As we close out 2020, Startup Tucson and the TENWEST team have continued to evaluate how TENWEST and our organization have the most impact in our community as we look towards recovery and resilience and how the festival can best live out its mission to collaborate, to innovate, and to serve the Southern Arizona community.
After additional consideration and conversations with organizers, partners and sponsors, we have determined that our focus should be to remain available to fulfill the stronger needs in our community for economic recovery than a digital version of TENWEST would. As such, we will further postpone the full in-person experience of the TENWEST Impact Festival from a potential Spring 2021 date to Spring 2022.
While we wish we could be in-person with everyone this Spring, Startup Tucson will instead focus on serving the community in the following ways:
- Hosting our 20+ year event IdeaFunding on April 15 in a digital format. This event will include an expanded pitch competition for Tucson entrepreneurs and small businesses and will focus on highlighting some of the amazing pivots and new ideas coming to our community.
- Free and extended pitch training for all participating IdeaFunding teams
- Teaming up with organizations across Arizona for a statewide entrepreneurship month in April called Startup Together AZ that will focus on entrepreneurship and small business support
- Continuing to serve the needs of entrepreneurs and creatives, who have been at the front lines of the crisis by exploring content that not only addresses immediate needs, but also seeks to build long term resiliency in these sectors to weather economic uncertainty.
- Becoming a major supporter and collaborator for the many important events that had to reschedule from 2020 to 2021 making our team and resources available to lift up our partners who have experienced significant challenges as a result of the pandemic.
As always, thank you to our key partners the University of Arizona, Arizona Commerce Authority, Pima Community College, Visit Tucson, the Rothschild Foundation and the Startup Tucson Board of Directors for helping us come to this decision. And thank all of you for your innovation and inspiration.
– The Startup Tucson/TENWEST Team
