Dear Fellow JASPers,
We want to update you on our plans for 2024 and 2025. They may surprise you, so please read to the end!
1. Jane Austen &Co: If you aren't aware, JA&Co is in the midst of a new season online. We have already hosted Sonali Dev, C.K. Chau, and Sayantani DasGupta in our "Many Flavors of Jane Austen “ series. This series is innovative in that we are expanding the definition of adaptors of Austen to include not just novelists and playwrights, but also composers and game makers. In January we welcome Sam Wright, Uzma Jalaluddin, and Syrie James, with more to come in February, 2024. You can sign up here: https://www.janeaustenandco.org/.
2. Our NEH-Funded “Jane Austen’s Desk” project, featuring our interactive portal set in March 1813, is underway as well! We’ve hired a web development team, have hand drawn our visuals, and are eager to show you the beta versions in Spring or Summer, 2024.
We plan to conduct many tests with various groups, but our JASPers first and foremost. We also hope to have some demonstrations for you at the JASNA AGM in Cleveland, October, 2024. We are excited about how much this new website will enable us to reach an even broader audience than Jane Austen & Co, and to bring together lots of collaborators near and far.
3. Our lovely teachers’ program, often called JASP Plus -- which we are going to rebrand as "Austen for Teachers" -- is also launching a new website and plans to offer a 1-2 day workshop either in Chapel Hill, NC or virtually in July or August, 2024. Stay tuned!
4. So what about the 2024 Summer JASP? That’s the question everyone has been asking. We are having some staffing issues for this as our fearless director will be in Washington, DC or Madagascar on all the key weekends in June. Sarah Walton and Eric Bontempo, two equally fearless Associate Directors, have just gotten their PhDs and new professorships in West Virginia and Texas (respectively). So while they are still active JASPers, it’s a tough summer to fit everything in. All in all, we must postpone our an in-person JASP to 2025.
5. Lots of people were excited by the Austen vs. Brontë topic we proposed for JASP 2024, so we’ve decided to build a season of JA&Co around it. Starting in March 2024, you can expect a fun series of programming on this topic. (Hopefully we will not devolve into “Jane Austen Fight Club” mode. We have a pretty good line-up in mind, but if you have ideas for topics and speakers, don’t hesitate to send them to info@janeaustensummer.org.
6. We are already planning for a big, special in-person JASP for Jane Austen’s 250th birthday in 2025. Keep your eyes and ears open for further news on that.
I’m not sure all of you knew that all the activities mentioned above are Jane Austen Summer Program, Inc. activities. Our non-profit runs these four separate programs (JA&Co, Jane Austen’s Desk, the summer program, and the JASP Plus/ Austen for Teachers program). We achieve this with no regular, reliable funding whatsoever.
All of us are volunteers and while some speakers and students receive small honorariums, most of us work for free. We could achieve even more with reliable funding, sponsors, or patrons. If you have any leads on donors, please let us know. We have the ability to establish named lecture series, both in person and online, if that would be of interest. And with sufficient funds, we would be able to hire a program assistant who could keep things running even when the rest of us have conflicting schedules. So if you are thinking about any last-minute tax-deductible donations, please consider giving to JASP: https://jane-austen-summer-program.square.site/.
Thank you for all your support. We love our JASPers, and we look forward to all the future events ahead! Wishing you a happy 2024 full of good books, company, and conversations...
Inger, Sarah, Eric, Susan, David, Na'dayah, Delicia, & the rest of the team