#tickets are £6 which aren't as expensive as some other evening events

[andpierres]

okay seriously people have GOT to stop actively seeking out reasons to be mad abt wwwy fest. and i don't mean this in an ignoring red flags way i mean the complete 180 everyone has done in the last 24 hours and relying on information from fucking tiktok of all places instead of doing their own two seconds of research is just... are you people hearing yourselves. is this cycle not exhausting you.

anyway, because seeing these repeated ad nauseum w/out clarification is starting to get to me:

1. livenation also sponsored astroworld

yes. livenation also has, what, 70/80% marketshare on tour and festival booking in the US or something? so a majority of US events are gonna have either their ticket sales or general organizing handled by them. this doesn't say anything about what local organizing and security at the venue is gonna be like. not to shill for the huge corporation here b/c obviously they were also to blame but other huge components at astroworld were the untrained security, lack of medical access when needed, poor organization of the space that didn't allow for ppl to disperse when needed, & massive overcrowding.

(don't come onto this post & shove all the blame on travis scott either.)

2. size of the venue

the las vegas festival grounds aren't HUGE by any means, but it's bigger than astroworld by far. it's 26 acres w/a capacity of 85k (astroworld capacity was 50k iirc). we don't even know how many tickets are available and how many are gonna be sold yet.

3. lack of time/only three stages

yeah, this one is fair. they could be using rotating stages to cut down on set up time but it's still, uh, not ideal? the festival was held a previous year & took place over two days so it's not unreasonable to hope that they might extend it to two days this time too. it can definitely be fixed and i hope it will be.

the biggest crowd crush concern is definitely the urgency with which people would need to rush from stage to stage to catch acts they want to see. that WAS also the start of the crush at astroworld iirc so, again, valid concern.

4. it's a scam

it's probably not. again, the festival was held a prior year with some of the bands that played then returning now. something can be poorly organized and expensive/obviously a cash grab (as most things are) without being completely disingenuous.

5. covid policy

yeah, this is definitely concerning. no refund policies are, like, generally normal, but the wording of the covid policy makes me worried that this is going to be considered the norm for all big events going forward: acting as if covid is just an inherent risk and not something we could be working to avoid.

6. lack of diversity

this one is also fair. but this is also the thing ive seen ppl talk about the LEAST, so, like... that's saying something.

from travie on ig.

& i want to clarify again that this isn't meant to shit on people who are scared or have legitimate concerns. it's just frustrating to see ppl acting like it's suddenly a moral choice to oppose the festival or not. you can think it's stupid or cringe or whatever without going out of your way to make up reasons to be mad just to feel like you're in the right for not wanting to go.

[howtobeaconartist]

I live in between a lot of conventions, mostly about 2-6 hours away up and down for big big cons. I've been looking at some cons that aren't near me, and I was wondering if you guys think it's worth it to do conventions that are 10+ hours away and you have to go up a day either and/or buy a plane ticket? Sorry if this question has been asked before!!

Kiriska: As always, “worth it” depends on a lot of things, including your own preferences and priorities, and the specific convention in question.

Things to consider:

How much more will the extra travel add to your costs? In terms of money? (Gas, flight, luggage/shipped goods) In terms of time? (Days off work, compensation to yourself/ideal hourly wage, potential additional prep)

What convention is it you’re traveling to specifically? Do you think you, personally, would do well there? Is it of a genre you traditionally do well at? Have you done well at similar cons in the past? Based on what you know about the convention and your own work, do you think the amount of net revenue you make would be “worth it”? Or is there some other reason you want to go? A non-financial reason it might be “worth it”?

Are you, personally, comfortable traveling that distance? Would you be traveling alone? Can you manage all that luggage yourself? Would you have a helper? If so, are you compensating that helper (additional costs)?

Remember to take as many things into consideration as you can. Distance isn’t the only factor in determining whether a convention is “worth it.”

For me, personally, financial logistics (and all that things that go into that, including genre favourability) play the biggest factor in deciding which conventions to go to, not location. 

There are actually quite a few local events that I’ll decline to go to in favour of events that are further away and more expensive to attend. For example, there’s a 2-day biannual flea market-like event here that I’ve previously done okay at. It doesn’t cost much to table and travel is negligible. But if it lands on the same day as a major, out-of-state anime con (my best genre) where I’ve previously done amazing at? You better believe I’m going to the out-of-state con even if it costs me a lot more to get there.

On the flip side: there’s a local 3-day con I’ve done pretty well at in the past. Last year, it landed on the same weekend as an out-of-state con in a similar genre that I’ve never been to, but which friends have raved and raved about and which I’ve heard nothing but good things about. I still opted for the local con because I felt it was safer and even though it was likely that I could, I wasn’t 100% confident that I’d make back the the additional costs of traveling out-of-state con in this case.

So! It all depends. :>

Nattosoup:  As with Kiri, it depends.  I’ll travel for indie comic cons (I basically have to, Nashville doesn’t have much), as well as for anime cons in my native state of Louisiana, but otherwise, my days of traveling for anime cons are just about over.  For me, traveling for potential job opportunities and to meet up with friends is worthwhile, but traveling just to work a weekend (and quite possibly not even break even) is just so tiring- I’ve spent years taking that gamble.

For cons up to 4 hours away:  Will drive.  I own a 2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, so plenty of trunk space, great gas milage.

For cons further than 4 hours away: Fly.  We pack the heavy stuff in our carryons and backpacks- books, mini comics, and the con set up stuff in our roller bags.  I have a separate set of wire grids at my mom’s place in Louisiana, for when I used to do Mechacon.  Buying a spare set of grids costs about as much as flying grids.

But your mileage will vary.  What’s worthwhile will depend.  You will have friends in different cities than I do, your con experiences will vary from mine.

Further reading: #travel

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[queerwelsh]

‘Corn Gwlad’ gan Cwmni Pluen a Seiriol Davies, heno, nos yfory a nos Mawrth, am 9yh, yn Cwt Cabaret/Y Babell Len. Sioe wedi ei ysbrydoli gan E. Prosser Rhys yn ennill y Goron yn 1924 gyda’r cerdd ddeyrywiol ‘Atgof’.

‘Corn Gwlad’ produced by Pluen Company and Seiriol Davies, tonight, tomorrow night and Tuesday night at 9pm, in the Cwt Cabaret/Literary Pavilion. Inspired by E. Prosser Rhys winning the Crown in 1924 with his bisexual poem ‘Atgof.’  A Queer retelling.