Oxygen Deficient College Newsbreak (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} newsbreak) wrote,@ 2006-04-18 16:23:00 |
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AuroraCorp & Aurora-Con 2006 Article
Hello everyone,
As I promised, here is the new article for all of you LiveJournal readers. If you have any questions, comments or topic ideas as always remember to e-mail me or leave me a post. As soon as I feel well I'll get right back to work! :)
Non-profit brings Japanese culture to Anchorage, Alaska
ANCHORAGE-- A new non-profit organization in Anchorage, Alaska is working to bring residents education and events relating to the Japanese culture. This non-profit, known as AuroraCorp, is getting ready for their first big convention being held on July 14, 2006 at the William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center downtown. The convention, Aurora-Con 2006, will bring people from as far away as the lower-48 states and Japan.
“We’re just a fun group of anime enthusiasts that would just like to be a little more for this town cause we just see a lack of it,” said Josh Totman, president of AuroraCorp and Convention Chair, “of places that you can go and you can talk anime, watch anime and just enjoy the Japanese culture.”
Anime is a Japanese style of animation that has been steadily growing in popularity over the last several years. Manga, equally as popular, is the original form of anime that is found in book and comic form. Anime conventions have been held all over the United States and attendees come to participate in events, meet up with fellow fans and buy merchandise ranging from manga books to figurines and pins of their favorite characters.
AuroraCorp was founded in October of 2005. They have monthly meetings which are open to the public where they discuss their upcoming events and planning for the Aurora-Con 2006 convention. AuroraCorp President Josh Totman said that becoming a non-profit gave the group a lot more opportunities within Anchorage.
“Most of the conventions down in the lower-48 have actual non-profits behind them,” said Josh Totman. “That’s why we kinda figured maybe we should too.”
AuroraCorp is focusing on their upcoming convention and getting prepared for all that an event like it involves.
“It’s keeping me on my toes 24-7 because most of the people I’m contacting are in the lower-48 or out of the country,” said Mercedes Totman, secretary/treasurer for AuroraCorp. “Luckily I have most of my guests and things already planned out.”
“We’re really prepared for this convention, I think,” said Josh Totman. “I mean as much as you’ve heard that we got done so far, and this is only in about 5 months. And there’s still a lot that we can still do.”
AuroraCorp members are encouraging attendees to pre-register for the event. Attendees who pre-register pay a smaller price and are able to get in one hour earlier than anyone who registers at the door. AuroraCorp is also offering a new group rate for parties with 8-or-more people, and children receive discounted prices based upon their ages.
“We’ve got a lot of pre-registrations and things that are coming in right now,” said Mercedes Totman. “So it’s looking probably anywhere between 1,000 and 1,500 people are going to be attending that one [Aurora-Con 2006].”
Aurora-Con 2006 will have video gaming tournaments, card gaming, anime viewing, cosplay contests, vendors, panelists, guest speakers and more events scheduled for convention attendees. Cosplay is where fans dress up as their favorite character from an anime, manga or game and is a very popular activity for convention-goers.
AuroraCorp members say they hope for their video gaming events to have group games with 4-or-more players, doubles games with 2 players, individual games and games that they call “old school” available for play all through the convention hours. Old school games would be older games like Frogger, Bomber Man and Tetris that the older generations of convention goers would remember playing and enjoy playing again. The official list of games has not been confirmed or released at this time.
One video game title has been released for convention attendees. It is an extremely popular game known as Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). DDR has grown in popularity since its release and has its own specialized gaming consoles for the player to dance on in a specified pattern to the song of their choice. It can be a single player or verses game, and will have its own tournament at the convention.
Josh Totman says that AuroraCorp tries to keep all of its anime viewings rated PG or PG-13, and wants all of the material shown at Aurora-Con 2006 to be so also. Totman says he wants AuroraCorp’s viewings to be family-friendly and open to people of all ages. He says if they will be showing stronger rated shows or movies at events separate from Aurora-Con in the future, attendees will be carded upon entry to ensure they are the proper age for the material.
Aurora-Con 2006 will be welcoming 3 well-known guest speaker to the convention for informative panels and autograph signings. The three guests are Brett Weaver, Christopher Sabat and Tom Bateman. Brett Weaver is best known as Nabeshin from the anime Excel Saga, but has appeared in many other well known anime titles. Christopher Sabat is best known for his multiple character voices in the anime series Dragon Ball Z, and countless other animes. Sabat will not only be having a discussion panel, but he will also have a voice dubbing session during the convention. The last guest, Tom Bateman is coming to represent Robotech and will be hosting a 2-hour panel session to discuss the Robotech 2006 Tour and the upcoming sequel Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.
Aurora-Con 2006 will have 2 different areas set aside for vendors. One area will be for businesses selling products, and the other will be the Market Place area for clubs or organizations to simply display their information or promote their services to attendees.
“It’s going smooth and I’m actually selling out of tables,” said Mercedes Totman. “We may have to buy another room, buy more space.”
AuroraCorp officials say they have hung flyers up around town and advertised on their website, but haven’t put a huge amount of effort into advertising the convention. They say word-of-mouth advertising has brought them the bulk of their business.
“It’s just word-of-mouth and I’m getting a lot of support from the community too from it, so it’s nice,” said Mercedes Totman.
““Word-of-mouth is always the best advertising you never have to buy,” said Josh Totman.
They say they have been spending a lot of their time gathering up sponsors for the event. Aurora-Con 2006 is going to be sponsored by Bawls the soft drink. They also announced at their meeting on Friday, April 14, that they had also received a sponsorship from the local Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble will be displaying a table for Aurora-Con 2006 by the front entrance sometime towards the end of June and early July.
Other than the July convention, AuroraCorp officials say they plan on holding other community events where Anchorage residents can come and enjoy the Japanese culture. These events include anime viewings, video gaming events, and a Cosplay Café where they hope to partner with local Japanese restaurants and serve Japanese food in cosplay.
The next scheduled event will be Another Night with Anime. This will be an anime viewing held at the BP Energy Center on May 9, at 4 p.m. They will be showing anime which is not rated over PG-13.
