hey there! I recently got accepted to table at Anthro northwest (my first con) - and I’m a little concerned their artist alley is for only 3 hours each day. I know Kiriska has experience tabling there and wanted to know if they thought it was worth it? I don’t live in Seattle so all my travel/lodging expenses are a big factor and I don’t know if I can make back that $ with only a 3hr artist alley each day
Kiriska: The Artist Alleys at furry conventions are different than other types of conventions in that they tend to be more transient in nature and more commission-focused on the whole.
Typical anime and comic convention Artist Alley tables are more similar to furry con Dealer’s Room/Den tables in that they’re booked for the weekend, are usually in a locked room overnight, and have set hours.
Many furry con AAs, meanwhile, are booked by the day, sometimes require day-of sign-ups, have 3ft spaces, and require nightly teardown. Details vary con by con though, and there’s a fair amount of variation. The general idea is that furry Dealer’s are more merch focused while furry AAs are more commission-focused, but again, actual situations vary.
ANW’s AA differs further from most furry AAs in that their hours are mucher shorter and don’t have any overlap with Dealer’s hours at all.
My experience with ANW is in the Dealer’s/Vendor’s room only, so unfortunately, I don’t have any insight as to whether their AA is worth it. I haven’t actually been able to go to the AA at ANW at all the last few years, so I couldn’t even say whether it got a lot of traffic or seemed generally busy.
And ANW’s at a new hotel this year. And on different dates. It’s on Thanksgiving weekend for the first time, and I’ve never done a Tday show, so I have no idea whether that will impact attendance positively or negatively. There are a lot of question marks for ANW this year!
But in general, I wouldn’t recommend ANW to non-locals right now. :x It’s still a very new show and it differs from most other furry shows in a lot of ways, which makes it even more unpredictable. The first two years have been just “okay” for me, and if I weren’t local, I’d probably have given it a few years to get established before returning.
So! Especially if finances are a big concern, I’d probably pass on ANW for now. Better to gain a little exp at a less costly show first. Best of luck, whatever you do!
