New date of Warsaw Conference — early autumn 2021

Dear SIBMAS Member,

I hope everyone is well and safe at this difficult time. 

On behalf of the organising committee of SIBMAS for our 2021 Warsaw conference we would like to inform you of the postponement of our conference scheduled for May this year.  Our Polish hosts and our SIBMAS committee have taken this decision because of the current pandemic and the different situations people find themselves in different countries.  Back in the summer of 2020 we had hoped that countries around the world would begin to see an easing of restrictions allowing for a May 2021 congress to take place, instead many are struggling with waves of new infections from new variants of the virus. We feel that during spring 2021 there would be too many uncertainties: the difficulties of being able to travel, quarantine measures, social distancing that may still prohibit gathering in large numbers, and increased economic uncertainty as institutional funding for travel to conferences has diminished.

But as you all know there is good news on the horizon regarding the production of vaccines that will hopefully combat the disease and we can start to get back to a form of normality. We hope to look at the possibility of a hybrid (digital / live) conference for the early autumn. This will give the opportunity to everyone to participate in some form.  We are looking at different models of digital / hybrid conferences and we hope to come up with a form that will work for SIBMAS.

There will be many organisational issues for the congress committee to consider in the coming months, so we ask in advance for your understanding and patience as we prepare and plan for a SIBMAS gathering in some form.  With the current state-of- affairs internationally, we would be wrong not to try and address the impact of the pandemic on our professional lives. I hope that when we finally gather, we will also be able to address the impact of Covod-19 on our professional lives and on the Performing Arts.  We are of course living through a situation that changes almost weekly so we are monitoring the situation and will keep you informed of any changes in our hopes and aspirations for an autumnal event.

In the meantime, the web committee have been very active working behind the scenes on a new updated website with some great new functionality, which will help SIBMAS move forward into the future post pandemic.
With kind regards to everyone and stay safe and well.

Alan R. Jones
Acting President of SIBMAS