NEWS

About a month ago we made a promise to all of you that our priority was to keep you healthy and safe.  There is no way we could keep that promise and also move ahead with an event in early September.

The Great Burlesque Exposition has been moved to April 16-18, 2021.  We’re still in Salem; we’re still at The Bridge at 211. We still have a room block at The Clipper Ship Inn.

What this means is

• If you were accepted as a performer, your act is still accepted, but we’ll ask you to re-confirm closer to the event.  If you had been accepted, but had to drop out because you couldn’t make the September dates, you are accepted for April 2021.  Please contact us.
• If you were accepted as a teacher, your classes are still accepted, but we’ll ask you to re-confirm closer to the event.  If you had been accepted, but had to drop out because you couldn’t make the September dates, you are accepted for April 2021.  Please contact us.
• If you purchased a ticket to an event, it has been transferred to the new dates.
• If you want to cancel your ticket and get a refund, please contact Brown Paper Tickets at (800) 838-3006 or refunds@BrownPaperTickets.com
• If you reserved a vendor space, it has been transferred to the new dates.
• If you want to cancel your vendor space and get a refund, please contact Brown Paper Tickets at (800) 838-3006 or refunds@BrownPaperTickets.com
• If you have a hotel reservation at The Clipper Ship Inn, you can transfer it to the new dates.  Your room rate is likely to go down.  Please contact them at ClipperShipInn@gmail.com or (978) 745-8022.

This decision wasn’t made lightly.  We really appreciate all of the input we received from those of you who completed our surveys or reached out to us privately.  Your responses showed that there was no decision we could make that was going to make everyone happy: some people expressed a strong desire to go forward with an in-person event; some people strongly expressed the view that in-person gatherings were a bad idea.  Even with the support of our performers, instructors, and vendors, we just didn’t know if the audience would come out.  No event producer can predict attendance with certainty, but these days things are even more uncertain than usual.  Without an audience, there is no BurlExpo.

While our corner of the country has been successful in reducing the spread of COVID-19, other parts of the country and other countries have not been so fortunate.  The Great Burlesque Exposition draws people from all over, and while we would do our utmost to minimize the risks at the event, there was nothing we could do about the dangers of travel, or your conditions at home.  

If someone unknowingly brought contagion to the BurlExpo and we became one of those ‘flash points’ you read about, I could never forgive myself.

We’ll keep you posted about on-line educational opportunities and performances that we are developing, as well as our museum, The American Burlesque Collection, which will be opening in Salem and on the internet in the next few months. In the meantime, we are strongly hoping that developments over the next 6+ months bring this global pandemic to an end, and that we will see you all in Salem in April 2021. 

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Get Involved

The Great Burlesque Exposition wants you! Now is the time to get involved as a high-level organizer.  We're looking for people passionate about burlesque to help make 2020 our best year so far.  If you're intested in being part of the steering committee, please email us with a little bit about you and what you're interested in.