FanWorks is an annual convention where fans share, discuss, and celebrate all of the creative works we make and love. Visit us online at http://fanworkscon.com.
Panel submissions are now open! Submissions close November 5th, 2023 at 11:59 PM Eastern.
Panels traditionally fall into one of our five programming tracks (Art, Audio, Community, Writing, and Video), but if you have an idea for a panel that doesn't quite fit into one of those categories, you can submit it anyway. There are many examples of panels that have run at past cons in the convention archive.
Any attendee can volunteer to moderate a panel! There will be a Discord channel and Zoom room set up for your panel, and con staff will be on hand to monitor Zoom tech. We handle the technical details; the concept, planning, and panel moderation are up to you.
Panel programming depends on attendee submissions, so if there are things you want to discuss at the con, please submit panel topics!
The full panel schedule will be available on Sunday, November 26th.
Vid submissions for The Year in Vids and Mystery Box close tonight at 11:59 PM Eastern!
Vids are submitted through the FanWorks dashboard (visible when logged in). You can upload a vid or manage previously submitted vids.
Vidders can submit up to two vids per show, and can show up to three vids if a third is submitted by a co-vidder. Vids must be your own work.
Full submission guidelines for premiering & non-premiering shows are available on our website.
FanWorks has standardized content notes for all works. We encourage anyone submitting vids to check out the usage guidelines for FanWorks content notes.
Vids are submitted through the FanWorks dashboard (visible when logged in). You can upload a vid or manage previously submitted vids.
Vidders can submit up to two vids per show, and can show up to three vids if a third is submitted by a co-vidder. Vids must be your own work.
Full submission guidelines for premiering & non-premiering shows are available on our website.
FanWorks has standardized content notes for all works. We encourage anyone submitting vids to check out the usage guidelines for FanWorks content notes.
Deadlines
All deadlines are set for 11:59PM Eastern.
Non-Premiering Shows
The Year in Vids: October 29th
Mystery Box: October 29th
Premiering Shows
Premieres: November 26th
It Surrounds You (all vids, premiering or otherwise): November 26th
Vidshows
Premieres
A showcase of vids making their debut at FanWorks 2023.
The Premieres show is the highlight of the video track at FanWorks! Vids sent to this show must not have been released anywhere previously - at other cons, as online posts, or to any audience larger than your betas / cheerleaders. Premieres is all-new, with every vid making its debut to the con audience.
Variations: "It Surrounds You"
Variations is a showcase of premiering and non-premiering vids made for a specific theme. The theme for 2023 is It Surrounds You.
A house, a hotel, a car, a spaceship, a kitchen, an office, a battlefield, a forest, an ocean, a city, a galaxy – vids about places, settings, environments. You can focus on the setting itself, how people relate to it, how it brings together or divides a community, any aspect you want.
The Year in Vids
Vids released between August 1, 2022 and the submissions deadline. There are no thematic restrictions on this show; anything that was posted online, played at a con, etc. during that time counts.
Mystery Box
The VJ(s) will create a themed vidshow using only vidder submissions. The vidshow theme itself depends entirely on what's submitted and could be anything, so vids on any theme are welcome!
Please keep in mind that not all vids uploaded for Mystery Box will show, as the goal is to create a relatively coherent show around a single theme. (Will such a thing be possible? We'll see!) For more info, check the submission guidelines below.
Curated Shows
Girlhood | VJ: Periru3
From weird little girls to rebellious teens, tomboys to pretty pink princesses - this is a vidshow about girlhood and the trials and triumphs of growing up.
Hip-Hop | VJ: ViddersAdmin
A selection of vids influenced by hip-hop songs and culture.
Partying, Partying, Yeah | VJ: sweetestdrain
"Fun, fun, think about fun. You know what it is. I got this, you got this. My friend is by my right, ay. I got this, you got this. Now you know it." -- Rebecca Black, "Friday"
Eras | VJ: Trelkez
A collaborative vidshow featuring small sets of vids, with each set made by a different vidder during a specific era in their vidding history.
FanWorks 2023 will now be December 9th - 10th, 2023.
For info on con registration (free!), dates, deadlines, panels, vidshows, and everything else you need to know about the virtual con, please read our latest update on the FanWorks blog.
We have a trio of excellent con staff stepping into the lead for the December con: Milly, verity, and corbae, who is taking over as FanWorks social media coordinator after this announcement. Please give her a warm welcome! 👋
FanWorks 2023 will be the weekend of October 6th - 8th. This will be a fully virtual con taking place on Discord, Zoom, and the FanWorks website.
FanWorks is an annual fan-run convention dedicated to all of the things fans make, share, and love: fanfic, fanart, vids, podfic, cosplay, meta, fanwork exchanges, crafts, fannish infrastructure, and much, much more. FanWorks con programming including panels, workshops, vidshows, and activities centered on the creative side of fandom.
This year’s virtual con will be free to all attendees, with optional donations to cover operating costs.
Full announcement & details here: https://fanworkscon.com/blog/2023-06-25-fanworks-2023-october-6th-8th-online/
FanWorks is officially moving to March 19 - 21st, 2021
FanWorks is being postponed and will no longer take place in August 2020. More information on the decision to reschedule is in the DW announcement post on that topic, here.
The new dates for the next FanWorks convention are March 19th – 21st, 2021.
The location will be the same: the SpringHill Suites O'Hare in Chicago, IL. All programming, set-up, and so on for the con is currently expected to be the same as it would have been in August; only the dates are changing.
(Please click through to our Dreamwidth post for details on why we chose those dates, what to do if you’ve already registered, and more.)
Reminder: FanWorks registration opens for attending members tomorrow (Sunday, January 12th) at 2:00PM Eastern!
The con website is now in FanWorks 2020 mode, with more updates to come! As you read through the website, you'll notice that some things have changed from last year's con. We've highlighted a few of those changes below (these links go to a post on our Dreamwidth account):
( The con space, featuring a new activities track and con suite )
( Friday dinner banquet & other catering )
( Night Market vendor fee waived for 2020 )
( Call it a night a little earlier )
A sample schedule for 2020 is available here. This is a sample only, meant to give an idea of what con programming will be like. It may not reflect actual schedule times and events.
If you have any questions, you can email [email protected] or leave a screened comment at the above Dreamwidth post.
FanWorks is coming to Chicago on August 7th - 9th, 2020
Next year's FanWorks convention will be the weekend of August 7th – 9th, 2020 in Chicago, IL at the SpringHill Suites at O'Hare Airport.
Registration for FanWorks 2020 will open on Sunday, January 12th at 2:00pm Eastern.
Attending membership will again be $135. We are currently working out costs of bar wristbands and other possible registration add-ons, and will update with those when prices are set.
The con block room rate at the SpringHill will be $119/night for a double or king. All guest rooms at the SpringHill include a living area with a pull-out couch and a kitchenette with a fridge, microwave, cabinets, and sink.
We'll be posting an interim guide to the SpringHill soon, with a more complete photo tour coming after we do a site visit for photography in early 2020. Our website will be updated in the coming week to reflect our new dates and location.
( More information on the move from Detroit to Chicago -- click here to go to our Dreamwidth announcement! )
As the con approaches, so too does the digital con! All attending and digital members will have full access to the digital (website-based) side of the con weekend. The con zine, featuring fic, art, and podfic, will go live on Thursday night, as will a full copy of the con program. Streaming vidshows will go live individually, timed to start when the vidshows start at the con. (For example: Introductions, which starts Friday at 1:00PM at the con, will be available for streaming starting Friday at 1:00PM Eastern.)
Once vidshow streams have gone live, they will be available on demand; any vidshow that has debuted at the con will be available for playback at any time.
All digital content will remain available for at least 90 days following the con.
Accessing the Digital Con
The digital con kicks off on Thursday, August 16th at 8:00PM Eastern. Access for all members is through your FanWorks dashboard. More details in the full Dreamwidth post here: https://fanworks.dreamwidth.org/15105.html
How to Purchase a Digital Membership to FanWorks
Digital memberships to FanWorks can be purchased here. Digital membership sales will remain open at least through the con weekend, so if you haven't yet purchased a membership, you can do so at any time up to and during the con itself. If you purchase a membership during the con weekend, your dashboard will automatically update with access to the digital con.
(However, if you already know now that you would like to purchase a digital membership, we recommend that you do so by Sunday, August 11th. This is so that if you have any questions, we can take care of them for you before the con begins. Digital membership registrations are welcome at any time, but support for the registration process may be limited once the con begins, as staff will be busy on site.)
Fic Book Club selections have been made! Details for each of the three fics that will be discussed this year are listed below the cuts:
( When Push Comes To Chevre (MCU) by copperbadge )
( Watching Through Windows (Schitt's Creek) by helvetica_upstart )
( Ingredients of the wrack (Star Wars) by queerly_it_is )
If you'd like to join Fic Book Club on Sunday morning, please pick the fic that appeals most to you (or more than one, we're not going to stop you!) and read it beforehand. Conversations for each fic will be held in separate panel rooms, each starting at 10am Sunday morning. Each discussion will need a leader/moderator, who will have questions prepared and help steer the conversation. If you are interested in leading the discussion for any of these three fics, please e-mail fanworksprogramming at gmail dot com with your badge name and which discussion you’d like to lead. You are welcome to volunteer either solo or with a friend.
Thank you to the wonderful authors who agreed to have their works discussed!
If you've been putting off registering for yourself, your partner, your friends, or anyone else, please don't forget to do so this weekend! We want to see you there.
Sunday, July 7th at 11:59PM Eastern is the deadline for vid submissions to Premieres, Variations: Ignite, and for any auction vids making their debut at the con.
Some things to keep in mind as the deadline approaches:
- Attending members are given priority for Premieres. If the show runs over time, non-attending vidder submissions may be shown in other timeslots. If you are not yet registered and want to submit as an attending member, make sure you are registered to attend the con by the vid submission deadline on Sunday.
- There is a Saturday morning Vid Discussion panel to talk about vids that debuted in Premieres. This is optional -- if you want to send a vid in without it being included in Vid Discussion, you can do that! On the submission form, look for the tick box directly under "vidshow" to control whether or not your vid is included in Vid Discussion.
- If you have any last-minute tech, health, or life crises, please email [email protected] sooner rather than later to ask for a deadline extension. We can't guarantee extensions on vids, but will do our best to help if there are extenuating circumstances.
FanWorks registration will close on Sunday, July 14th.
Bar wristband sales have now closed and are no longer available at registration. If you wanted to add a wristband to your registration or intended to purchase a wristband with registration but missed the deadline, please email [email protected].
(Please keep in mind that there will not be alcohol available for individual purchase at the Night Market or Sparkle Motion - you must have a wristband to drink at the bar on those nights. Outside alcohol is not allowed into the con space, and this will be enforced.)
Vendor tables for the Night Market are still available at registration, and can be added to existing memberships by editing registration through the dashboard. These sales will close with registration on the 14th, so if you want to purchase a vendor table to sell your fanart or other fan wares, or promote a con or fan organization, please make sure to purchase your table by July 14th.
annaxmalina
2087
gummygunk
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
discoholicmusic
dededos
dailybridgerton