Event Dates: May 5-7, 2017
| The Radisson Hotel Piscataway-Somerset 21 Kingsbridge Road, Piscataway NJ 08854 732-980-0400 SOLD OUT of hotel rooms |
Embassy Suites Piscataway 121 Centennial Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854 732-980-0500 SOLD OUT of hotel rooms |
Some rooms are likely to open up closer to SPWF,so keep checking back.
An official overerflow hotel is available. We are actively looking for more official overflow hotels.
Tickets for SPWF 2017 are now available!
We work with more Steampunk musicians than almost anyone else in the world. But that doesn’t give us the right to tell everyone else what is or isn’t Steampunk music. It DOES, however, give us a bit of perspective.
Rather than trying to figure out who is and isn’t allowed to come and play with us, how about this –
If it’s music that creates, promotes, or inspires Steampunk, then it can damn well be called Steampunk music.
Does it matter if you dress Steampunk? If you have Steampunk lyrics? If you call yourself Steampunk? If you play Steampunk events? Sure! Any of those things adds meaning to Steampunk music.
But at the end of the day:
If what you play makes the Steampunk world a better place, it’s good enough for me.
-Jeff Mach
Photo of Mansara at SPWF 2015 by Babs Who Takes Pictures
Listen, my friend. If you take something that’s got something to do with the 19th century, or thereabouts, and do something with it, I’m going to be comfortable calling it Steampunk.
Obviously, using a big, broad definition can give people an excuse to do cookie-cutter same-as-everybody-else stuff. I’ll totally admit that. You can buy a few plastic gears at a hardware store, throw ’em at a hat, and call it Steampunk.
But it also means that we have a massive wealth of styles, ideas, locales, concepts, and geography to play with. We’re not limited to Europe. We’re not limited to H.G. Wells. We’re not limited to EARTH. We’ve got Tesla to Curie to Jack the Ripper to Lovelace to Challenger to Elizabeth Howlett.
If we let Steampunk be defined big and far and wide, we’ll get imitation, we’ll get some mass-produced stuff, we’ll get some people who just don’t put any thought or effort into it, and yeah, that’s a shame. But we’ll also OPEN STEAMPUNK UP to the entire planet and let anyone creative, whimsical, and strange come play in our playground. Steampunk will either be mind-batteringly boring or world-challengingly enthralling BASED ON WHAT WE DO WITH IT! It’s up to US!
So tell me, mate. For you, what IS Steampunk?
~ Jeff Mach
Steampunk is fairly new, especially in its current incarnation. While K.W. Jeter invented the term in 1987, and some people have been doing Steampunk things for a long time, the Steampunk world we know – the profusion of art, culture, music, conversation, literature, and delights we now enjoy – has taken off within, at most, the last eight or ten years (edited to be a bit more accurate).
Steampunk is still NEW. That means that everyone has a voice. We get to DECIDE what Steampunk will be. And those of us who are doing Steampunk have made it clear:
We want to try to embrace everyone who wants to participate in our strange and wonderful world! We want to enjoy everyone’s imaginary Steampunk universes! We welcome people of every race, creed, gender, background, and orientation. We want you to be a part of it!
The actual era included sexism, racism, and homophobia. The imaginary 19th century would like to remind you to keep those things out of the 21st century, please. Hate is not a Steampunk value!
-Jeff Mach
1. Steampunks are some of the friendliest, most welcoming people ever.
2. The Universe runs on tea. Sugar and cream are optional, but just barely.
3. Steampunks come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages!
4. Scones are a vegetable.
5. Sherlock Holmes would totally have been besties with Oscar Wilde.
6. There are more top hats in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
7. The imagination truly has no limits. Personal creativity is limitless. Give people a place to express themselves, and they will delight you.
~Jeff Mach
Photos © 2010 – 2016 Babette Daniels Photography Click here to see more and purchase images.
Photographer Credit: Babette Daniels Photography
We are thrilled to announce the return of a SPWF favorite for 2017!
Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band combines the rich musical history of the circus and the vagabond peoples of Europe with the raw energy of avant-garde jazz, the burning heat of funk and the irreverence and fun of today’s Vaudeville for a sound that is somehow familiar yet like no other. Label them anyway you like! Call them avant world fusion, call them experimental big band, call them gypsy steamfunk, call them circus noise! They may be tough to sum up, but it’s easy to tell you they’ll show you a good time and they’ll get a crowd dancing! Continue reading
We’d like to cordially invite you to
The Steampunk World’s Fair, the world’s largest Steampunk festival, has helped some of the best-known performers in Steampunk get discovered. Now we’d like to share the Steampunk joy. We’re seeking the greatest undiscovered Steampunk talent in the world!
THE DEAL:
We’re looking for any sort of Steampunk performer, band, artist, or creators. We’ll transport you to the show, give you meals and hotel accommodations for the weekend, and give you top billing, right up with our show’s headliners, plus a thousand dollars!
THE RULES:
All you need to do are:
1. Submit a programming application. Be sure to choose the “Great Steampunk Talent Search” option when you answer the application question “Is there a specific section of programming you’re interested in applying for?”
2. Send us a video of your performance! It can be a professionally-produced video, or it can be a simple piece from your camera – as long as we can get a clear idea of who you are and what you do. Send the video to programming@jeffmachevents.com with subject: SPWF Talent Search.
3. There will be one winner. The winner will be announced on February 1, 2017.
And hey! Do you know someone who should enter this talent search? Please pass this info along!
More information can be found on the VENDOR APPLICATION PAGE.
We will be closing applications on September 15th, 2016 DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL OCTOBER 15, 2016 . We will notify all applying vendors of their status by October 22, 2016 –if we have accepted the application, wait-listed the application, or declined the application. Wait-listed vendors will be contacted in case of a vendor cancellation no later than April 15th, 2017.
Want to know a bit about what our show looks like? Try this music video by Beat Down Boogie!
Is SPWF too far away? Want to come to our next event? It’s an unconventional party thrown by Faeries for all the weird, wonderful people of the world! Glimmerdark.com.
The Steampunk World’s Fair is pleased as punch to announce the return of Gail Carriger to the Fair in 2017 as the Literary Guest of Honor!
New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger writes to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in higher learning, a fondness for cephalopods, and a chronic tea habit. She then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She resides in the Colonies, surrounded by fantastic shoes, where she insists on tea imported from London.
We’d like to know what you thought of the 2016 Steampunk World’s Fair!
Filling out the feedback form is the best way to ensure we see your feedback and keep it where we can access it easily!
The Steampunk World’s Fair is proud to sponsor “A Surprise Cameo,” a new webcomic from James Hatton, creator of “In His Likeness.”
Sign up for Hatton’s Patreon so you don’t miss a single comic!
