After several weeks of discussions, and publicized business changes, following posts in late January revealing sexual abuse allegations,
Sexual abuse allegations crawling out of steampunk community (TW)
Time to Name Drop and Protect Newbies
the Silver Phoenix Society announced On February 20,2018, it was taking over the production of Steampunk World’s Fair.
However, it was announced tonight, March 13, 2018, on the Steampunk World’s Fair Facebook page that Silver Phoenix Society’s involvement in the event was ending, effectively cancelling the May 2018 festival.
From the Facebook page:
We are hereby ending Silver Phoenix Society’s involvement with the event known asSteampunk World’s Fair, that was to take place the first week of May. The community that we
love and support has made it clear that this event is forever tainted by the former management’smisdeeds and mistakes, and we acknowledge the pain that was caused and we do not want tocontinue pouring salt into the wounds.
In addition to the ethical reasons for this decision, the contracts for the hotels were nevertransferred into our name, which we needed to happen in order to continue in any case.
There is not enough time to execute this event the way it is needed, but that does not mean thatwe are abandoning the vendors, patrons and performers who have been left in the lurch
financially. We intend to help in any way we can, first and foremost by planning and launching afully realized, new event in the fall of 2018, to be called the Silver Clockwork Exposition and
Symposium.
It will be a home for art, craft, performance, fun and commerce. We can’t wait to tell you more,and we are eager for your help.Please reach out to us if you would like to help us with this event in any capacity, to ask
questions, or to give feedback at questions@silverphoenixsociety.org.
If you are entitled to a refund from SPS, we will honor that and will get you a refund for thosetickets and vendor fees that we took in. Please contact info@silverphoenixsociety.org regardingrefunds. Of course we cannot refund money for those who had previously paid Jeff Mach
Events. All tickets and vendor fees will be honored at our upcoming event, if you wish to followalong with us, and we hope that most of you will.
The weekly podcast, Talk of the Tavern, talked with Michael Whitehouse about everything going on, and community feedback from the last several weeks.
The initial episode description was:
Recently The Steampunk World’s Fair went through a bit of a kerfuffle, accusations were made, and the old ruling regime fell. A new group stepped forward to make sure this great event didn’t crumble, and even with the hopes of taking it to new heights.
Michael Whitehouse joins us to answer the burning questions of what happened to SPWF afterwards, what is being done to keep it going, and what we can expect as Silver Phoenix Society takes the reins and leads this steampunk icon out of the mire and into the next evolution.
The Facebook event page for the March 13th, 2018 episode, Steampunk World’s Fair: Facts & Future, is here, and the full podcast can be watched here.
More developments to come …
Read Part 2 here.
Read Part Three here
Read Part Four here
Read Part 5 here
Airship Ambassador 