 7:54pm
Organizers of Arisia, the once-annual Boston science-fiction convention, scheduled for Jan. 14, have canceled the event due to Covid-19:
At the end of 2021, the Con Chair team met and determined how we would move forward. We decided that we would look at the COVID numbers in the new year (they are higher than ever), we would look at the health of our team (several of whom now have COVID or have family members with COVID), we would look at the number of folks planning to attend and/or be on program (which is currently too small to sustain us financially), and we would look at the advice of our COVID advisory team. Together, these things portray only one responsible decision that we can make: We need to cancel the in-person Arisia 2022.
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Comments
Can't we just rename it COVID
Can't we just rename it COVID-22 at this point?
It's easy to cancel a fantasy
It's easy to cancel a fantasy convention, but what to do with restaurants where workers need that work?
Easy
Avoid them so you don’t spread contract and spread covid. Do this for a couple weeks, let this surge peak and wane (hopefully!) then you can come back to the restaurant.
A con where no one shows up won't sustain restaurants
Reread the announcement. One factor in the decision was the lack of willingness of people to attend.
As somebody who (pre-pandemic
As somebody who (pre-pandemic) attends every Boston area nerd convention and whose whole social group is focused around that, NOBODY was planning on attending Arisia as of now. I'd be shocked if they had 1/4 of their needed attendance pre-registered. Some cons are going on right now (Magfest, ALA) but those swing a lot younger and more party/risky than the average Arisia goer.
What is ALA?
I'm still trying to figure
I'm still trying to figure out who came up with calling it Arisia? Forget it. I'm old and useless.
“once again”?
This Arisia is the first that’s been canceled as such. Last year’s was entirely virtual.
Helmuth speaking for Boskone
Tremble Arisia! I have conquered Boston and you shall not prevail.
Still scheduled, at least for now
Boskone 59, February 18-20, at the same hotel as the now-cancelled Arisia. Boskone in recent years has been about 2/5 the size of Arisia, both in number of participants and in the amount of hotel space used. This year's Boskone intends to be hybrid, with both in-person and virtual components.
There is a reason
why Arisia chose that name.
But some people are still touchy about that ... even thirty five years later. Be warned :-)
This year's was the first complete cancellation
Last year, Arisia held a virtual convention instead of the in-person con. This year, that isn't going to happen, in part because of the lateness of this decision, and also because last year's experience burned out some staff and volunteers.
Location
While in the past Arisia has indeed been held in the Back Bay, the Westin Waterfront is technically in the Seaport District.