Redemption

Multimedia Science Fiction Conventions

 

Latest news:

Starting Over

We regret to announce that Redemption ’23 will not be taking place.

The sad loss of Smurf last year, as well as being personally upsetting to the committee, left us with some practical issues regarding paperwork, online payment provision, and access to bank accounts, all of which have taken longer than anticipated to overcome. In addition, the convention hotel recently informed us that they had not received the contract we sent them some months ago, and have accordingly released the room space for another event.

Given the limited time remaining to find an alternative venue, we feel that it is no longer practical to run Redemption in February 2023. We believe the best option is to cancel Redemption ’23, and start over with plans for a new event, which may or may not be at the same hotel.

We’re thinking that 2024 may be a good target for a future convention, as it will be the 25th Anniversary of the first Redemption. But if possible, we hope to also organise a one-day get-together at some point in 2023.

But before we commit to dates, we’re working to ensure that we have reliable banking and payment arrangements, and everything else we need to make our next event happen, and we’ll also be taking the time to consider how we can make Redemption attractive to con-goers old and new without compromising the spirit of past events.

Those who have already paid for Redemption ’23 will be offered options including claiming a refund and carrying the payment forward to a future event.

We apologise wholeheartedly (we’re as fed up of the repeated postponements of what was supposed to be Redemption ’20 as you are!), but really, the loss of Smurf and the venue are a combination we can’t immediately overcome. But Redemption Multimedia Conventions will return with, as it were, a reunion/sequel/next generation event in the next couple of years.

Postponement to February 2023

On behalf of the Redemption committee, with great regret and due to Covid and other factors, we are postponing the event by a year, until the equivalent weekend in 2023 (Feb 24th-26th), for several practical reasons that have converged at the worst possible time, including the current Covid-19 uncertainties and expected upcoming restrictions.

We find that we’re in a somewhat awkward position; with three of the four UK nations having different restrictions from England, and our membership coming from all of them, the uncertainties are a problem. With Omicron, the variances in regulations, and the likelihood of restrictions for England being introduced in the New Year, we’ve seen some cancellations. This is something we do understand, as the safety of our members — many of whom are families, and many who are in vulnerable categories where Covid is concerned — must be paramount for us.

This is exacerbated by one of our guests, Professor Elemental, being a performer whose concerts may fall under different rules than the rest of the event, being performance rather than hospitality. Finally, the passing of Smurf, our friend and Treasurer — to whom Redemption 23 will be dedicated — has introduced legal and bureaucratic complexities.

Thus, regretfully we have to postpone to when the pandemic is less troublesome to our organisations, and the legal and bureaucratic issues both in rules on hospitality and performance and in the process of recovering from our loss have passed.

I and we really hate having to make this postponement, but feel it is necessary on these grounds, and hope you will understand, and enjoy a brighter Redemption 23. On the bright side, it will be a long-awaited return to our traditional “February in an odd-numbered year” slot.

With all apologies,

Tony, and the Redemption Conventions committee.

Passing of Ian Murphy

It is with great sadness that we heard yesterday that Ian Murphy, aka Smurf, passed from his illness. He was a longtime Redemptioner and valued committee member for many years, and we’re sure this will come as a shock to many others here, all of whom knew him.We will post some other updates in a few days, but as you can imagine, it will take all of us some time to process this news, so please bear with us.