Steampunk World’s Fair – Cancelled, Part 5

Read Part One here

Read Part Two here

Read Part Three here

Read Part Four here

 

Today’s tl;dr apparent summary from recent SPS and SPWF Facebook posts:

• SPS has nothing to do with SPWF now in any way, shape or form

• SPS has nothing to do with any event in May, be it SPWF or the proposed smaller vendor bazaar, End of the Worlds Fair

• SPS returned any monies collected as SPS when initially trying to continue to operate SPWF

• SPS cannot return any monies collected by SPWF/JME as they were not involved in that activity

• SPWF remains in the hands and control of Jeff Mach/JME

• SPWF ticket refunds would be up to Jeff Mach/JME, which seems unlikely at this time

• Tammy Shipps, Preseident of SPS, personally owns the SPWF IP, not SPS

• Tammy Shipps may grant SPS a license to use the IP to promote a future event(s)

 

 

Responses to questions from Avi Kaminsky

Posted on SPWF Facebook page

Posted on SPS Facebook Page

Which says:

Response to questions from Avi Kaminsky

Silver Phoenix Society·Sunday, March 18, 2018

If you never actually acquired The Steampunk World’s Fair how were you accepting payment for anything? You told people that you bought it but you didn’t. So, how were you ever in control?

Silver Phoenix Society was proceeding under the assumption that the acquisition of the intellectual property for the event known as the “Steampunk World’s Fair” was pending with Jeff Mach. We were advised by an attorney to proceed as though the sale was finalized. As there was a relatively short time between Wicked Faire and Steampunk World’s Fair, it seemed appropriate at the time to continue working on the plans and to sell tickets to the event. In hindsight, it is glaringly obvious that we were wrong. It is another lesson that we have learned the hard way.

Is Steampunk World’s Fair 2018 cancelled? I know you’ve collectively “ended [your] involvement” but since you never owned it, and JME is still (and was always) actually running the event, does that mean it’s still going on as planned? And if not, and if SPS never actually owned SPWF, what was your actual involvement?

As of the writing of this answer, Silver Phoenix Society can honestly say, we don’t know. This is now in the hands of the hotels and Jeff Mach. We would not recommend that any event be held due to the number and types of threats that have been received by the President of SPS. If these threats were only against her or the members of SPS, we would not be making this recommendation, but they have also been against the event itself. We realize that you have all heard about threats before, but we would feel awful if we didn’t tell you about them and something happened. This is not a way to absolve SPS for any of the mistakes that have been made regarding this event, but an actual warning. We live in world where we need to take all threats seriously. There are people who don’t care who they hurt and we would hate for anyone to get hurt because of their involvement in an event that was related to the Silver Phoenix Society.

As for our actual involvement in the event, it was assumed, as we noted above. Again, we will say that we were wrong to assume that and we are sorry. These are very hard lessons to learn in a very public and critical eye.

At one point SPS was going to attempt to run SPWF by borrowing the IP from Jeff Mach and run the event using the hotel contracts in his name. Once this was announced, people reacted negatively and we listened. The Board voted to try to obtain the contracts from the hotels and to end our involvement in the event if this was impossible. Additionally, it would be necessary to obtain the IP from Jeff Mach, so that there was no connection to him at all, as was called for by the community. All of this ultimately proved to be impossible which resulted in the removal of SPS from the event.

The Board of SPS is honestly trying it’s best, but we failed you. We know that we cannot make up to you the loss of your beloved event or ever expect you to truly believe in us.

You’re now planning another, separate event at the same time and location? And charging people to vend? How can money paid to JME be applied to an SPS event if they are indeed separate entities?

Silver Phoenix Society is not planning an event at the same time and location. We are not involved in anything at the Radisson or the Embassy hotels in Piscataway, New Jersey. As of March 13, 2018, our involvement in the Steampunk World’s Fair ended. That is the only event that was officially planned at those hotels. Any other events that may occur at those locations at that time are not related to the Silver Phoenix Society. Again, however, we would caution against any such events due to the danger of the threats that have been received. We want everyone to be safe.

Now that Michael Whitehouse (who i cannot tag because he blocked me after I asked about statements he made in the leaked staff chat) and other key members of SPS have resigned, is SPS still moving forward as an organization and non-profit? To that end, is SPS filing the IRS paperwork to officially become a 501(c)(3), will be releasing minutes, etc?

Yes, even though Michael Whitehouse and Ken Briodagh have resigned from the Board of Trustees, and there may be others who feel the need to resign for other personal reasons in the future, the Silver Phoenix Society is still moving forward as a non-profit organization.

We will be looking for additional Board members to help plan new events that do not have anything to do with Jeff Mach or JME Events.

Yes, SPS will be filing the IRS paperwork to officially become a 501(c)(3) entity. With the exception of the last two meetings, the minutes of the meetings have been released. These last two sets of minutes shall be posted in the near future. We are asking you to please bare with us for that while we deal with the resignation of our Secretary.

If the hypothetical fall event does not happen, is SPS in a position to refund people the monies SPS is claiming will be “rolled toward” that event?

There is no money that is being “rolled forward” to the fall event. All the ticket money that Silver Phoenix Society collected has been refunded and our vendor coordinator is working with the vendors to refund all money that Silver Phoenix Society collected. If they so choose to pre-pay for the Silver Clockwork Steampunk Exposition and Symposium, they may. Silver Phoenix Society is confident that this event will occur and will be run safely and in a fiscally responsible way. Policies are being implemented by the Board to prevent unsafe situations and inappropriate business practices from occuring.

Do you have any statements at all about the leaked staff chats where your Board members disparage JM’s victims, and your private conversations directly contradict your public ones?

Obviously, this is a difficult question to answer as it happened prior to the formation of Silver Phoenix Society. It’s also something that is complex because it deals with human emotions. The comments made in the private staff chats were emotional reactions to incomplete information. Once they received the complete information, they made their public statements. If you look at the dates during the chat versus the date of the public statement, you will see that.

We realize that this sounds like an excuse but it’s not. It’s what happens to humans when when receive shocking news about someone they trust. Was it the right response, no, but it was the human one. It’s not an easy experience and we hope that no one else has to deal with that.

The members of Silver Phoenix Society apologize to the victims of Jeff Mach. However, we have cut ties with this individual and his company and moving forward we will not be discussing this question further as it has been answered several times.

Responses to questions from Matt Black

Posted on SPWF Facebook page

Posted on SPS Facebook Page

Which says

Response to questions from Matt Black

Silver Phoenix Society·Sunday, March 18, 2018

Are you or were you, Amy, and Tammy on the leadership team for Just Magical Events, formerly known as Jeff Mach Events?

Just Magical Events is an alternate dba of Widdershins which is a dba of Jeff Mach Events. It was created when a series of allegations came out against Jeff Mach and an event was only days away. Mr. Whitehouse (formerly of the Silver Phoenix Society Board of Trustees), Mrs. Whitehouse and Mrs. Shipps ran the event, Wicked Faire. There was no true leadership team of Just Magical Events.

Are you, Amy, and Tammy on the leadership team for Silver Phoenix Society?

The current Board of Trustees is Tammy Shipps, President; Amy Whitehouse, Coordinator; Daniel Miron and Jullie Pudem Scanlon.

Does Just Magical Events have the funds from Steampunk Worlds Fair ticket sales?

Just Magical Events is was an alternate d/b/a for Widdershins, which is also d/b/a Jeff Mach Events. . The name Just Magical Events only existed as a stop-gap measure to run Wicked Faire without Jeff Mach’s name or involvement in the event, itself. We do not know the current financial status of Jeff Mach Events (parent company Widdershins, LLC).

Does Silver Phoenix Society have the funds from Steampunk Worlds Fair ticket sales?

Silver Phoenix Society did not receive any funds from Jeff Mach Events for any events.

In the interest of complete transparency, a one-time payment of $8000 was given to Tammy Shipps to repay a portion of the debt owed to her, which is over $40,000 in total.

If Just Magical Events or Silver Phoenix Society has the funds from ticket sales, why can neither provide refunds?

Silver Phoenix Society is not affiliated currently in any way with Just Magical Events (which was a d/b/a for Jeff Mach Events. SPS does not have the funds, though, and we cannot comment on the financial status of a company we are no longer working with or for. Silver Phoenix Society has refunded all the monies collected for the tickets which were sold by them.

If Just Magical Events or Silver Phoenix Society doesn’t have the funds from ticket sales, how can Silver Phoenix Society honor them for the Silver Clockwork Exposition and Symposium and still have enough funds to run the event.

Silver Phoenix Society will be selling merchandise and holding fundraising events to help fund our fall event with the knowledge that there are ticket costs that need to be covered.

Will Silver Phoenix Society be honoring Steampunk Worlds Fair Tickets at the same levels or at equivalent values — Standard, VIP, Luminary, add-on events (teas, tastings, knightings), cookbook, etc?

As the programming for the Fall event has not yet begun, we do not want to make a promise we cannot keep; however, in the planning of this event, we will try to provide the equivalent values. Once we have a fully-formed plan in place that we know we will be able to execute, we will begin announcements.

If you are trying to establish and maintain separation between Just Magical Events and Silver Phoenix Society, why did you send the Steampunk Worlds Fair cancellation email from the Just Magical Events, former Jeff Mach Events, Ticketleap account and then sign the email as Silver Phoenix Society?

The only way to send a mass email to ticket holders who purchased through the JME TicketLeap account is to do so through that system. It does not provide us a mailing list to use on our own system for privacy reasons.

It was an error to place the SPS name on a JME email without proper explanation.

Was it in January (or earlier) that Tammy and Amy took control of Jeff Mach Events and rebranded it Just Magical Events?

On January 29, 2018, Jeff Mach was removed from the operations of Jeff Mach Events. At that point Mrs. Shipps and Mrs. Whitehouse took over the running of Wicked Faire and adopted the name of Just Magical Events as an alternate dba for Widdershins a dba for Jeff Mach Events.

If you were able to run Wicked Faire as Just Magical Events, why were you not able to follow through on Steampunk Worlds Fair as Just Magical events?

The community did not want Jeff Mach to be involved in these events. There was a huge public outcry over this. It was thought best to make a clean break from Jeff Mach Events and Jeff Mach.

Is your official story that you, Amy, and Tammy stopped working on Steampunk Worlds Fair as Just Magical Events because you, Amy, and Tammy were setting up Silver Phoenix Events and planning to buy Steampunk Worlds Fair?

Silver Phoenix Society was formed shortly after the close of Wicked Faire. Steampunk World’s Fair needed to be run by someone and it was our understating that Mr. Mach would cooperate in this, but were were disappointed by his lack of cooperation and the failure of his lawyer to work with us in good faith. We were never able to successfully purchase the IP for Steampunk World’s Fair, although at one point we believed that a contract was in place and we had permission to operate Steampunk World’s Fair on behalf of Jeff Mach Events while the paperwork finalized. This paperwork was provided to us far past our deadline to effectively run SPWF and had a number of alarming clauses that would have required extensive editing and negotiation so we were forced to simply decline the transaction altogether.

If no work was ongoing on Steampunk Worlds Fair, why were new vendors still being announced the day before cancellation of Steampunk Worlds Fair?

The vendors are not new. They are previously signed vendors. The posts are automated, and an error was made in not stopping them.

In the comment on the SPS page is a comment explaining what the IP of SPWF refers to:

Saying that the IP includes the SPWF website, Facebook page, and all mailing lists, and belongs to Tammy Shipps personally.