ICFA 41 and The Outer Dark Symposium Canceled

The 2020 International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) has been canceled:

For the last two weeks, the IAFA Board has been monitoring the evolving COVID-19 situation. Until yesterday, we considered it our responsibility to keep the ICFA going for the more than 400 members who were still planning to attend, and to let each individual decide for themselves the risk.

The situation has changed drastically and quickly. The WHO has ruled this an official pandemic and, well, you’ve all seen the news. We believe it would be irresponsible for us to hold the conference because travel poses a public health threat, so ICFA is cancelled. We now must enter into negotiations with the hotel to try to minimize the financial damage. At this time, our policy to credit registration forward (as opposed to refunds) has not changed, but we will give you an update when the situation becomes clearer.

ICFA was scheduled to run March 18–21, 2020 at the Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel in Orlando FL. For more information, see the IAFA website.

The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird 2020 has also canceled its March 27-28, 2020 dates at the Silver Scream FX Lab in Conley GA:

That being said, we also are pleased to announce OUR NEW DATES: August 14-15, 2020. Unlike bigger conferences, we are nimble and flexible, and our fantastic locations, Silver Scream FX Lab and Hotel Indigo-College Park, are supportive and compassionate. We will, of course, continue to monitor the public health situation and assess risks….

We’ll be recalculating our budget and also launching The Outer Dark Hardship Fund so that guests and attendees with nonrefundable travel expenses can afford to rebook….

Your membership ticket, guest status, or scholarship will be automatically transferred to the new dates. If you purchased a ticket and cannot attend on August 14-15, you will have two options:
1) refund, or
2) donate your payment to The Outer Dark Hardship Fund and receive the program chapbook and exclusive The Outer Dark swag pack (details soon).

For more information, see The Outer Dark registration website.

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