Sakura-Con

Infobox Anime convention
name = Sakura-Con


caption =
status = Active
venue = Washington State Convention and Trade Center
location = Seattle, Washington
country = United States
first = 1998
organizer = Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA)
attendance = 11,000 in 2007
events = Anime Industry Guests, Arcade Gaming, Art Show, Artist Alley, AMV Contest, Charity Auction, Cosplay Contests, Console/Video Gaming, Dances, Discussion Panels, Exhibitor's Hall, Fan Fiction Contest, Fashion Show, J-pop Concert, Karaoke, PC/LAN networking Gaming, RPG Gaming, Table Top Gaming, Video Rooms
website = http://www.sakuracon.org

Sakura-Con is an annual three-day anime convention held during March or April at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington. Sakura-Con is sponsored by the Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA).

Attendance has ranged from infants (with parents) to those in their 80s, with the majority as teens and early-twenties. [cite news | url = http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/170519_anime24.html | title = Diehard otaku display anime cosplay | accessdate = 2007-01-01|last = Dizon | first = Kristin | date = April 24 2006 | work = Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Programming

The convention features a wide array of activities and programming such as: industry guests, various discussion panels, and anime screenings. It also sports a large and lively Exhibitor's hall where you can buy almost anything related (and not) to anime and Japan in general. Contests include anime music video, cosplay, fan fiction, a fashion show, and karaoke. Multiple J-Pop concerts featuring popular groups, nightly dances, an art show and auction, and a charity auction benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. A variety of gaming rooms provide console/video, PC/LAN, CCG, RPG, and tabletop gaming. And as with many anime conventions, Cosplay is an integral part of Sakura-Con.

History

Sakura-Con's roots are from within the local science fiction convention community. A number of anime fans who had decided that there was not enough anime content represented at conventions such as Norwescon, hatched the plan for an anime convention in a Tacoma, Washington anime video rental store. [cite news | url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw08202006/2003206272_pacificpfans20.html | title = Odd and Proud | accessdate = 2006-10-01 | last = Seven | first = Richard |date= August 20, 2006 | work = The Seattle Times: Pacific NW ]

Originally named Baka!-Con, ("baka" or "ばか" is Japanese for "idiot",) the first convention was held at the Double Tree Inn in Tukwila, Washington in 1998. In 2000, Baka!-Con changed its name to Sakura-Con, ("sakura" or 桜 (alternately: さくら) is Japanese for "cherry blossom").

Sakura-Con's rapid growth prompted a search for larger venues. In 2004 and 2005 Sakura-Con had to limit its attendance to 5,100. [cite news | url = http://www.thenewstribune.com/ae/story/5611717p-5041950c.html | title = Sakura-Con fans wig out | accessdate = 2007-01-01 | last = Hutchens | first = Bill | date = March 24 2006 | work = The News Tribune] Even with the attendance cap, Sakura-Con was ranked the eighth largest anime convention in North America in 2004 by paid attendance figures, [cite web| url = http://www.animecons.com/news/article.shtml/105| title = Largest anime conventions of 2004| accessdate = 2006-10-02| author = AnimeCons.com|date= January 1 2005] and tenth in 2005. [cite web| url = http://www.animecons.com/news/article.shtml/221| title = Largest anime conventions of 2005| accessdate = 2006-10-02| author = AnimeCons.com|date= January 2 2006] When Sakura-Con moved to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington in 2006, it roughly tripled its capacity for attendees.

Since its beginning, starting with 313 anime fans, Sakura-Con has grown to be much more than a local event. In 2006, only about half the attendees were from the area.cite news | title = Manga and anime addicts, don't forget your costumes. | url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003651713_anime050.html | accessdate = 2007-07-02 | last = Seven | first = Richard |date= April 05, 2007 | work = The Seattle Times: Pacific NW ]

Event history

Organizational structure

The Asia-Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA) is a non-profit organization organized for charitable and educational purposes specifically for furthering the understanding of Asian culture through the use of traditional and contemporary media.

ANCEA is the organization that presents Sakura-Con. Originally a separate board of directors that provided oversight to the Sakura-Con Executive Board, the membership voted on July 30 2006 to merge the ANCEA and Sakura-Con boards into a single entity. In this structure, the Chair of Sakura-Con is the President of ANCEA. [cite web | url = http://www.sakuracon.org/docs/ancea/BYLAWSOFANCEA_final.pdf | title = Bylaws of the Asia-Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA) | accessdate = 2006-10-01 | author = ANCEA |date= Revised July 30 2006 | format = PDF ]

References

External links

* [http://www.sakuracon.org Sakura-Con] official website