A-Kon, formerly known as Project: A-Kon, is a three day anime convention held annually in Dallas, Texas usually on the first weekend of June. First held in 1990 with just 380 people in attendance, A-Kon is North America's longest running national anime convention. The convention is the 5th largest North American anime convention as of 2014.
Departments
A-Kon consists of several departments, ranging from Kon Patrol to Medical to Children's Programming. Each year, usually in February or March, they post a web page for volunteer sign-up. Volunteers work at least sixteen hours during the weekend and receive a free pass to the convention. Working for 20 hours, volunteers aged over 18 can receive a hotel room, shared with 3 other staff members.
Programming
While the focus of the convention is centered on anime fandom and screenings of films and television series, many other activities take place encompassing various segments of geek and Japanese pop culture. These events include panels with American authors and artists, a Dance Dance Revolution room, cosplay, scavenger hunts, martial arts demonstrations, an art show, and concerts by Japanese bands. The convention also maintains a vigorous social network presence on Facebook and Twitter, having about 15,000 and 7,000 followers respectively, through which they post information and run contests throughout the year. A-Kon 24 will see the addition of the Fandom and Neomedia Studies (FANS) Conference, an academic effort to sponsor, encourage, and assist in the study of fandom and media phenomena.
History
The name seems to be a play on the early anime series Project A-ko + Convention.
References
External links
- Project: A-Kon web site
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