Dear Shakespeare Association of America Member

Dear Shakespeare Association of America member,

This August marked the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. We in the SAA office have spent the intervening years trying to return to New Orleans, where we last met in 2004. Some of you will remember that conference at the historic Fairmont Hotel. We hoped to renew the close partnership we enjoyed with the Fairmont's staff, but the building was so badly damaged that the Fairmont group eventually withdrew. Hilton, which then rehabilitated the building as a Ritz Waldorf, deaccessioned a wing of guest rooms and repurposed some meeting space; it is now too small to host us. Thus we waited again on our best remaining option, the Sheraton, which received very hard use as FEMA headquarters. With the Sheraton's renovation, we are finally able to bring what business we can back to an extraordinary and much-loved city. Most immediately, our visit makes work—and pay—for staffers who might otherwise be on hiatus for the Easter weekend.

The 2016 opening reception will conclude with a jazz funeral in honor of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. This is thanks to the return of one of our most important New Orleans partners: Catherine Loomis, as Head of Local Arrangements. Professor Loomis knows that local rituals are not taken lightly, but she has found a band that is willing to work with us to appreciate the meaning of this one.

The formal program in New Orleans will open when a group of seminars meets at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, 24 March 2016. This year, however, we pioneer a new event: our first annual general meeting of the membership on Wednesday, 23 March, at 5:00 p.m. This is your opportunity to ask questions of SAA officers, learn more about the organization, and connect with other members earlier. The meeting will be followed by a cash bar.

The deadline for New Orleans seminars and workshops is rapidly approaching. You will find 63 choices described in our current bulletin. The online registration form requires you to make four choices by 15 September. SAA enrollments are processed on a first-registered, first-received basis. Although we make every effort to place you in your first-choice seminar or workshop, registration imbalances can render this impossible. In early October, you will receive notification of your seminar placement and an invitation to take part in the SAA's Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting.

Other deadlines include the following: 15 September, for the 2016 Dissertation Prize (for dissertations approved between 1 January and 15 September 2015); 1 November, for travel grants to graduate students and for our new program of travel grants for contingent faculty; 1 November, for proposals to exhibit in the 2016 Digital Salon; and 1 December, for submissions for this year's NextGenPlen paper session. Information about all these programs and events is available on the SAA website.

Conference registration will open on 1 January 2016, as will hotel reservations. For planning purposes, though, you may wish to know that the conference registration fee for those who register by 15 February is $150 for faculty and $90 for graduate students. Rooms in the Sheraton are $139 per night for single or double occupancy; state and local taxes are 13%, and Louisiana has also added a $3.00 per room per night occupancy tax. The SAA has negotiated complimentary internet access in guest rooms.

The conference hashtag is #shakeass16. We hope to see you in New Orleans.

With all best regards,

Lena Orlin

Executive Director