Sure we’ve all thought of it. OK if you’re ME you’ve thought about it but then again with people like Rob around here I feel kinda behind the Kickstarter curve. Well I’m still behind because Kudoscon is trying to Kickstarter itself into existence. T.L. Blauersouth of the staff took time to talk to me about it.
Oh and go support it!
1) So let’s ask here – how is the Kickstarter going?
Well, things are picking up at last, but unfortunately, we still have a long way to go before we’re funded. I know many KickStarters fund in their last few days, so all of our staff have our fingers crossed. We have a high ratio of people reached/people registering, but fandom is spread out enough that getting the word out is pretty tricky! And hopefully the people waiting to see if we get funded before registering will take the plunge, since it’s a no-risk pledge.
2) Why Kickstarter and not other crowd funding tools?
Two main reasons. Firstly, we feel like people consider KickStarter reliable- they’re familiar with the service and how it works. Secondly, we really wanted to make sure we didn’t end up with half the money we needed, and end up making a convention different than the one we’d promised. We all felt really strongly that if we were going to do this and expect people to give us their hard earned money, we had to offer them the best convention we could. KickStarters all or nothing policy fit that vision. If we don’t make enough to build the convention we promised, then nobody looses a cent.
3) If Kickstarter doesn’t work out what are your plans – and what should people plan for if their efforts don’t work out?
Sadly, if the KickStarter doesn’t fund, that’s all she wrote. I have to notify the hotel whether we are cancelling the event reservation or not only 3 short days after the campaign ends. I can’t promise to pay them if we don’t have the funds in place.
4) So away from finances. What’s the goal of Kudoscon?
KudosCon started because I was mooning around with some friends thinking about how amazing it would be to meet our favorite fannish creators in person and swap ideas with them. Then my friends and I realized that between us, we had the skill set to make a convention like that happen. At the end of the day, we want to make a convention about supporting each other as fannish creators, a space to improve on our various arts without being looked down on by “original content creators”, and a place to build real-world relationships around our online ones.
I’ve been really saddened to see how our online fannish spaces have sometimes become adversarial or even aggressive. I believe that the more we can look one another in the eye and speak face to face, the more we’ll be motivated to treat our fellow fans with respect and courtesy. Maybe that’s idealistic, but that’s what I truly think.
Also, I’m a big academic nerd who loves academic discussion of nerdy things. Fifteen minutes ago I finished a 33 page psychology paper positing a theory of bodily acceptance and relationship for cyborgs, werewolves, and other fictional altered bodies. KudosCon is slated to have a special academic track for people to display and share their own academic ideas about their favorite geeky things. I think we need more avenues for those kinds of discussions.
5) It seems like there’s a lot of changes in the convention scene. What have you seen in the last few years?
I think one of the main things I’ve been seeing is conventions getting really serious about harassment policies, offering assistance for people with disabilities, and just generally giving some thought to the high value of diversity and respect in our fannish spaces. Which I think is great! I don’t like fannish gatekeepers, and don’t really want to go to events where I know others are being deliberately or thoughtlessly excluded. KudosCon is doing our best to be on the cutting edge of these changes, which are, in my opinion, long overdue.
6) What do you think cons need more of – and what are you doing to provide that with Kudoscon.
Well, as I said, we are trying to be really forward thinking in terms of inclusion and safety. I’ve also noticed that at some conventions, people can get sort of lost in the shuffle, and end up not meeting the people they really wanted to. So one of the things we’re doing about that is having a space for people to arrange “meetups” within the convention itself- whether for a smaller fandom, an academic interest, or a forum. The board for arranging meetups will be at the convention and publicly available, and we’ve set aside a quite large room for the meetups to occur in. Hopefully, that will help people find who they’re looking for. I can’t claim we originated the idea, but we are definitely planning on utilizing it with enthusiasm.
Another thing I don’t normally get at conventions is access to resources that will help me improve my craft. We all have different things to offer, but too often fan creators don’t get a chance to share what they know. For example, I write fanficiton. I’m not very good, but I want to improve. I want to get tips from other fan fiction authors, who face the same cannon vs. fannon vs. headcannon issues that I do, who may even be writing in the same world as me. We really want KudosCon to facilitate that kind of growth activity. In exchange, I can offer information about drawing and my knowledge of psychology to my fellow fans. It’s this kind of exchange we want to encourage. If people want to just show up and party, that’s fine to! But we wanted to make sure KudosCon offered the kind of learning space we haven’t seen offered to fannish creators elsewhere.
7) So let’s ask – beyond Kickstarter, how do people get involved?
What we really need right now is help spreading the word! People are clearly enthusiastic about the convention, but none of us putting it together are “BNF”s, and just getting the information in front of enough people is our biggest challenge. Tweets or Tumblr posts or FB posts linking to the KickStarter are the most helpful thing anyone can do for us now. If they’ve decided to attend, sending a quick and polite PM to fannish creators they admire and want to meet, inviting them to attend and/or help get the word out would also be great. Last night I even released a bunch of my own fan art onto the wilds of Tumblr as ambassadors, with an explanation of KudosCon and a link to the KickStarter below.
If we do fund, we’ll need volunteers. I’ve been overwhelmed with how much help we’ve been offered leading up to this point, but we’ll still need lots of people during the con itself to help with reg, opps, and security.
Mainly though, right now, it’s all about publicity.
8) As a progeek, let me also ask – what kind of career/skill oriented events are you planning.
Well, hopefully the academic track can help some of my fellow eggheads network and exchange ideas. I think many of our fannish creators aren’t aiming to go pro with these specific skills (although it’s always a thrill when one of us succeeds at that rout!) but I think the skills we develop in fandom- artistic, critical and communication skills, are always worth having. We have panels planned on giving and receiving critique, managing your geekiness at your place of employment, panels on improving our communities, and a multitude of panels on craft improvement. These panels are all subject to vote, since we are putting programming in the hands of our attendees, but there’s a pretty clear call for these sorts of panels. And I think those sorts of proficiencies would serve any professional well.
Thanks T.L.!
- Steven Savage
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