The Path Forward May be Virtual
Shelby Alexander was expecting this, but all the same it was hard to accept it, as of Aug. 4, Anime Weekend Atlanta was officially cancelled. It is a convention for fans of anime, cosplay and many other Japanese related hobbies and Shelby has been a cosplayer for the past nine years on and off. She had been going to AWA the longest out of any Cosplay convention here in Georgia. She had just started up cosplaying again last year and had received many complements for her costume and was looking forward to improving on last year’s success. But COVID-19 has once again put an end to another goal and that person’s name was Shelby
“All of the materials and effort I put into making my cosplay seem like such a waste now, I really feel like crying.”
Disappointment could easily be heard in her voice. “I’m trying to look on the bright side and use it as a chance to improve on my skill some more, but I have to wait over a year again after I’ve waited so long already. It just seems too far away.”
Surprisingly and unplanned, the next day I came across another individual who was deeply saddened by the cancellation of another convention here in Georgia, Dragoncon. Her name was Allison Greene, she drove by in a Mustang with seat covers in the pattern of the carpet in the Marriott hotel. Recognizable to anyone who had ever spent a handful of times there at the convention’s hotel, with the symbol and the name Dragoncon in the center of it for anyone who had any doubts to the relation. It was easy to start a conversation with her. She was an older woman around her late 40s, Allison Greene told me of her long history with the convention.
“Me and my friends have been going to Dragoncon for almost twenty years now. We dress up as Vikings and participate in the parade and everything for all four days of the con. We all cried when we found out that Dragoncon got cancelled, it was our thing every year.”
One after another, conventions across the world shut down and what is basically a second wave of the coronavirus continues to rise again in many parts of the world. There is a strong possibility that society may inevitably have to adapt to a world with the coronavirus instead of waiting for it to just go away. So, for popular hobbies that usually have large gatherings such as these anime and cosplay conventions, what can be done? One possibility is switching to an online video convention and though it would be difficult to include the more minor details of what makes these conventions special. There are already examples of conventions that have laid a path for how to conduct one. An example of this would be the National Federation of the Blind.
Their convention was cancelled during the earlier months of COVID-19 and it was decided to switch it to an online platform in order for the visually impaired to not lose out on the experience. Having an opportunity to speak with Dorothy Griffin, the NFB President of Georgia, gave a very good perspective into how this event progress and if it was successful.
