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In a matter of weeks, the COVID-19 virus has gone from threat to outbreak to pandemic, leaving a series of cancelled events in its wake. Virtual events have risen up in the wake of this global pandemic.
by Sumiko Saulson
Quick action has minimized San Franciscan casualties thus far
In late February, the COVID-19 virus seemed to most of us a distant overseas threat. Few of us feared the virus in the United States. Since then, we have surpassed first Italy then China to become the country most affected by the coronavirus.
Back on Feb. 24, 2020, when London Breed declared a State of Emergency in San Francisco, she was accused of hypervigilance because there not yet any cases in San Francisco. It soon became evident her concerns were justified, when on March 4, 2020, two San Franciscans were hospitalized with the virus.
“The global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step up preparedness. We see the virus spreading in new parts of the world every day, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect San Franciscans from harm,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed
It has since become clear that Breed’s quick action was well warranted and forward thinking. It’s still early but thus far it seems likely to save many lives. So far, San Francisco has been able to avoid the hospital overcrowding and death tolls seen in New York City through preparedness. We didn’t see our first COVID-19 death until March 24, but a lot of businesses are economically troubled.
Technology gives new life to literary arts during COVID-19
Like the government, the Bay Area literary arts scene is responding with increasing concern and taking proactive measures to prevent the spread. Initial response included special measures for at risk populations. FOGcon 10 took place March 6-8, 2020, in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Walnut Creek Marriott and featured honored guests Mary Anne Mohanraj, Nisi Shawl and Terry Pratchett.
Fogcon guest Nisi Shawl, over 60 and having had a recent eye surgery, stayed home upon medical advice. On March 1, 2020, they posted the following on Facebook:
“Sad to report that I will NOT be attending Fogcon due to medical advice regarding my high-risk status in the event of COVID-19 exposure. (The flights there and back more than the event itself.) I’ll miss you, my Bay Area peeps,” wrote Shawl.
Nisi joined us from Seattle through the miracle of videoconferencing. Her friend and colleague Abie Eke brought her computer and hooked it up to a projector. This allowed Nisi to join panels and host workshops as a safety measure.
Attendees bumped elbows to avoid passing on germs. Homemade hand sanitizers and soaps gave a homey feel to the sterile but necessary precautions. Masks were also seen on a select few guests. They are recommended especially for people with coughs and cold or flu symptoms to prevent exposing others to not only COVID-19, but other bugs that might be confused with it.
Shelter-in-place cancels or delays most conventions
Only a week later, such large in-person gatherings would become impossible. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The same day, Mayor London Breed issued a decree canceling all San Francisco gatherings of 1,000 or more people.
Eventually, all arts and entertainment venues would shut their doors. A March 18 shelter in place edict affecting most of the Bay Area banned gatherings of more than 10 people. Three days afterward, Gov. Gavin Newsom followed with statewide edicts.
Many festivals have canceled this year’s event entirely, although some have postponed them until fall or sought online altenatives. Readerfest, Write of Way, the Bay Area Book Fair and The Outer Dark Symposium have all canceled or postponed. In San Francisco, library arts events have all been cancelled due to coronavirus.
Most of us have a bunch of event cancellations, postponements and regrets in our email inboxes and postal mailboxes. This is not just happening locally – it’s around the nation as state after state responds to this global pandemic.
“We never thought the world would get so weird that we would have to say this. But The Outer Dark Symposium is canceled on its original planned dates of March 27-28, 2020, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. That being said, we also are pleased to announce OUR NEW DATES: Aug. 14-15, 2020,” announced Anya Martin of Outer Weird.
Videoconferencing and online games give conventions new life
With more and more conventions shutting their doors, convention organizers are getting creative with online conferences. From March 30 through April 24, Clarion West is offering a series of free online classes and writing workshops. Litquake is offering Litquake on Lockdown, a workshop series utilizing the increasingly popular Zoom video conferencing software.
Zoom has become an industry standard, although Skype and Google Hangouts remain popular alternatives for video conferencing. All three offer free and low cost versions of the program for smaller user groups. Facebook Live is another popular option as a video feed for conferences, workshops and performances offered online.
In her March 12 column in the Seattle Review of Books, Nisi Shawl suggested in the future, a SecondLife-like interface could help panelists interact better with audiences. I contacted her on Messenger and asked how she’d like to be a guest at a SecondLife Conference.
From that sprung SecCon, a SecondLife sci-fi, fantasy and horror convention with Nisi Shawl as the guest of honor. In fact I am so excited to be back in SecondLife doing things I started a night club there called Club Quarantine with fellow horror author and goth Suzi Madron. As soon as I set up the Facebook page for it, people started to tag it with cute images of them partying at home with their kids.
SecondLife is not the only video game that people are using to congregate online. World of Warcraft, Skyrim and lots of other games are offering alternative socialization during these difficult times. People even get married online these days, often in video games.
But SecondLife allows people to recreate their day to day lives. It is a simulation game, like The Sims, but more customizable. It is free to join and play, and has an in world economy that uses lindens. Lindens are about 2000 lindens for $8.50 US Dollars. You can do most things for free, but renting land to build and present things costs you lindens. You can convert them back to dollars; it takes about three days.
Funding and support for out of work authors and artists
In addition to new online ways of presenting conferences, authors and artists are looking for new ways to raise money. Online book readings and performances are often linked to Patreon, IndieAGoGo, or GoFundMe campaigns to try to raise money for the author’s expenses. Patreon is a monthly stipend program where patrons pay for various monthly packages.
There are many grants and loans available to writers. The Writers Emergency Assistance Fund helps established freelance writers in emergencies like this. The San Francisco Arts & Artists Relief Fund is open. Patreon is offering a grant to deeply impacted creators. Intersection for the Arts provided links to a vast array of artist resources.
Bestselling author Sumiko Saulson writes award-winning multicultural sci-fi, fantasy, horror and Afrosurrealism. Winner of the 2017 Afrosurrealist Writer’s Award, 2016 HWA Scholarship from Hell, and 2016 BCC Voice Reframing the Other Award, (he)r monthly series Writing While Black follows the struggles of Black writers in the literary arts and other segments of arts and entertainment. (S)he is gender non-binary. Support (he)r on Patreon and follow (he)r on Twitter and Facebook.
