I am soliciting proposals for an essay on Alaya Dawn Johnson for this year’s WisCon 39 Souvenir Book. Previous essays in the Souvenir Book have been biographically geared towards the GoH, but the essays can also be more personal, discussing how Alaya Dawn Johnson or her work influenced you. The essay will need to be between 800 and 1500 words. Payment will be $20 upon publication.
If interested, please send a proposal and writing sample to me at gohliaisons@wiscon.net with the subject header “WisCon 39 ADJ Essay.” Proposals will be accepted up to Saturday, Feb. 28March 7 (deadline extended!). If chosen, I would need a full copy of the essay by March 18. If you have any questions or if you would like to look at previous Souvenir Book essays for examples, please let me know.
Lauren J. Lacey & Alexis Lothian Academic Programming
WisCon’s academic programming is open to independent scholars as well as undergraduate and graduate students. We invite individual papers and panel presentations on science fiction and fantasy, with an emphasis on issues of feminism, gender, race, and class. Work on
fandom is also actively encouraged. Full information on the academic track is available on our website: http://wiscon.net/programming/academic/
One important non-deadline to note: Reports of Panel Sign-Up being dead closed have been greatly exaggerated! Panel Sign-Up will not begin until later in February. What has passed is the window for submitting a panel idea. We are now looking over panel ideas & will open Panel Sign-Up soon.
Interested in Readings or the Writers’ Workshop? We’ll be announcing deadlines for those in the next two weeks! Don’t touch that dial.
Attention artists! Applications for this year’s WisCon Art Show will be open until the end of February.
The WisCon Art Show focuses on art exploring feminist themes and WisCon’s principles, work by women artists, and work by Midwestern artists. In the past the show has included painting, drawing, prints, comics, photography, 3D art, fiber art, and jewelry, among other media.
We prefer that artists in the show also attend the con, but mailing in art is an option if you’re comfortable with us hanging and handling your work. The Art Show operates like a gallery or store: you set the prices for your work and customers can purchase it during the show’s open hours (Saturday through Monday during the con). WisCon takes a 4% commission on all sales (8% for mail-in art).
See http://wiscon.net/events/art-show/ for more information and to apply. Completed applications (including images of your work or a link to a website with images) must be submitted online by February 28, 2015, and artists will be notified of acceptance in mid-March.
Looks like our website got so excited by all the amazing panel suggestions you’ve been submitting that it had an attack of the vapors and passed out on the fainting couch. If you haven’t had a chance to submit your suggestion yet, jot it down somewhere so you don’t lose your inspiration! We’ll let you know when the website has returned to itself and is ready to go again.
The Souvenir Book is WisCon’s gift to the community, featuring profiles of our Guests of Honor, pieces highlighting the work of WisCon’s child-organizations, and essays from community contributors. We now call on our community members to submit their essays of 500 – 1000 words for the WisCon39 Souvenir Book! Previous essay topics have included: an exploration of Working Class Studies, a report on Foolscap 2013/Potlach 22, and an ethnographic intro to WisCon. The only topic requirement for the Souvenir Book’s essays is that they be relevant to the WisCon community. We encourage everyone to submit their work, whether this is your first WisCon or your nearly-40th!
Guidelines
Essays should be 500-1000 words
Topics both current and historic that are relevant to the WisCon community
Authors will be paid $20.00 USD at time of publication
All essays or questions should be sent to souvenirbook @wiscon.info (Please use the subject line “WC39 Souvenir Book Submission: [Your Name]”)
Please submit essays as .doc or .rtf attachments.
Submit by March 18th, 2015 April 1st! (Deadline extended)
The subcommittee convened to consider Rose Lemberg’s report of harassment by F.J. Bergmann is beginning to wrap up its work. Finalizing conclusions and recommendations will yet take several weeks. The last stage of the process begins with the concom voting on whether to accept the subcommittee’s final report and recommendations.
The subcommittee’s next update will be an announcement when the concom begins voting.
The Tiptree Motherboard Karen Joy Fowler (ex officio), Jeanne Gomoll, Ellen Klages, Alexis Lothian, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, Jeffrey D. Smith
Given the recent changes in WisCon leadership, the Tiptree Award motherboard has been asked if our relationship to WisCon will change. The relationship between the two organizations, whose passions and intentions are so strongly aligned, remains vibrant.
The Tiptree Award owes so much about its existence and success to WisCon that people sometimes get confused about where the award leaves off and WisCon begins. So let’s clarify.
The Tiptree Award was originally announced at WisCon in 1991, at founding mother Pat Murphy’s guest of honor speech (Pat cooked up the idea with Karen Joy Fowler). Pat was instantly surrounded by WisCon attendees who wanted to help, and who spent most of the next year fund-raising and generating ideas. The award is named for James Tiptree, Jr., a pseudonym and persona of Alice Sheldon for many years, and it recognizes works of speculative fiction which explore and expand gender roles.
Pat Murphy holding $1800.
In 1992, the first winners (Eleanor Arnason’s A Woman of the Iron People and Gwyneth Jones’s The White Queen) were announced at WisCon. The award ceremony included a marvelous skit in which WisCon founder Diane Martin, in the role of Alice Sheldon, put on a mustache and an overcoat and slyly provided Sheldon’s work to publishers without revealing Sheldon’s gender. SF3 (WisCon’s parent organization) presented a generous $1800 in award seed money, in the form of a three-foot long check.
Over the ensuing years, the Tiptree Award became more formal, and stopped being run out of Pat’s private checking account. As a registered 501(c)(3) corporation with its own “motherboard,” the Tiptree Award does not have any official relationship to WisCon or SF3, although over the years many people have worked on, volunteered for, and been in the leadership of both organizations, either at the same time or sequentially.
The motherboard has arranged in the past and may arrange in the future to host award ceremonies at conventions other than WisCon; however, WisCon is uniquely situated in the center of the country, at a perfect time of year, and with a very supportive audience, so we anticipate coming back frequently even if not annually.
The Tiptree Award auction has been a feature of WisCon’s Saturday night entertainment for many years, although the first auction was not at a WisCon, but at a Readercon. Ellen Klages, our hilariously engaging auctioneer, has been a WisCon guest of honor, and is a Tiptree Award motherboard member. Some of the proceeds of the auction flow through WisCon’s treasury to the Tiptree Award, while others go directly into Tiptree accounts. All proceeds are used for travel and monetary awards for the winners, plus other Tiptree Award projects.
In the past, we have also donated auction proceeds as “seed money” for other WisCon daughter organizations (Broad Universe and The Carl Brandon Society are two examples), and used funds to help members of the Tiptree community who are in need. The volunteers of the WisCon art show graciously supervise and manage Tiptree Award auction items for viewing on Saturday, and handle sale of t-shirts, cookbooks and Space Babe tattoos throughout the weekend; that money also flows through WisCon to the Tiptree Award accounts.
We are all looking forward to the 2015 auction. Coincidentally, 2015 is the 100th birthday of Alice Sheldon; the motherboard will work with WisCon’s programming team to include appropriate recognitions and celebrations of this milestone in WisCon programming.
Andrea Horbinski and s.e. smith Co-Chairs, WisCon 40
We’re celebrating 40 great years in 2016 and we can’t wait to see old and new faces!
WisCon wouldn’t be what it is without all the wonderful members who make it home every year, from those who have been attending for decades to newbies who are just getting ready for their first Con. As we prepare with some special events behind the scenes, we’d also like to hear from you — what do YOU want to see at WisCon 40?
We welcome your nominations for guests of honor, comments, and ideas, big and small, by 5 January 2015. You can comment here, comment on Facebook, or Tweet at us — as well as emailing directly to chairs@wiscon.net.
Do you remember your first WisCon? I remember mine. I remember going to panel after panel where people were talking about fiction, about social justice, about Buffy and Xena, about the future, and about history. I was amazed. I was enchanted.
That’s the reason that I choose to work on WisCon, and that’s the reason why one of the things that I work on is helping people who need a little help coming to WisCon to make it here. The WisCon Member Assistance Fund isn’t just for first-timers. It isn’t just for old hands, either. It’s for people who are drawn to WisCon, but can’t make it there on their own.
Every year, we try to help as many people as we can come to WisCon. It’s the time of year when we ask you to please consider contributing to the member assistance fund. All contributions should be made to SF3 and sent to:
SF3
Attn: WisCon Member Assistance Fund
P.O. Box 1624
Madison, WI 53701
SF3 is a 501(c)(3) organization, so your donations are tax deductible. Every penny will be used to help potential WisCon members attend in May. You can also use Paypal and send the money to treasurer@sf3.org.
We are also accepting nominations for potential recipients of assistance. Nominate someone else or nominate yourself. Tell us why the potential recipient would be a good person to attend WisCon and give us an idea of what funds would make the difference between being able to attend and missing the convention. Typically, we give amounts between $200 and $500.
We are often asked whether a previous recipient of assistance can receive help again. The answer to that is that yes, that is a possibility, but if we do not have enough money to help everyone who applies, we will give priority to people who have not previously received assistance. Depending on the number of nominations and the amount of donations, the WMAF committee will try to help out as many people as possible who would like to come to WisCon but need some support to do so.
All nominations need to be made by midnight, PST, February 15, 2015. Assistance recipients will be notified by March 15, 2015. These deadlines are timed to allow people who receive assistance time to sign up to be on programming. Nominations for the WisCon Member Assistance Fund should be sent to fund@wiscon.net.
Nominate away! And please, if you have a little money to help other people come to WisCon, donate!
WisCon is your con. It’s run by you, for you. Every year, it takes the hard work of a dedicated band of volunteers to make the convention happen, but every year, through your efforts we can make the con that much better for everyone. We have a need for volunteers with many different skills and all levels of experience. Fresh voices and enthusiasm are just as needed as old seasoned hands. Whether this is your first WisCon or your fifty-first*, you can become a part of the heart of the con by volunteering.
While you can step up to help the day of the con by just putting yourself forward when someone asks for help, the best way to get involved in on-site volunteering is send an email to volunteers@wiscon.net and let us know that you’re interested.
But we also have an immediate need for people who are willing and able to step up and take on essential roles in the running of the con. By volunteering for one of these positions, you will step into the Convention Committee (ConCom), the overarching committee that does the work to make WisCon happen. You will become a part of planning discussions and decision making throughout the year, in addition to your at-con role. This means that you’ll have a direct hand in shaping WisCon 39 and the future of WisCon beyond. While these positions do require you to take on responsibility, this also means you’ll have a support network and the expertise and experience of other ConCom members, or at least some sympathetic brains to pick.
If you’re interested in joining a particular department, just send an email to recruitment@wiscon.net,
Right now, we have a particular need for people to fill the following roles:
Organizer for the WisCon Writer’s Workshop. The workshop traditionally takes place on the Friday before the con, and gives up-and-coming and newer writers a chance to share their work and have their stories critiqued by a pro writer.
The front desk needs some people willing to take a lead position for At-Con Registration. You can become a personal hero to one of the tireless heroes of the con by taking responsibility for the registration desk for just half a day during the con. This position requires you to be able to answer questions about the con with knowledge and confidence, and be prepared to handle all forms of payment for same-day registration sales. This is the perfect role for someone who likes to meet people, share information, and help people out. If this position interests you but you feel you lack the experience, the registration desk always has a need for helper minions. Feel free to put yourself forward during the con.
WisCon traditionally ends with an After-Con Party, but this party doesn’t just happen! We need someone to organize it. Remember, this is a wind-down affair, so you wouldn’t need much in the way of activity planning, but while there’s a potluck of food leftover available from the rest of the con, some fresh refreshments will have to be lined up. The main thing about this party is that it happens after many people’s brains have handled all the pressure and responsibility they can in one long weekend, so we need someone who will take charge of lining up food, setting it all up, and closing it all down.
We need a Banquet Liaison for the hotel. In the months before the con, your responsibility will be to collect information about furniture layouts and menus required for catering services by different groups, and follow up as necessary during the con when reality diverges from expectations. Requires organization skills, communication skills, and an ability to follow-through and encourage others to do so.
The Art Show requires a lead for set-up, as well as “understudies” who can assist in running it and also step up to lead if needed during the con.
We need an Ad Salesperson for the Pocket Program book & souvenir book.
Do you have experience in non-profit funding? We are building a team with experience in Grant-Writing and Fundraising.
We need additional volunteers to run the Gaming Area, preferably enough to have one person to take lead for each night. You would be overseeing the set-up, clean-up, and operations of the gaming area.
A Pre-Con Head for the Green Room to organize the schedule for the Green Room, set up volunteer time slots and work with the Volunteer Coordinator to fill them before the convention begins. You will also set the menu for the Green Room and may make changes to its layout as necessary.
Programming can always use more people!
In order to ensure the Bake Sale comes off, we need someone who can act as a second to the organizer with an eye towards taking over the role in the future. Due to external uncertainties, there is a chance you may become the primary organizer on-site at the con.
Last but certainly not least, our current ConCom chairs (Mikki Kendall & Levi Sable) would like a 3rd or even 4th Chair for WisCon 39 to share duties and expertise.
If you’re interested in filling any of these roles and joining the ConCom, send a query to recruitment@wiscon.net. For general volunteering during the con, send an email to volunteers@wiscon.net.
