Animethon

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Animethon
Status	Active
Venue	Grant MacEwan College
Location	Edmonton, Alberta
Country	Canada
Years in existence	1993 to Present
Organizer	Alberta Society for Asian Popular Arts (ASAPA)
Attendance	3,450 paid attendees in 2006[1]
List of events	Cosplay, anime screenings, and anime music videos
Official Website

Animethon is an anime convention held annually at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta. It is Western Canada's longest-running anime convention, the first being held in 1993. It was, up until 2006, Western Canada's largest anime convention, but in that year Anime Evolution's attendance exceeded Animethon's by about 150.^{[citation needed]}

Animethon is the flagship event of the Alberta Society for Asian Popular Arts (ASAPA), a not-for-profit society that focuses on the promotion and enjoyment of Asian popular art and culture. Events include a number of theatres showing free screenings of various anime series (both old and new), live events such as cosplay, an Anime music video contest, a number of guests from the industry and a number of live panels hosted by local community members. There is also a dance and karaoke.

With an estimated 4,000 people in 2003, Animethon was the tenth largest anime convention in North America that year.^[2]

From the inception of Animethon in 1993 through Animethon XI in 2004 the event was strictly a single site, two-day event. Animethon XII broke that mold.

Animethon XII in 2005 introduced a second venue to the event, the Holiday Inn Express downtown. With the addition of the second venue programming was expanded to accommodate the new venue space. Registration and programming officially opened late Friday at the Hotel for those who purchased advanced passes. In addition viewing rooms located at the hotel operated from the close of main site operations at Grant MacEwan through the night to the start of the next days programming at Grant MacEwan. Other events that took place at the hotel were a karaoke contest and a dance. The addition of the hotel was such a success that a second convention hotel was added shortly before the event. However the adjacent hotel was for lodgings only and not event.

Animethon XIII, which took place from 7 to 9 July, 2006, expanded on the dual site concept. The convention hotel was the Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel located some two blocks from the primary site, Grant MacEwan. The change in venue allowed for an increase in viewing room and late night activities such as karaoke, dances, and a Tanabata festival to be held at the hotel. The larger size of the hotel also allowed for peak capacity events such as Cosplay to be shifted from the more limited spaces at Grant MacEwan to the ballroom of the hotel.

Animethon XIV is scheduled for 10 to 12 August, 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Animethon official web site
• Animethon 2007 on AnimeCons.com