NOTE: This is BOOM’s POPcast Transmission with Oliver Besancon, Chair of the Board for the KuroNeko Cultural Association. BOOM also released a review of the KuroNekoCon event, which features 25+ video and typed reviews from event organizers, vendors, and attendees!
G“KuroNekoCon is unique because we’re a community built from our dedicated fanbase and staff who intentionally cultivate a safe space for all ages, especially queer youth. We’re also a thousand percent volunteer run where none of our staff are paid, which includes our Board of Directors. So, this is a project built on our collective passion for Anime and Japanese culture.”
OLIVER BESANCON, KURONEKOCON’S CHAIR OF THE BOARD
reetings, fellow survivors of the Wasteland. Today, we’ve got a real treat for all you fans of Anime, gaming, and Japanese pop culture. We’ll learn about the legendary Spokane, Washington Anime convention, KuroNekoCon. Our very special guest is the amazing Chair of the Board, Oliver Besancon. They’ve dodged cats and critters just to be here with us. So, grab your radiation proof headphones, and settle in for a chat more electrifying than a lightning storm.
Let’s dive into KuroNekoCon, where acceptance and creativity thrive. Buckle up folks, it’s time for some fun!
Oliver: Hi BOOM. Yes, we are so excited to be back. Last year was our first convention back since 2019. We hosted at the Doubletree Hotel with an attendance cap of 800 people and worked with about 21,000 sq. ft. This year, we get to be back at the convention center with an attendance cap of 2,000 attendees and 90,000 sq. ft. So, that means we get to bring back fan favorite content such as Tsuki’s Coliseum. We’re going to have eleven tracks of programming at any given time throughout the weekend, as well as our fourth annual Mascot Scavenger Hunt, which I’m so excited about.
Oliver: Well, KuroNekoCon is unique because we’re a community built from our dedicated fanbase and staff who intentionally cultivate a safe space for all ages, especially queer youth. We’re also a thousand percent volunteer run where none of our staff are paid, which includes our Board of Directors. So, this is a project built on our collective passion for Anime and Japanese culture. So, as a small con, we have an opportunity to host unique interactive programming in a more intimate setting. And that means more one-on-one time with your favorite guests. But it also means things like our interactive augmented reality Scavenger Hunt with collectible trading cards and an Anime-themed Escape Room. And all of our programming is included with the price of admission. So, there aren’t any additional fees, you know, beyond what you bought at Artist Alley.
Oliver: I would say it’s a little bit of both, to be honest. We stay on top of trends because all of the people running the event are fans, and then we get to see so many unique perspectives and interpretations from the fan panels hosted at KuroNekoCon. So, it really is a collective effort.
Oliver: So, to really capture the whole scope of what it’s like to be Chair of KuroNekoCon, I want to jump back a few years to my first ever Anime convention, which happened to be KuroNekoCon 2018. That was our ten year anniversary. I was the assistant for one of the board members, and I got the opportunity to curate the Escape Room, which was the first one that we ever did. It was My Hero Academia themed, super fun. The attendees love it. I remember through the hustle and bustle of everything, working with the staff, seeing all the cosplayers, being at the convention center, this feeling of a weight coming off of my shoulders where this is a place I could express myself, and I fell in love with the fun chaos, and the lively community, being part of something bigger than myself. And you can’t forget the real world experience too. In the years that I’ve worked with KNCA, I’ve leveled up so many skills such as, like, communication, leadership, and even hard skills like taxes.
Oliver: I think the biggest way that KuroNekoCon enhances attendee experience is as simple as listening to our community and then putting into action the feedback that we get. Making changes to increase accessibility, to streamline lines and our events, as well as bring in content that people want to see. It’s really a goal of ours to foster a fun and inclusive environment where people can be their authentic self, and we can’t do that effectively if we don’t take our attendees needs into account. And it’s fun for us as staff because we get to make something we’re proud of and something that we know is attendee-focused.
Oliver: Well, in addition to our social media presence across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, one of the prominent ways that we market our event is by attending and supporting community events such as Kumoricon, Sakura-Con, Spokane Buddhist Festival, Lilac City Comic Con, Chibi Chibi Con, and then other local events such as free Comic Book Day or having cosplay contests at The Comic Book Shop. On top of that, we also have very recognizable mascots that both exemplify a myriad of things that our event stands for, like Anime, a fun and welcoming atmosphere, and trans representation as well. Another way that we kind of rope the community in and get people involved is with our mascot contest every year, and so that gives local artists a chance to be involved, and to win cash, and support our event. So, it’s a give and take situation. They help us, we help them.
Oliver: Well, similar to how we take attendee feedback to enhance the attendee experience, we do a very similar thing when it comes to artists and exhibitors in that we want to make any accommodations and adjustments that make the process easier for them, making sure that they have all the necessary information for the event, as well as making sure the Artist Alley Exhibit Hall is centrally located to the rest of the convention, and making it easily accessible, not only for the artists and exhibitors, but for attendees and everyone involved as well. And at some of our smaller events, we’re able to not require admission for the Vendor Hall portion of the event, which means the artists and exhibitors are able to make more sales. And so of course, more sales equals happier artists and exhibitors. And on top of that, we also work to build one-on-one relationships with many of our vendors, working in opportunities, such as sponsoring them to create shirt designs for us to help boost their reach. This year, specifically, our t-shirt design is by Star Garnish, who is an artist who has been at KuroNekoCon for many, many years. And we’re very excited to debut a V.I.P. version of the shirt that all of our V.I.P. members will get, as well as a version that all general attendees can purchase.
Oliver: You know, as much as we would love to have a magic sorting hat, it’s actually a pretty involved process for curating the Artist Alley specifically, and the Exhibit Hall. For Artist Alley, it’s a juried process. So, there’s a window of time where artists are able to apply, and then we individually look at the portfolio, for all of the artists, analyzing what type of merchandise that they have, what fandoms they’re creating art for, as well as the general popularity of the fandom that they’re creating art for. Then we look at how many spaces we have to fill in our hall and make a spread that has a little bit of everything so that people can find something that they like. I am very happy with KuroNekoCon’s Exhibit Hall and Artist Alley over the past many years because, I spend too much money, and I think that’s a good indicator of a good hall, is that you’re buying the things that are available for you.
Cosplay Contest Judges
Oliver: Oh, absolutely. We have a bunch of fun content happening this year, and I would urge anyone to go check out KuroNekoCon’s website, to see the full schedule for 2024, because there’s so much happening over all three days. But, as far as our contests go, we have our cosplay contest with cash prizing and sponsorship from The Comic Book Shop, as well as our lip sync showdown. And we have hosts for those such as Cierán Strange and Uptown Cosplay. For our coloring contest, we have an all ages version and a 18+ version. For those, you’re going to be coloring a stencil of a Pokémon, and the 18+ version specifically, half the room gets the top half of Pokémon and the other half gets the bottom half. And it’s so much fun to see the interesting interpretations that people come up with. Last year, I believe we used Dugtrios. You can imagine what we were working with there. Some other contests that we have is the Escape Room, of course, which, over the course of the weekend, the team with the fastest time will be recognized at Closing Ceremonies, and then the winner of the Scavenger Hunt will get a V.I.P. perk package.
Oliver: Well, unfortunately, this year, it was not in the budget to have giant robots, but, what we do have is live sword demonstrations, in Tsuki’s Coliseum, as well as Cosplay Chess is returning this year. And then our tabletop gaming room is sponsored by Uncle’s Games, a local game shop here in Spokane. There’s going to be card games, board games, and DM one-shots throughout the weekend, so keep your eyes out for that. And then, additionally, in our Cultural Exhibit Room, we’re going to have a few tables with different traditional games such as Shogi, Go, and Mahjong, where there will be guests there and some of our staff to teach you how to play those games.
Oliver: So, I want to touch on our grand prize winner, @KAREInk for a moment. When we first announced the winner, she reached out to us to thank us for giving her the opportunity to have a bonding experience with her sick mother, not to share too much of her story, she hadn’t really shared much of her art with her mom, and her mom also doesn’t really get the Anime thing. But even with her declining health, her mom was happy and bragging to their family about her win. And, I’ll be honest, BOOM. Whenever I read the email, and I’ve read it so many times, I am in tears because it makes my heart swell.
Oliver: BOOM, this is one of the main reasons why I love volunteering in a community based field, because of the connections and impact that we get to make. To get back to the mascot contest, though, this year, we had a total of 14 artists participate, and with that, there were 16 different variations of Tsuki, and 15 different variations of Hoshi. And what we did differently this year was, instead of having participants draw an Anime mascot with our main mascot, Tsuki the Cat, as a co-star, we asked them to draw a human version of them, which we debuted human versions last year for 2023. And, with that template made, we wanted to see what our fans recreated, and so, this year, for the Scavenger Hunt, which I’ve mentioned, those trading cards are going to have the other submissions of art that we received for the mascot contest.
Oliver: One of the biggest advantages to being a nonprofit convention, I think, is the reputation that we hold in our community, because, ever since our very first year at SFCC in 2009, when we were just an Anime club at the college, we’ve been a volunteer run nonprofit ever since. However, it wasn’t until 2016, when we became legally recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. So, this was a legitimization that changed the culture of the organization, meaning it opened up new opportunities that may not have been available to us as an LLC, such as grant opportunities, for one. We are here to help people, and doing that in the ways we know how, through community inclusion and sparkly Anime eyes and cats.
Oliver: The hard work and dedication of our volunteers is core to making KuroNekoCon a success, any event a success, for that matter. A specific example, I have, less focuses on our staff, but more of the community and staff as a collective whole, even the venue we were working with at the time. So, let’s jump back to our first event back since 2019. This was back in October of 2022. It was a small gala we were doing. It was called Tsuki and Hoshi’s Enchanted Gala. We hosted it at the Montvale Event Center, and we rented out all three floors. The first floor was a Vendor Hall, with 14 amazing artists, that was open to the public. The second and third floor, you needed admission, and the second floor had a dance with a DJ, their bar was open. The third floor had a photo booth, as well as a charity raffle, and a Chibify yourself station. So, this venue, if you’ve ever been, there’s three staircases when you walk in, and then there’s one elevator. Well, unfortunately, about an hour into the event, the elevator stopped working, and there were three wheelchair users in attendance at the event, and, this was a major inconvenience. Immediately upon discovering that the elevator wasn’t working, I was in contact with our event manager, and she was in contact with the elevator repair company to try and get someone out, you know, asap, on a Saturday night. The thing that sparked so much joy and made this night special, even if it was a major inconvenience in the moment, was seeing a bunch of fancy cosplayers coming together to carry their friend up the stairs, and then having other friends carry their wheelchair up these flights of stairs to ensure that everybody, who was present, got to experience the event in its entirety. Now, I understand that this isn’t always a solution, but, in this moment, they were ambitious and strong enough to make this happen, and, it was just a beautiful moment. And by the end, the elevator did get working and everything was functioning by the end of the night. If you want to see a little bit about that event, where Colleen cosplay specifically talks about the elevator going down, and the event itself, you can check it out on her YouTube. But, I think this is just a good example of a problem coming up, something that’s completely unexpected, like weird circumstances and bad odds that we’re able to come together, make sure everyone’s included, and have a good time. And, you know, years later, we have a fun story to tell, like, “Oh, remember that bead that stopped the elevator, and we had to carry you up the stairs?” So, it’s moments like that that bring joy to conventions, because that’s what’s happening on the convention floor. There’s moments where something completely unexpected happens, and you have to think on a dime what to do, and you just do what feels right in the moment. You do the best you can with what you’ve got, and you work together, and I love that.
Oliver: Well, I’d like to take this moment to shout out some of our Spokane local sponsors for the support that they’re giving us for KuroNekoCon 2024. And that goes out to The Comic Book Shop, Lilac City Comic Con, Uncle’s Games, Lunarium, Spokane Pride, and Teas Company. We have other sponsors this year, but those ones are specifically local to Spokane, and we are so excited to be working with them. Some of them new this year, and some of them we’ve been working with for years in the past. So, they are a great support in helping us make this event what it is. Moving on to how we can give back to the community. Every single year, we donate to charities with our charity raffle or auction, and every major event we host, we spotlight a local organization. Last year, we donated to If You Could Only Save One. The year before that, it was Odyssey Youth Movement. You can check out the About Page on kuronekocon.com to see more of that. This year, we are going to be donating to Believe In Me, which is a local nonprofit here in Spokane with the vision to empower all children to develop the self confidence they need to succeed. A few other ways that we give back to the community includes the cosplay contests that we work with The Comic Book Shop for. Those are typically bimonthly, and also doing trash cleanup days, such as along the Centennial Trail. I think the overarching way, that we give back to the community, is by hosting KuroNekoCon itself, because, one of our main focuses is to cultivate a safe and inclusive space for everybody to be their quirky, unique self. And so I think that speaks volumes. I know for sure that I was one of those people that, upon stepping foot in KuroNekoCon my first year, I felt the safeness of it. I felt the vibes, the happiness, the joy that comes from people just being themselves, and I really hope that that comes through with everyone else who comes to our event.
Oliver: I want to see KuroNekoCon grow so big that it is a invigorating community event that fills the entire Spokane Convention Center, that it continues to grow, and evolve, and stay community focused, uplifting local organizations, offering perks to staff, and creating a fun, inclusive environment for everybody. I would love to see KuroNekoCon continue to grow and thrive in the Spokane area, and I think on top of that, seeing our staff hit bigger benchmarks like 10, 15, 20 years, we already have some staff that have hit ten years with us, and that’s amazing. Also, being more involved with local businesses, and hosting mini events, more community workshops, and, of course, increasing the scope of fan favorite content like the Escape Room, creative activities, all of our cosplay events.
Oliver: Oh, this is such a fun question. So, I’ve been watching a lot of One Piece, and my answer is Franky, because it would be absolutely chaotic. I don’t know if I’d trust him to run the entire convention, but he would build the best venue, and something would for sure have lasers that didn’t need to, but it’s okay, it would be a great time.
Oliver: So, in order to answer this question, I have to let you in on some lore. The story is that KuroNekoCon is Tsuki’s convention. Kuroneko translates to “black cat” in Japanese. So, Tsuki has KuroNekoCon, and then Hoshi is the long lost sibling who was actually living in Japan as a famous J-fashion artist, and in 2019, moved back to America. And, that’s why a lot of our merchandise is very fashionable. Like we have our Tsuki satchel, Hoshi handbag. We have graphic tees that you’d see in Artist Alley, less at an event, and, I think that, if Hoshi were to run a convention, it would be far less organized, but with significantly more vibes. And Tsuki would obviously make the best convention because she’s been here the longest.
Oliver: I would say, if you want to start your own convention, that you should start staffing at other conventions first. That way, you can gain some experience, and figure out how things work. Maybe try a few different positions, and even try a few different conventions. Like, try one that has 24,000 attendees, and then try one that has 11,000 attendees. Maybe try one that has only 2,000 attendees, and see what feels right to you. Because, there’s a lot more that goes into making a convention work than you might initially think. And, being able to step behind the curtain, and see what staff have to work with is very important knowledge to have. And just, in addition to that, focus on what your community needs. Wherever this convention would be hosted, listen to your fans, listen to other showrunners, and work with your team. Be collaborative, and be straightforward in what you need. And I think that’s a good foundation to get you started.
Oliver: Well, first and absolutely foremost, I would like to shout out every single staff member for KNCA, for their countless hours that has been volunteered to make KuroNekoCon what it is. Especially, in the last few years, when we weren’t sure if we were going to continue as a convention. Going from, “I don’t think we can carry on” to “We’re back at the convention center in such a short amount of time” is a smashing success, and I’m so proud of all of us for getting where we are today. And I am so excited to be hosting KuroNekoCon 2024, at the Spokane Convention Center, this July 19th through the 21st. Like, that brings me slight tears to my eyes and a giant smile to say, in addition to our staff members, there’s two major sponsors that I wanted to acknowledge, and that is Nathan O’Brien with Lilac City Comic Con, who has been a major supporter of us over the last few years, for his love of local fan events, as well as his sponsorship for two voice actors, both last year and for this year’s convention. So, thank you, Nathan. You’ve been a great help. We love working with you, and we’re excited for what’s more to come in the future. Second is The Comic Book Shop. We have been working with them as sponsors for many, many years now, and I want to thank them for their pivotal and core support. In many ways, we couldn’t have done this without them. We couldn’t have gotten to where we were if it wasn’t for their help, working with them for a venue for our meetings, the cosplay contests, sponsorship, prizing for so many years of KuroNekoCon. I couldn’t list it all if I tried. So, thank you to all of you. Thank you to our staff, Nathan O’Brien, and your team at Lilac City, and everyone at The Comic Book Shop. You all are amazing, and we appreciate you so very much.
Oliver: If you want to know where to follow us online, you can check out www.KuroNekoCon.com. That’s k-u-r-o-n-e-k-o-c-o-n.com. Or, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, under KuroNekoCon. Follow us to keep up to date with everything happening, and see what cool events we’re going to have at KuroNekoCon 2024.
Oliver: That’s a really good question. I think that we are making the world a better place. I think we’re actively doing that by creating a space where anyone can feel safe and accepted. That’s something I think that our con does, especially for the LGBTQ+ community. And, I want to keep working on that, and honing it in, and keep making changes and adjustments that increase accessibility and validation for all groups of people. We’re focused on inclusion, and that is the core. I mean, aside from Japanese pop culture, Anime, Japanese culture, gaming, all of that. Aside from that, our core is inclusion and bringing people together among our shared interests. And, I’m so proud to be a part of that.
Oliver: Thank you so much for the opportunity. This has been a pleasure! I’m excited to have you guys at KuroNekoCon. Please take your time to go collect all the badge ribbons you can, all the trading cards, compete in the coloring contest, and check out as many fan panels as your heart desires. And I would say, above all else, enjoy all of the content to your heart’s content, because there’s a lot of it. We’re gonna have eleven tracks of programming, going on at any given time, throughout the weekend. So there’s so, so much to see. And, if you haven’t already purchased a registration for KuroNekoCon, check out KuroNekoCon.com/register where you can register for a V.I.P. pass. Hurry up! Those are in limited quantity. Those are $250, and you get so many fun things. $65 for the whole weekend If you’re 13 and up, $40 if you’re dollar twelve and under, and anyone four and under is free.
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