Kumoricon is excited to announce its next mini-event, Dance Dance Kumoricon!

Dance Dance Kumoricon is a celebration of gaming culture. Join us for an evening of video game and video game-inspired music spun by a live DJ from CMD Productions.

Cosplay as one of your favorite game characters to compete in our costume contest. Social gaming in the lounge is encouraged—bring a Magic deck, Pokémon deck, or a DS. There will be snacks provided, and also concessions.

The dance will feature new tracks from The Slants’s upcoming album Slants! Slants! Revolution.

The dance event will be held the evening of Saturday, July 18 at Norse Hall. For information on pre-registration, age policies, and dress code, visit our Dance Dance Kumoricon invitation page.

Post update: Updated dates to reflect cancellation of July 4-5 weekend.

Kumoricon will be running stage activities and an exhibitor table at the Dragon Moon Festival the weekends of June 6-7 and August 1-2.

We have a half-hour cosplay skit planned Sunday afternoon but are looking for more skits. If you are a cosplay skit group please contact us as we’d love to have you.

Kumoricon also has the opportunity to bring artist tables to the festival. If you would like to host a table during the weekend and sell your work, please contact us. Another possibility, if you are unable to staff a table for the weekend, is for Kumoricon to sell prints of your work and pass on the proceeds. Talk to us for arrangements.

The Dragon Moon Festival is a three-weekend Asian cultural festival this summer in Portland’s Old Town Chinatown. Check out our forum thread for complete event details, and our meet-up thread if you’d like to come in cosplay and meet with other attendees.

The May General Meeting will be held on Sunday, May 17, from 1pm-5pm, at the Eugene Water & Electric Board:

Eugene Water & Electric Board
Training Room
500 E 4th Ave
Eugene, OR 97401

Google Maps
Driving directions (EWEB web site)

Please note that the date has changed. The meeting has been moved to Sunday, May 17, from its original date of Saturday, May 16.

General meetings are open to the public. Meet and plan with other staff, join staff or become a volunteer, and learn about open staff positions.

The April General Meeting will be held on Sunday, April 26, from 1pm-5pm, at Clark College:

Clark Community College
Gaiser Hall
1933 Fort Vancouver Way
Vancouver, WA 98663

Campus Map
Parking Map
Google Maps

General meetings are open to the public. Meet and plan with other staff, join staff or become a volunteer, and learn about open staff positions.

Death Note: L, change the WorLd will be screening at select theaters nationwide for two days: Wednesday and Thursday, April 29-30. It will be shown subtitled on Wednesday, April 29 and dubbed on Thursday, April 30.

As a special Kumoricon offer, we’ll be giving away four tickets in a drawing this week. Email publicity@kumoricon.org and include “Change the world” in the subject line by Friday, April 24, 11:59pm, to be entered in a drawing for a free ticket to the subtitled showing on Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30pm, at the Lloyd Center 10 theater. Please include your name, phone number, and mailing address in your email so we can mail your ticket immediately once we select a winner. We will notify winners and all entrants as soon as possible after midnight on Friday so you can decide to buy a ticket online if you are not a winner.

For a list of theaters, to buy tickets online, or for more information about the screening, visit our information page on the Kumoricon calendar.

The March General Meeting will be held on Sunday, March 22, from 1pm-5pm, at our hotel:

Hilton Portland and Executive Tower
921 SW 6th Ave
Portland, OR 97204

Google Maps

The meeting will be on the 23rd floor.

At this meeting there will be special elections to fill vacancies in the positions of chair, and director of operations. Discussion about these elections is continuing in the forums.

General meetings are open to the public. Meet and plan with other staff, join staff or become a volunteer, and learn about open staff positions.

The February General Meeting will be held on Saturday, February 21, from 1pm-5pm, at:

Gresham Library
385 NW Miller Ave
Gresham, OR 97030

Google Maps

The meeting will be in the main meeting room.

At this meeting we will open nominations for candidates to the Director of Operations position. After the meeting, nominations will continue online in the forum. There will be a special election at the March 22 general meeting to fill the vacancy in the position.

General meetings are open to the public. Meet and plan with other staff, join staff or become a volunteer, and learn about open staff positions.

Kumoricon will be participating in the Oregon Asian Celebration in Eugene at the Lane Events Center on the weekend of February 14-15. On Saturday and Sunday, visit the Youth Room for cat-ear making activities, and on Saturday, visit Kumoricon’s dedicated room for video gaming and karaoke.

Kumoricon’s activities run from 11:00am to 5:00pm on each day.

Address, map, and details

Please note the following schedule changes for general meetings for the 2009 convention year:

The staff retreat has been moved to June 12-14, from its previous dates of April 24-26. Because of this, we have added a general meeting in April, and canceled the general meeting on June 7. The April general meeting will be on either Saturday April 25, or Sunday April 26, depending on location availability.

In addition, we have decided on the cities for each general meeting, though the exact locations have not yet been reserved.

Here is the current general meeting schedule. The schedule and details will always be kept up-to-date on the calendar.

Saturday, February 21 – general meeting – Portland, OR
Sunday, March 22 – general meeting – Vancouver, WA
Saturday, April 25 or Sunday, April 26 (TBD) – general meeting – location TBD
Saturday, May 16 – general meeting – Eugene, OR
Friday, June 12 – Sunday, June 14 – staff retreat – details TBA
Saturday, July 11 – general meeting – Salem, OR
Sunday, August 9 – general meeting – Portland, OR
Saturday, August 22 – general meeting – Portland, OR

We are pleased to make our first announcements for guests of honor at Kumoricon 2009:

Soul Candy – an “otaku rock” cover band consisting of talented musicians who are also otaku—big anime fans. As such, they specialize in playing songs and music from your favorite anime series. Hailing from the Seattle/King County area in Washington, Soul Candy is quickly being recognized as a formidable performer in various conventions, rock shows, and festivals. They look forward to get a chance to play for fans of similar interests at events such as Kumoricon.

Last Stop Tokyo – founded by current members of The Slants, who also happened to be former members of San Diego pop punk heroes The Rockaway Teens: Simon Young and Johnny Sars. Joined by AC Slayer (of The Gentry and also formerly of The Slants) and Aaron Sixxx (of Stranger’s Six fame), they are Last Stop Tokyo, a straight up punk rock & roll machine with catchy hooks, driving guitar riffs, and an in-your-face attitude.

Svetlana Chmakova – born and raised Russian, and came to Canada at the tender age of 16. She finished high school here, then graduated Sheridan College with a three-year Classical Animation Diploma and is currently a freelance artist, as well as a fledgling North-American equivalent of a manga-ka. She has been in a love-hate relationship with comics and manga for several years now because she is too weak to break it off. Popular titles include Nightschool and Dramacon.

Watch our Guests of Honor page for more announcements as the con approaches, as well as more details and photos of our current guests.