The Short + Sweet Hollywood Festival 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers will announce plans for future events, said festival director Nick Hardcastle.

Short + Sweet festival typically showcased short form theater, film, dance and more. There are different versions of the festival presented in 35 cities in 10 countries around the world.

Short + Sweet Hollywood celebrated one of its most successful festivals in its four years in Los Angeles in 2019, featuring open English language entries from as far as Dubai and Australia, Latinx entries from across the U.S., Mexico, Spain, Venezuela and Colombia, and the addition of a LGBTQ+ program.

“It is with great regret that we have had to cancel Short + Sweet 2020,” Hardcastle said. “While we have vigorously tried to innovate over the last four months to ensure that we could welcome you all back to the festival this year, recent spikes in COVID-19 cases in California, and the responsive measures taken have forced us to concede that bringing our community of artists and audiences in to the theatre simply won’t be possible this year.”

He added organizers of the event will bring some special online events to keep fans of Short + Sweet connected through their partners at NBC, Argentum studios and their Short + Sweet’s literary team .

Jandiz Estrada Cordoso, senior director of talent development inclusion, and Grace Moss, director of talent development and inclusion for NBC Entertainment, will host a discussion with Hardcastle on Sept. 10.

Alex Broun, Short + Sweet international literary manager, will lead a free lab in writing a ten-minute play. Hardcastle said the workshop will be an opportunity for people to submit in next year’s event.

All plays submitted for 2020 will be considered for the next festival and all future festivals around the world will resume production again once it is safe.

Short + Sweet Film Festival will also not go ahead as planned, but all films submitted will be eligible for consideration when the festival returns next year.

For information, visit shortandsweet.org/festivals/shortsweet-theatre-hollywood-2020.