Coronavirus and cons: How pop-culture conventions are handling the outbreak

The threat of the coronavirus is reaching global levels just as the music festival and pop-culture convention season is starting to gear up. How are these events handling the health crisis?

We live in uncertain times, with a brand-new virus on the loose and misinformation around every corner. While taking precautions appears to be a necessary evil at this time, we have yet to see exactly how the coronavirus outbreak will affect the economy in the long run. And with spring coming to an end and summer quickly approaching, numerous music festivals, pop-culture conventions, and concerts are on the horizon. Should we just stop living our lives because of the possibility we might come into contact with coronavirus?

The answer to that is complicated and dependent on a variety of factors, so we’ll leave that question up to the CDC and local health departments. We can, however, take a look at a few major events coming up in the next couple of months and talk about how the outbreak is being handled.

Emerald City Comic Con

Dates: March 12-16

Location: Seattle, WA 

Emerald City Comic Con is one of the largest comic and pop-culture conventions in the northwest United States. An annual event, it originally took place at Seattle’s Qwest Field, but after growing in popularity, moved to the Washing State Convention Center in 2008.

Following the immediate announcement of the coronavirus outbreak, convention officials maintained that the show will go on, but they were offering refunds to attendees and vendors in the event they did not feel safe attending the event. However, after a rash of coronavirus cases were confirmed in the Seattle area, officials have decided to move the convention from March until this summer (no dates are in place as of the writing of this article).

Additional information about Emerald City Comic Con can be found on the event’s website.

South by Southwest (SXSW)

Dates: March 16-22

Location: Austin, TX 

SXSW, or South by Southwest, is a massive annual film, interactive-media, and music festival that takes place over the course of several days and nights. The festival typically includes exhibitions, networking opportunities, and a prestigious award ceremony for upcoming and independent movies.

Due to the coronavirus threat, festival officials have decided to cancel the event for the first time since its inception in 1987. This is likely because a string of high-profile companies like TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook canceled appearances and sponsorships, combined with the fact that the city of Austin has been declared a “local disaster.”

Additional information about SXSW can be found here.

Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)

Dates: April 3-4

Location: Redondo Beach, CA

The Independent Book Publishers Association is the largest convention to feature independent authors and publishers. IBPA is a not-for-profit organization that has more than 3,000 members, making it the largest publishing trade association in the country. A tremendous networking opportunity in the publishing industry, IBPA’s annual event is trying to persevere in the shadow of the London Book Fair, another huge publishing event that was canceled earlier this month due to the coronavirus outbreak in Europe.

As of the time of this writing, the IBPA conference has not been canceled and appears to still be happening, with Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt as the conference’s keynote speaker. Additional resources about IBPA can be found on the organization’s website.

Coachella

Dates: April 10-12/17-19

Location: Indio, CA

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is the largest annual musical event on the West Coast. Taking place over the course of two weekends, the event brings musicians, celebrities, and artists together to celebrate what they do. This year’s headliners include Rage Against the Machine, Frank Ocean, and Lana Del Rey, but the festival features dozens more international musical performers.

As of this writing, all performers are still expected to be in attendance, and there has been no word of the festival being moved to a later date or canceled. Coachella will be held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA. Additional information about Coachella can be found here.

ClexaCon

Dates: April 16-19

Location: Las Vegas, NV 

ClexaCon is the largest media and entertainment convention to focus on LGBTQ+ women, trans, and non-binary fans, content creators, and allies. The annual convention regularly features actresses who portray LGBTQ+ characters on television shows, such as Legends of Tomorrow‘s Caity Lotz, Marvel’s Runaways’ Lyrica Okano, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Amber Benson. The event also features educational workshops, celebrity meet and greets, a film festival, and various other fundraising events like Cocktails for Change.

ClexaCon is currently to proceed as planned, though the event staff have issued a statement in regard to additional precautions that will be taking place to ensure the safety of all in attendance. Working in conjunction with the hotel that is hosting the event, The Tropicana, ClexaCon will have hand sanitizer available in all panel rooms, throughout the convention floor, and in common areas. Common surfaces will be wiped clean every night, there will be increased cleanings of common areas like door handles and elevator buttons, and menus used in all food and beverage venues will be sanitized.

It’s worth noting that, while music festivals and pop-culture conventions seem to be taking the coronavirus threat seriously, no sporting events, including the Los Angeles Marathon and all March Madness college basketball games, have been canceled or rescheduled at this time.

How do you feel about attending events with large crowds with the coronavirus outbreak? Let us know in the comments section below.