Hey there, everyone!
We know things have been kinda quiet on our end and we appreciate everyone’s patience. It's no secret that things are a little rough right now, especially with the ongoing pandemic. We want everyone to be safe and healthy, and we've been working closely with the convention center, hotel, the city, and local health officials to figure out ways to still hold the convention that you love while doing our best to protect everyone's health. After months of deliberation and reviewing the recent trends of the pandemic, we are finally in a place to start sharing our path forward. So here's what we're looking at right now.
First of all, Naka-Kon 2021 won't be in March as normally scheduled. Between attendance caps, preparation timing, and the ongoing infection rates, we don't consider March to be an appropriate time for us to hold an event of even a fraction of our usual scale.
But all is not lost. We're moving dates for our in-person event, not canceling them. Our new dates for 2021 will be September 3 - 5, the weekend of Labor Day. This event will likely be on a smaller scale, with social distancing guidelines in place, extra protective measures, and a requirement for protective masks. Health concerns are one of the big reasons we're moving the date, and we'll be continuing to monitor the situation: if things don't improve, we're ready to shut down the live event, but this time with far more notice.
With that said, we’re also working on more ongoing digital content, including building out our infrastructure to share more via streaming networks. This is an ongoing commitment we’re making: we not only want to reach out to those who can’t or won’t attend in person this year, but also in future years. It may not be the same, but we want as many people as possible to experience our events live, if not in person.
To build excitement towards the Labor Day convention, we are also planning to put together a separate digital event for March of 2021 (March 12 - 14).
Finally, we are planning to hold our next full-scale convention on Memorial Day weekend of 2022 (May 27 - 29). This weekend has a lot of benefits between being a national holiday and also being a dateless likely to gather snow (which will be a boon to our devoted courtyard gatherings).
This has been a complicated process, only made more complicated by all of the things that have come with COVID-19. So much has been changing at a fast pace that we needed to let things stabilize before we could meaningfully plan and share it with you.
Again, we appreciate everyone’s patience and continued support of Naka-Kon. To keep up to date on the latest developments, please follow our website and social media channels linked below.
Thank you.
naka-kon.com
facebook.com/nakakon
twitter.com/nakakon
instagram.com/nakakonanime
