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I'm Getting Too Old for This Nonsense
Two weekends ago I gave a panel at Katsucon, a large-ish anime convention held just outside of DC in National Harbor, Maryland. It was a fun panel, and I gave it in a packed room with more than 150 people in attendance. The con staff later told me that they turned away more than 200 people at the door after the panel started. I did not expect that sort of reception, but I put a ton of work into the panel, and I'm happy it paid off.
I also got a free badge for myself and a friend, which is the most important thing. Katsucon is one of my favorite cons, and some of my favorite people come to town for it, and we all had a lot of fun this year.
I care more about drinking and tabletop gaming and appreciating cosplay and saying hello to artists I follow online and having interesting conversations with strangers than I do about going to panels (or about anime itself, tbh), so I didn't notice this myself, but one of my friends pointed out that Katsucon has a programming track that bills itself as the "Japanese Culture Institute." Unlike a peasant such a myself, these panelists get their profiles and pictures printed in the convention program, which is how I know that most of them are white. When I started asking people about this, I also learned that they get paid.
So why is it that, in one of the most racially and ethnically diverse geographic locations in the entire United States, where white people are a minority, the people getting paid to give panels about Japanese and East Asian culture at the second largest anime convention in the region are predominantly white? I know one of the people involved in this personally, so I asked them, and they told me that it's an issue that needs addressing, but that it's also important to have the most qualified people on the educational programming track. I didn't go to any of these panels, so I can't attest to their quality, but I kind of wanted to be like, Since when does having a blog and a Twitter account make anyone "qualified" to do anything? Something I also noticed, once I started paying attention, is that most of the upper-level con staff were white as well.
I would be interested to find out what's going on here, but I don't want to step into that particular pit of quicksand. Also - and I think fandom ageism is stupid, don't get me wrong - but I feel like I'm getting too old for anime cons.
In other news, Blerdcon is now entering its third year, and it's quickly becoming a big deal. The first year was small and tentative, but last summer saw a huge boost in attendance, and this year they've already started to get a lot of media and corporate attention. If nothing else, their social media game is excellent, and I'm excited to see where they go and how they get there.
I also got a free badge for myself and a friend, which is the most important thing. Katsucon is one of my favorite cons, and some of my favorite people come to town for it, and we all had a lot of fun this year.
I care more about drinking and tabletop gaming and appreciating cosplay and saying hello to artists I follow online and having interesting conversations with strangers than I do about going to panels (or about anime itself, tbh), so I didn't notice this myself, but one of my friends pointed out that Katsucon has a programming track that bills itself as the "Japanese Culture Institute." Unlike a peasant such a myself, these panelists get their profiles and pictures printed in the convention program, which is how I know that most of them are white. When I started asking people about this, I also learned that they get paid.
So why is it that, in one of the most racially and ethnically diverse geographic locations in the entire United States, where white people are a minority, the people getting paid to give panels about Japanese and East Asian culture at the second largest anime convention in the region are predominantly white? I know one of the people involved in this personally, so I asked them, and they told me that it's an issue that needs addressing, but that it's also important to have the most qualified people on the educational programming track. I didn't go to any of these panels, so I can't attest to their quality, but I kind of wanted to be like, Since when does having a blog and a Twitter account make anyone "qualified" to do anything? Something I also noticed, once I started paying attention, is that most of the upper-level con staff were white as well.
I would be interested to find out what's going on here, but I don't want to step into that particular pit of quicksand. Also - and I think fandom ageism is stupid, don't get me wrong - but I feel like I'm getting too old for anime cons.
In other news, Blerdcon is now entering its third year, and it's quickly becoming a big deal. The first year was small and tentative, but last summer saw a huge boost in attendance, and this year they've already started to get a lot of media and corporate attention. If nothing else, their social media game is excellent, and I'm excited to see where they go and how they get there.