Faced with having to abandon its anti-Trump stance, a Salem festival changed venues instead
“The whole purpose of our festival is to explore cultural anxiety and societal fears."
Having to pull out of a venue close to event day is a horror for any event organizer. But for Kevin Lynch of Salem Horror Fest, it was either that or completely drop the festival’s political stance.Salem’s Regional Visitor Center was supposed to host some of the festival’s film screenings, but when someone called attention to the festival’s political stance against President Donald Trump, officials with the Essex National Heritage Area, which operates the center, told organizers they had to remove the anti-Trump posts from social media to be able to use the center’s screening room. Instead of doing that, Lynch and colleagues decided to pull away from the venuewith the hope of finding another place within a short timeline.“The whole purpose of our festival is to explore cultural anxiety and societal fears,” Lynch, who serves as the festival’s founder and director, told Boston.com. “It would’ve negated the entire purpose of our festival.”An email went out from someone concerned about the festival’s political stance, according to Lynch. It went to all of the festival’s venues as well as city officials. The visitor center was the only one to question the festival about its politics, but it’s also the only venue that isn’t privately owned. Fortunately, the visitor center screenings have since been moved to The Bridge at 211.Lynch said there’s no bad feelings toward those at Essex Heritage – he understands that because of the organization’s status as a non-profit, and the visitor center being owned by a federal entity, the National Park Service, it has to avoid having a political leaning.“Basically, this isn’t their fault,” he said, noting that what it comes down to is regulations and policy. “We don’t blame them. … They serve an important function. They’re the revolving door of the city.”Essex Heritage issued a statement in response to other recent news reports about the horror fest relocating its events. This was the first year the two decided to work together, the statement said, and when the organization became aware of the festival’s stance, officials from both the organization and the festival worked together to find a compromise. For the festival, it came down to deciding to relocate the screenings.“We have been stunned to see recent social media and news outlets reporting that the Salem Horror Fest was ‘booted’ out of the Salem Visitor Center despite their posting on Facebook stating that ‘we chose to leave,’” part of the statement said. “We find this characterization most unfortunate and the controversy is over-shadowing Salem Haunted Happenings, the month-long, family-friendly Halloween festival in Salem, MA.”Lynch says that he does want to meet with Essex Heritage officials and talk about the policy.“I don’t hold ill will toward them,” he said.
