Project A-Kon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since June 2006.

Project A-Kon
Location	Adam's Mark Hotel Dallas, Texas
Years in existence	1987 to present
Attendance	12,000+
List of events	Video rooms, anime music videos, arcade, artist alley, concerts, cosplay contest/masquerade, dance, DDR, dealer's room, cosplay, karaoke, LARP, ninja demos, panels, scavenger hunt, and table top gaming
Official Website

Project A-Kon (or just A-Kon) is an anime convention held annually in Dallas, Texas, generally lasting three days, usually held on the first weekend of June. Project A-Kon, whose name is widely believed to be a parody of the anime Project A-ko, is North America's longest running national anime convention. The name is really derived from an abbreviation of "Anime Convention" and is spelled with a "K" because that would be graphemically correct in Japanese.

While the focus of the convention is mainly centered on anime fandom and screenings of films and television series--some of which are new to or have never been formally released in the United States--many other activities take place encompassing various segments of geek and Japanese pop culture. These events include panels with American authors and artists as well a room dedicated to Dance Dance Revolution. Cosplay, costume play, is one of the most well-known events at A-Kon. It is a presentation of the fans' attempts to make costumes to resemble their favorite characters, and may even involve skits in some cases. There are also secondary events, such as scavenger hunts and martial arts demos, hosted every year at A-Kon. For artistic fans, there is an artshow where one can display and sometimes auction individual fan art. The introduction of Japanese bands has also become a very popular event with the fans of Project A-Kon.

A-Kon is a "fancon" in that while it has industry backing, is run by and for the fans. To that end, A-Kon has an extensive volunteer program. Almost all the staff members are volunteers, even the upper echelon group referred to as staff-heads. Some come from professional backgrounds in theatre and so are perfect for the stage crew, and others are more generalized in their skills and so handle or work in other departments. A-Kon is such a large convention that it would be impossible to run without a large volunteer corps.

A-Kon 17 also held the Pokemon Trading Card Game Dallas Gym Challenge in which the winner received a trip to California for the Pokemon World Championships.

A-Kon also has a HentaiFest, usually on Saturday night of the con from 12-4am.