Pensacon is a
North American
multigenre convention, founded in 2013, which takes place once each year in
Pensacola, Florida. As of 2018, the convention draws an attendance of more than 25,000, features around 100 media guests, encompasses five venues in downtown Pensacola and runs hundreds of hours of programming for fans of science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and other elements of fan culture. It is operated by a private
for-profit corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
, with the help of a 350-member volunteer staff.
Economic impact
On February 21-23, 2014, Pensacon attracted an estimated 11,000 unique attendees at the Pensacola Crowne Plaza Grand Hotel and the Pensacola Bay Center. It is estimated that Pensacon 2014 attendees contributed $1,408,108 to the local Pensacola economy. 39% of the event attendees were visitors to Pensacola, and it is estimated that Pensacon 2014 generated 5,183 room nights.
Programming
As of 2014, Pensacon is a 3-day event comprising events such as panels, costume contests, themed runs, and workshops, with over 30 specialized programming tracks that include
writing
Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols.
Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
,
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
,
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
,
gaming
Gaming may refer to:
Games and sports
The act of playing games, as in:
* Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming"
* Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles
* Playin ...
,
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
Literature,
comic books,
costuming
Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people.
The term also was tradition ...
,
space, science,
online media
Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...
,
independent film,
podcasting
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
,
robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...
, ''
Star Trek'', ''
Star Wars'', ''
Battlestar Galactica'', ''
The X-Files
''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
'', ''
Doctor Who'',
apocalyptic themes,
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and
American SF television, the ''Pensacon Short Film Festival'', with celebrity guest features (e.g.,
Billy Dee Williams
William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thir ...
,
Peter Mayhew
Peter William Mayhew (19 May 1944 – 30 April 2019) was a British-American actor. He was best known for portraying Chewbacca in the ''Star Wars'' film series. He played the character in all of his live-action appearances from the 1977 origin ...
,
Ernie Hudson
Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. His roles include Winston Zeddemore in the '' Ghostbusters'' film series, Sergeant Darryl Albrecht in '' The Crow'' (1994), and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's '' Oz'' (1997–2003) ...
,
Dirk Benedict ).
Monica Rial controversy
In the weeks leading up to Pensacon 2019, one of their planned panelists,
Monica Rial, became involved with the controversy surrounding the
allegations of sexual misconduct by voice actor Vic Mignogna after speaking out against the voice actor. As a result, Rial was harassed by some supporters of
Vic Mignogna
Victor Joseph Mignogna (); born August 27, 1962)Birthday tweet:
* is an American voice actor and musician known for his voice-over work in the English dubs of Japanese anime shows, such as Edward Elric from the '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' series ...
through
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, especially after
Funimation
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
cut ties with Mignogna in light of the controversy following an internal investigation. Pensacon responded to Twitter messages from people claiming that they would attend the convention to "harass and question" Rial by announcing a zero tolerance policy, and threatened people with arrest if they harassed Rial at the convention.
[Apolinar, Bryant. (February 19, 2019).]
Pensacon increases security measures after Twitter controversy
, ''WEAR-TV
WEAR-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Pensacola, Florida, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for northwest Florida and southwest Alabama. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fort Walton Beach–licensed ...
''. Retrieved February 23, 2019.[Clerkley, Danielle. (February 19, 2019).]
Pensacola Police investigating bomb threat made towards Pensacon
, ''WKRG-TV
WKRG-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving southwest Alabama and northwest Florida as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Gulf Shores, Alabama–licensed The CW, ...
''. Retrieved February 23, 2019. After threats were directed at Rial – including a bomb threat directed towards the convention – security at the event was increased.
References
External links
*
Economic ImpactNews Portal
{{Multigenre conventions in North America
Multigenre conventions
Conventions in Florida