Hello everyone,
We have a CitizenCon update for you, but it’s not the update you were hoping for. Out of a deep concern for the well-being of our community and as a result of the effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the very difficult decision to cancel this year’s CitizenCon.
As many of you know, since we announced our Save the Date back in February, the world has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The resultant quarantine and shelter-in-place orders have had a profound effect on many businesses and people’s lives. One of the most relevant mandates that affect our ability to hold a CitizenCon this year is the order against large gatherings. In Los Angeles, where Cloud Imperium has its headquarters and where we planned to hold CitizenCon this year, there is a moratorium on any large gatherings, and an indefinite stay-at-home order for non-essential activities.
A show as large and complex as CitizenCon requires months of planning, and our ability to prepare for the event has stalled. In addition, we don’t have confidence that California and Los Angeles would allow an event as large as CitizenCon to occur even by October. As we monitored the COVID-19 situation with CitizenCon in mind, we saw that many governments around the world were still deep into quarantine, with no guarantee that these measures would be lifted any time soon. We also felt it would be unfair to ask you to begin committing preparation and savings for CitizenCon when the event itself was at risk due to the current pandemic. To say we are disappointed would be an understatement, but given the information we have today, we felt that cancelling CitizenCon was the only responsible choice to make.
We fully recognize that CitizenCon as an event includes a lot of preparation, savings, travel, and planning on the part of you, the attendees. We’re committed to updating you with more information, including the date of next year’s CitizenCon, as soon as possible. However, we cannot promise you an update soon, as we must follow guidance from local governments before we can safely determine a new date for CitizenCon. For now, we plan to hold CitizenCon next year, in 2021. And as soon as we can update you on a date so you can begin your plans to attend, we will do so.
Despite these unfortunate and unforeseeable circumstances, we plan to celebrate our community with events in the ‘verse throughout the year. And we still plan to celebrate Star Citizen’s birthday on October 10, but doing so digitally. This will not be a virtual CitizenCon, but it will be an online celebration with our community. So, stay tuned for updates on that in the near future.
In these unprecedented times, it’s more important than ever to look out for each other. Know that everyone in the community is family to us, and we’re here for all of you. We look forward to the day we can get back on track, attend a Bar Citizen, and see you all in person.
Until then, stay positive and stay safe, Citizens. We’ll see you in the ‘verse.