The 2021 Outlier Podcast Festival has been postponed. This was announced on a Substack post by Founder of Outlier, Ever Gonzalez. The Outlier Podcast Festival was originally scheduled for September 23-24, 2021. From the post on Substack:
“After careful consultation with our team, partners, venue, and sponsors regarding the health and safety of everyone in our podcasting community we have made the difficult decision to postpone the Outlier Podcast Festival, scheduled for September 23-24, 2021, in Austin, TX to February 2022… dates to be determined.
“Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the City of Austin’s recent move to COVID-19 Stage 5, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our indie podcast community. We know it’s the right decision based on the information we have as of today.
“Our team will be reaching out directly to our sponsors and attendees with information about providing full refunds if necessary.
“We are also exploring options with our team to coordinate an online experience in September with some of today’s top podcasting talent. More information to follow…”
To me, it seems like this was a tough decision for the Outlier Podcast Festival to make. It was also the right decision. No one wants to be the in-person podcast festival that became a superspreader event. Protecting the health and safety of attendees should take top priority, and that appears to be exactly what Outlier Podcast Festival is doing.
