BELOW is our 2022 detailed schedule of additional programming happening outside of the regular panels, talks and author readings! These supplement the core programming events.
Please note: Some events will be open to the General Public (as noted below). Unless otherwise noted, events require a convention pass – either single day or full pass.
REGISTRATION – Registration during the convention will take place at the GRADUATE Hotel, second floor landing. Please print out your Eventbrite pass or ticket (which will be automatically emailed to you) or have it on your smartphone and bring to the registration table to redeem for your badge, etc.
Registration is Thursday Noon – 5pm, Friday 8am – 6pm, Saturday 8am – 5pm, and Sunday 9am – 3pm
VENDOR HALL – Over 60 vendors await you in the Omni Hotel’s Narragansett Ballroom, Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm, and Sunday 11am-5pm. Check out the full list of 2022 vendors here – coming imminently!
For the list of core programming, go here.
For downloadable schedules, here’s the updated schedule spreadsheet, – we’ll soon post a full updated list here, too.
ALL ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING 2022
WEDNESDAY – August 17
Noon to 5:00 pm – ARS NECRONOMICA: The Visual Divine of the Dark Cosmos – AS220 Aborn Gallery, 2nd floor 95 Empire Street, 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free)
Nearly 30 artists are featured in this remarkable three-week showcase of some of the finest in weird art. More information can be found at the Ars Necronomica page. The opening reception will be Thursday night.
6:00pm to 11:00pm – NecronomiCon Welcome PRE-PARTY – Black Box / AS220, 95 Empire Street, Providence 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC
Co-hosted with our friends from PVD Horror, this is a welcoming party for early-arriving NecronomiCon attendees at AS220’s creative venue, The Black Box. Local and visiting authors will read weird fiction, and we’ll even have a little open-mic where folks are encouraged to share their own pieces, covers, and fan fiction. We’ll also be screening some special films and music. If you’re arriving early for the convention, come and take part or just have a drink and hang out with friends old and new.
THURSDAY – August 18
Noon to 8:00pm, opening 6:00 to 8:00 pm – ARS NECRONOMICA: The Visual Divine of the Dark Cosmos GROUP ART EXHIBITION – AS220 Aborn Gallery, Second Floor, 95 Empire Street, 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free)
Nearly 30 artists are featured in this remarkable three-week showcase of some of the finest in weird art from around the world. More information can be found at the Ars Necronomica page. The opening reception will be Thursday night, from 6-8pm. The Aborn Gallery is located on the second floor of the Black Box building where some special events and screenings are happening, and down the block from the Providence Public Library where the rest of the film fest takes place.
All day – FILM SCREENINGS – Noon to 5:30pm at the Providence Public Library (150 Empire St, 02903) and 6pm to Midnight at the Black Box (95 Empire Street, 02903) – see separate schedule OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC ($10/day for public)
All day – WALKING TOURS of Lovecraft-related sites around Providence – Separate ticket $12 available now! Check the page here.
Noon to 5pm – REGISTRATION open at the Graduate Hotel, 2nd Floor landing. Beat the crowds and come early!
1:00 to 4:30pm – Body Horror in the Archives – Providence Public Library (150 Empire Street 02903), Room TBD
Drop by Providence Public Library to view items from our historic collections that depict the grotesque and body horror. Rare items on display will highlight body differences and modification, anthropomorphism, anthropogenic hazards, phrenology and magic, mysticism and fairy tales. Please note that many of these items are rooted in cultural policing of the “other” and cannot be disconnected from white supremacy and racism or include content that may be difficult to engage with.
5:00pm to Midnight – Weird GAMING – Graduate Hotel, 17th and 18th floors. See separate schedule
5:00 to 6:00pm – WELCOMING CEREMONY – the First Baptist Church in America, 75 N. Main St. 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free)
Our convention Poet Laureate Bryan Thao Worra, Guests of Honor, and local historians and luminaries, will welcome attendees to this historic and symbolic Providence landmark. Barnaby Evans, executive director of WaterFire, will emcee, and world-renowned organist Gigi Mitchell-Velasco will provide a musical accompaniment to the ceremony.
6:00 to 8:00pm – ARS NECRONOMICA Art Exhibition, OPENING RECEPTION – AS220 Aborn Gallery, 95 Empire Street, Providence, 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free)
This is the official reception for the 2022 Ars Necronomica exhibition, The Visual Divine of the Dark Cosmos. The gallery will be open all day, and other days of the convention, as well as to the end of the month, so you won’t have to worry about missing this remarkable exhibition of world-class weird art, featuring the works of nearly sixty artists from around the world. Visit the Ars Necronomica page for more information.
7:00 to 11pm – Narragansett / NecronomiCon PARTY UNDER THE STARS – The Red Door, 49 Peck Street 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free, 21+)
By popular demand, but in a new place, we’ve got a special outdoor block party planned, including local musical monstrosities the Big Nazo Intergalactic Band, accompanied by local rockers Salem Wolves and eldritch-folk act Vudu Sister, some music/video mashups, and other special screenings. There will be a beer garden by our sponsor Narragansett Beers (including the new Colour out of Space IPA) and other libations by The Red Door, and a very fitting carnival fire pit roast to feed your cultist belly. More plans still in the works!
8:00 to 11pm – BLACK LODGE PARTY – a secret and undisclosed location – CLOSED EVENT
A private club and small getaway spot for Golden Key members (passes required). But remember – there are only three rules about Black Lodge… 😉
FRIDAY – August 19
Noon to 5:00pm – ARS NECRONOMICA: The Visual Divine of the Dark Cosmos GROUP ART EXHIBITION – AS220 Aborn Gallery, Second Floor, 95 Empire Street, 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free)
Nearly 30 artists are featured in this remarkable three-week showcase of some of the finest in weird art from around the world. More information can be found at the Ars Necronomica page. The Aborn Gallery is located on the second floor of the Black Box building where some special events and screenings are happening, and down the block from the Providence Public Library where the rest of the film fest takes place.
All day – WALKING TOURS of Lovecraft sites around Providence – Separate ticket $12 available now! Check the page here.
9:00am to Midnight – Weird GAMING – Graduate Hotel 17th and 18th floor. See separate schedule
All day – FILM SCREENINGS – Noon to 5:30pm at the Providence Public Library (150 Empire St, 02903) and 6pm to Midnight at the Black Box (95 Empire Street, 02903) – see separate schedule OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC ($10/day for public)
7:00 to 9:00pm – GUEST RECEPTION – Graduate Hotel, Outdoor Terrace 3rd Floor
Private reception for Guests of Honor, Guest pass holders, and Golden Keys, with hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and a stunning view of Weird Providence.
7:00 to 7:45pm – Robert Lloyd Parry Solo Performance of M.R. JAMES’s “COUNT MAGNUS” – Capital Ballroom, Graduate Hotel 2nd Floor
Robert Lloyd Parry superbly brings to life the M.R. James’s chilling tale wherein a travel-writer’s over-inquisitiveness leads to a breathless, diabolical chase from darkest Sweden to rural Essex.
Which then leads to…
8:00 – 9:30pm – HPLHS’s Dark Adventure Radio Theatre “THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM” – Capital Ballroom, Graduate Hotel 2nd Floor
The Horror in the Museum – The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society presents a special live performance of H.P. Lovecraft & Hazel Heald’s tale in the style of a 1930s radio drama. Steven Jones, an entertainment producer from Chicago, journeys to London in search of new acts. There he discovers the strange and disturbing wax museum of Rodgers and his inscrutable associate Orabona. Is the mad artist able to conjure up the world’s most horrifying waxen effigies through his occult inspirations, or is there a darker secret lurking behind the wax and paint.
9:00-10:00pm – The Outer Dark Reception Party – Next Wave of The Weird: Readings from Rising Authors – Outdoor Terrace, Graduate Hotel, 3rd Floor
Immediately following the guest reception, but open to all con attendees, this party/gathering organized by our friends in The Outer Dark podcast features cookies, community-building mingling, and readings by authors who represent the future of the vibrant literary mode of Weird fiction.
Participants/readers: Melanie Crew, Richard Gerlach, H.Y. Hsu, Jess Lewis, Joanna Roye, Rosalynde Vas Dias. Moderator/Host: Anya Martin.
9:00pm to Midnight (doors at 8pm) – CIRITH UNGOL, WARHORSE, SANHEDRIN – The Columbus Theater, 270 Broadway, 02903 – OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC (tickets details below)
Cirith Ungol are some of the true godfathers of epic heavy metal, born in the early 70s and forged from a love for high fantasy ala Tolkein and Moorcock, and setting out to create “the heaviest metal known to man.” NecronomiCon and Armageddon are proud to host these elder-gods of metal, with powerhouse doom metal masters Warhorse, and new masters of lyrical power-metal, Sanhedrin. Tickets on sale here.
NOTE: The Columbus Theatre requires proof of Covid Vaccination (full basic vaccination required, but boosters aren’t required)!
SATURDAY – August 20
Noon to 5:00pm – ARS NECRONOMICA: The Visual Divine of the Dark Cosmos GROUP ART EXHIBITION – AS220 Aborn Gallery, Second Floor, 95 Empire Street, 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free)
All day – WALKING TOURS of Lovecraft-related sites around Providence – Separate ticket $12 available here. Check the page here.
9:00am to Midnight – Weird GAMING – Graduate Hotel, 17th and 18th floor – See separate schedule
All day – FILM SCREENINGS – Noon to Midnight at the Providence Public Library (150 Empire St, 02903) – see separate schedule OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC ($10/day for public)
7:00 – 8:30pm – HPLHS’s Dark Adventure Radio Theatre “PURGATORY CHASM” – Capital Ballroom, Graduate Hotel 2nd Floor
The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society breaks all the rules with a special live performance of a never-before-heard INTERACTIVE 1930s radio drama. The audience will make decisions throughout this thrilling Nate Ward adventure, and their choices will dictate just what is found in a strange New England cave. Don’t miss this special sneak preview of the next episode of Dark Adventure Radio Theatre – an all new Nate Ward adventure!
9:00 to 11:00pm – THEATRICAL SOLO ACT DOUBLE-FEATURE, special performances of tales by M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft – AS220’s Black Box Theater, 95 Empire Street, 02903
Robert Lloyd Parry returns to present M.R. James’s “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad” – a tale of nocturnal terror on the Suffolk coast, considered by many to be James’s masterpiece. Then, new to NecronomiCon, Tim Uren presents a dramatic solo presentation HPL’s “The Rats in the Walls.” These two award-winning acts will be an enjoyable presentation of some of the best in classic horror – both staged in the creepy Black Box Theater!
9:00pm to Midnight – ELDRITCH BALL – Graduate Hotel, Biltmore Ballroom 17th floor
The return of the Eldritch Ball, with a very unique theme — MASQUE of the RED DEATH! Sure to be a night of epic celebration and ruin you won’t soon be able to forget! The ball is a fancy-dress, costume, masquerade, cosplay, semi-formal affair. OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC ($ee below)
Ticket cost for convention pass holders (including off-duty minions) is $28.00 advance / $30 at the door (if space is available), and includes two drink tickets (21+ ID required for alcohol). The cost for limited number of general public tickets is $30 advance / $35 at the door. Sorry, only Key-holders and Guests of Honor get in free. Capacity is just 300 souls, so act fast. Tickets available here!
9:30 to 10:30pm – Lovecraftian / Weird TRIVIA HOUR – Reiner’s Sports Bar, Graduate Hotel 1st floor – OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (free, 21+)
Our pal, Pete Rawlik, is a trivia master. Pete pulls together a great collection of Lovecraft- and weird-fiction-related trivia, some fairly easy, some maybe hard enough to even make S.T. Joshi whimper.
SUNDAY – August 21
8:00 to 9:30am – CTHULHU PRAYER BREAKFAST – Biltmore Ballroom, Graduate Hotel 17th Floor
The unholiest of cosmically unspeakable breakfasts, hosted by Most Exalted Hierophants Cody Goodfellow and Anthony Teth. Separate ticketed event – tickets on sale via our eventbrite page
Golden Key and Silver Key members receive complimentary admission.
8:00 to 10:00am – Foraging Horrors: A NecronomiCon Mushroom Walk – OFF-SITE, at the Blackstone Park
Author and fungus fan, Rick Claypool, and the Rhode Island Mycological Society are organizing a special walking tour of a very fungus-rich park on the east side of Providence – Blackstone Park. Attendees will need to secure their own travel. Reserve your spot and get info here: [email protected]
9:00am to evening… – Weird GAMING – Graduate Hotel 17th and 18th floor. See separate schedule
All day – FILM SCREENINGS – Noon to 7pm at the Providence Public Library (150 Empire St, 02903) – see separate schedule OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC ($10/day for general public)
Noon to 5pm – ARS NECRONOMICA: The Visual Divine of the Dark Cosmos GROUP ART EXHIBITION – AS220 Aborn Gallery, Second Floor, 95 Empire Street, 02903 OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC (free)
6:00 to 6:45pm – Robert Lloyd Parry dramatic reading of Algernon Blackwood’s “THE WILLOWS” – Capital Ballroom, Graduate Hotel 2nd Floor
Robert Lloyd Parry ends his trio of performances with a special dramatic reading of this eerie tale by Blackwood. Which leads then to…
7:00-8:30pm – HPLHS’s Dark Adventure Radio Theatre “THE CURSE OF YIG” – Capital Ballroom, Graduate Hotel 2nd Floor
9:00pm to 11:00pm – The Dunwich Horror PICTURE SHOW! – Columbus Theater, 270 Broadway, 02903 OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC ($5 for all!)
Come see the classic, 1970’s Dunwich Horror, presented on 16mm film in all its psychedelic weirdness like you’ve NEVER seen it before (except maybe in 2015 and 2017 and 2019). Come enjoy the nicest old theater in Providence! Come dressed as your favorite Whateley sibling and sing along with your favorite chants! Come spend your last few bucks on some of the last few ‘Gansetts left. Ticket prices at the door are $5 per person for all, including passholders, in order to defray the necessary expense of renting this beautiful venue!
NOTE: The Columbus Theatre requires proof of Covid Vaccination (full basic vaccination required, but boosters aren’t required)!
Remember to visit our core programming page for the complete list of all panels, talks, and author readings.
Okay…
that’s really it.