Lovecraft Arts & Sciences 2023 Winter Fundraiser

Weird Providence Needs Your Support

Dear friends of the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council,

Greetings from Providence! I hope this finds you and your family well and sane – and managing to remain so over everything the world seems to throw at us these days.

I am reaching out once again to seek your direct material help. We at the Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council work hard to bring people together from around the world, to cultivate a sense of community through exciting and unique programming, and to foster camaraderie among kindred souls. We strive to provide a welcoming home here in Providence for all members of the vibrant and diverse Weird community, and we’re proud of our success over the past decade (and it's been an astonishing decade at that).

I'm so incredibly proud to say we managed to pull off a remarkable NecronomiCon 2022 last August... and while Covid and economic concerns made it a much smaller event than it typically is, we still think it was an incredible programming success - and we're already beginning to plan for the next one - August 15-18, 2024. Meanwhile, our retail store continues to garner rave reviews as a “must-visit” and “treasure” for its unique selection and helpful staff - and we even had a really good 2022 sales year despite the massive hurdles from the economy and the pandemic. I am proud of what we've accomplished - so much of it with the collective help of you all - and we continue to strive to have our organization enrich our city and the global Weird fiction community.

Today, though, I am in the always-awkward position of needing to ask for your financial help.

The Lovecraft Arts & Sciences Council is a nonprofit organization in Rhode Island and we manage to do what we do with minimal staff – just three paid staff that run our storefront in Providence. The rest of our operation relies on a squad of dedicated volunteers, of which I am one, squeezing in work for the organization between the tasks of my real job.

Our programming — the convention, the Tour de Tentacle, our author readings, etc. — is either free or as affordable as we can make it, often barely breaking even. As a barebones organization that relies on the help of dedicated volunteers, we greatly depend on the income from our store and some small grants and donations to keep our doors open, literally and figuratively.

Given the obstacles presented by the pandemic and the related economic slowdown, we’re faced with a grave financial threat to our organization. NecronomiCon, for one, ended up being much more expensive than usual - all prices seemed to increase, from venue fees to printing costs, and at the same time Covid policies lead to us curtailing pass sales and fewer folks could join us anyway due to economic stress. So, while the event helps to pull in funds to sustain us through the long dark retail winter, we are coming up short much sooner than we'd normally - just as we experience some of our worst visitor days in years, even worse than much of the height of the pandemic. During those days, though, we were fortunate to receive some help from the government to sustain us, via a couple payroll protection program loans - but those days are long gone now and we're needing to sustain ourselves, and hope for help from our community.

Right now, the situation is dire, we’re faced with making even harder decisions. This is compounded by the fact that our home building for the past seven years, the historic Providence Arcade, is still far less active than it used to be in The Before Times. A new coffee shop has opened, but we remain the only retailer in the building - a grim situation to be in.

In 2020, you, our amazing weird fiction community, stepped up and really helped us when we needed it so badly. A little over two years later, with many of the same hurdles before us, we humbly extend our hat once again – knowing full well that a lot of you are struggling, too, and realizing there are many other worthy potential recipients of your generosity. But given the existential obstacles we face, we truly need a little bit of your help.

If you’ve enjoyed our programming over the years – NecronomiCon Providence, the Arcade Asylum author series, the Tour de Tentacle rides, our hosting of the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival — or shopping in our quirky little store, or simply wish to support our existence as a beacon of Weird in a banal world, we ask that you please consider donating to us.

This time, our goal is to raise a more modest (but still crucial) $20,000 to pay off increasing debts and bills for merchandise and supplies, wages for our employees and payroll taxes, our lease and insurance coverage, bookkeeping and accounting help, to keep the lights on, and give us enough to get through to next summer when we anticipate some return to normalcy.

I appreciate you reading this far. It goes without saying that the past few years have been the most unusual and devastating years in recent memory. Countless businesses are lamenting irreparable losses and financial ruin. But as we’ve done our best to be there for you, we need you to please come through for us now. A contribution in any amount will mean the world to us. We promise to repay our debt by continuing to be a welcoming home for fans of the Weird the world over.

Best wishes for a safe and happy winter!

With sincere and utmost gratitude,

Niels Hobbs

Director, Lovecraft Arts & Science Council

weirdprovidence.org

necronomicon-providence.com