Sakura-Con

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Sakura-Con
Location Washington State Convention and Trade Center
Seattle, Washington
Years in existence 1998 to present
Organizer Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA)
Attendance approx. 8,000 in 2006
List of 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, Fashon Show, J-pop Concert, Karaoke, PC/Lan Gaming, RPG Gaming, Table Top Gaming, Video Rooms
Official Website

Sakura-Con is an anime convention sponsored by the Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA). Sakura-Con is held on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the spring at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington.

Contents

[edit] Convention Features

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. It also features the following major events and competitions:

[edit] Contests

[edit] Events

[edit] Gaming

[edit] 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 comic book store. [1]

Originally named Baka!-Con, (baka 馬鹿 or バカ 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 桜 or 櫻 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. Even with the attendance cap, Sakura-Con was ranked the eighth largest convention in North America in 2004 by paid attendance figures, [2] and tenth in 2005. [3] When Sakura-Con moved to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington in 2006, it roughly tripled its capacity for attendees.

[edit] 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. [4]

Currently, Sakura-Con is the only event presented by ANCEA. ANCEA's structure allows for other events to be organized as sub-committees of the ANCEA board.

[edit] Trivia

Sakura-Con gained internet notoriety in 2005 due to the presence of two girls at the convention who cosplayed as Mario and Luigi from the Super Mario Bros. video game series. Several pictures of them were posted on the internet, and they were mentioned in a Penny Arcade comic. [5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Seven, Richard (August 20, 2006). Odd and Proud. The Seattle Times: Pacific NW. Retrieved on 2006-10-01.
  2. ^ Anime-Cons.com (January 1, 2005). Largest anime conventions of 2004. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  3. ^ Anime-Cons.com (January 2, 2006). Largest anime conventions of 2005. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
  4. ^ ANCEA (Revised July 30, 2006). Bylaws of the Asia-Northwest Cultural Education Association (ANCEA) (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-10-01.
  5. ^ Penny Arcade (April 11, 2005). Our Recent Adventures. Retrieved on 2006-10-01.

[edit] External Links

Sakura-Con Official Website

[edit] AnimeCons.Com Historical Data

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/a/k/Sakura-Con_2919.html"