Dear SAS Members,

It is with sadness that we announce the postponement of the Annual Conference that had been scheduled to take place at Tulane University, New Orleans, 15-18 June 2020. The conference will now take place at Tulane University in 2021, with the exact date to be confirmed. Information about the 2021 conference will be shared as it becomes available via the SAS email list and the current conference website.

Conference registration fees will be refunded automatically by the Tulane conference team. If you do not see the refund in your account within the next few weeks, please contact: cme@tulane.edu.

If you have booked to stay at the conference hotel (Marriott Courtyard New Orleans French Quarter/Iberville), you will be able to request your refund directly with the hotel. If you have any difficulties, please contact the Tulane conference team for assistance.

Presenters accepted in 2020 who wish to re-submit their accepted paper for the 2021 conference will be guaranteed a place. By not carrying papers automatically over for the 2021 conference, and imposing a re-submission process, we hope to create a situation where there is some natural evolution, with some presenters developing new research, and thereby providing space for new proposals to come through for consideration and acceptance. We have taken this approach to ensure that early career researchers, new practitioners, and grad students are not placed at a disadvantage due to the extreme circumstances that have led to this postponement.

We also welcome delegates who had proposals accepted, who already have their research completed and would like to share their findings this year, to consider submitting to the Animation Studies 2.0 blog. The blog will dedicate the month of June to posts of this type. A dedicated CFP with all submission information will be circulated next month to accepted conference presenters. For anyone reading this who is interested more generally in submitting work, the open call guidelines can be found here: https://blog.animationstudies.org/?page_id=1976.

Additionally, we will be reaching out to individual SIG conveners to discuss their plans for 2020, especially exploring the potential to run some activities online. We see this as one way that we might overcome the need to physically isolate throughout 2020 (necessary to combat COVID-19), and thereby engage in meaningful exchanges around specific SIG themes.

We hope that you all stay safe and well.

Regards,
The SAS Board and SAS 2021 Conference Team