NCECA canceled

Sad news. Here's the email from NCECA:

2020 NCECA CONFERENCE UPDATE

After an exhaustive process of due diligence conversations and staff preparation efforts, we have come to a difficult decision to cancel the 2020 NCECA conference planned for Richmond, Virginia. We know this message is not the one many of you were hoping to receive. For others, it may be the challenging and difficult decision you hoped NCECA might reach. Please know that all of you reading this message are in our thoughts and understand that while reported risk levels for COVID-19 infection may currently be low in the conference region, the unique challenges and responsibilities associated with staging large gatherings at the present time remain immensely complex.

Over the past weeks, NCECA has heard from many of you. Your messages both to stay the course with the 2020 conference and those urging us to cancel have been read, shared, and heeded. Fortunately, and unfortunately, communing in large groups is a huge part of what NCECA has been, is, and will continue to be. Hundreds of you in the Greater Richmond community have been busy planning for years, and we are aware of how disappointing this news must be. NCECA has and will continue to be an organization that values people. Our love and dedication to ceramic art is bound up in relationships, teaching, and learning. When considering all of the factors before us, we felt that the well-being of the people and communities that have led us through 53 extraordinary conferences needed to be paramount in our decision-making.

So, it is with both deep regret and faith in solidarity with all reading and affected by this most unfortunate of announcements that we invite you to read on and learn more about this decision and next steps.