The San José in 2018 Worldcon Bid, sponsored by San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc., officially launched with a presentation, bid table, and party. Bid Chair Andy Trembley was there and made a presentation and answered question at Westercon’s “Fannish Inquisition.” The San José bid was also present at this year’s North American Science Fiction Convention, Detcon 1, and will also host a table at the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention, Loncon 3, as well as many other conventions in the future.
San José in 2018 is a committee of SFSFC, the parent non-profit corporation behind the 1993 Worldcon in San Francisco and the 2002 Worldcon in San José. SFSFC has also run Westercons, World Fantasy Conventions, SMOFCons (the SF/F conrunners convention), and other SF/F genre conventions.
The site of the 2018 Worldcon will be selected by the members of the 2016 Worldcon in Kansas City. You need to be a member of the 2016 Worldcon in order to vote for San José. For more information about San José’s bid to host the 2018 World Science Fiction Convention, see the bid’s web site.
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In recent weeks the SF&F blogosphere has spent a lot of time talking about anti-harassment policies at conventions. In particular John Scalzi adopted a minimum requirements policy that he will demand of any convention that invites him to attend. SFWA has suggested that its members might wish to adopt similar policies.
SFSFC does not run conventions itself. Rather it charters other bodies to run conventions under its corporate umbrella. These conventions can vary considerably in size, from 100-person relaxacons to Worldcons with thousands of attendees. Crafting a single policy to suit all types and sizes of convention would not be easy. Nevertheless, SFSFC requires all its conventions to be safe and welcoming spaces. To this end, in 2012 we adopted general guidelines for anti-harassment policies that all chartered conventions much use to develop their own policies. It is our belief that following these guidelines will enable a convention to abide by the requirements set by John Scalzi and others.
On February 23, 2013 in Albany, New York, one of ConFrancisco’s Guests of Honor, jan howard finder (known as “Wombat”), died after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 73 years old. His obituary in the Albany Times-Union includes the 1993 Worldcon as one that “[solidified] his place in the ranks of fan culture” and details his interests and activities in Fandom. SFSFC sends our condolences to his girlfriend, Lin Daniel, and shares our regret in the passing of one of Fandom’s colorful figures.
Westercon 66, the 2013 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference, has been adopted as part of the SFSFC corporate family and will be run as a committee of SFSFC, like the two past Westercon run by SFSFC. Convention co-chairs Kevin Roche and Andy Trembley will continue to run Westercon 66, which will be held at a yet-to-be-determined site in the Sacramento, California area.
The Westercon 66 bid was awarded to a committee headed by Roche and Trembley by a vote of the Westercon 64 Business Meeting after no eligible bid won the regular site-selection election. Kevin and Andy came to the SFSFC Board of Directors asking if SFSFC would be willing to the sponsoring non-profit, tax-exempt corporation behind Westercon 66, and the Board voted at their July 30 meeting to bring Westercon into the corporate fold and to confirm Kevin and Andy as committee co-chairs.
The Westercon 66 committee is currently evaluating sites in the Sacramento area. Further announcements from Westercon 66 are expected during Renovation, this year’s Worldcon in Reno, Nevada.
The regular meeting of the SFSFC Board of Directors on July 30 has been rescheduled to 2 PM Pacific Daylight Time. The meeting was originally scheduled for 11 AM that morning.
The July 30 meeting is being held at a location with limited parking. If you are planning to attend, please check the Meeting Information Page regarding contacting us to tell us you’re going to be attending.
We have posted our fiscal year 2009-2010 information returns — Forms 990 and 199 (US IRS and California Franchise Tax Board, respectively) — on our Financial Statements page.
The Science Fiction Outreach Initiative will be staffing a table at Wondercon 2011, starting Friday, April 1, giving away free books and working to let more people know about the wide array of fannish activities in our region. Stop by and say hello or even volunteer to help staff the table if you have time.
