artistsvsanimenorth-blog

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haha oops again

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for years artists have been complaining the sign up procedure *does* *not* *fucking* *work*

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AN17

This is an extremely long overdue post, I know. I’m sorry. I suck.

I didn’t want to write such a heated post directly after AN because every year I just end up leaving angry.

Otakuthon just wrapped up. I also did Anime Expo and Con Bravo this year.

I never sell as much at any of those cons than I do at AN. Each convention has problems of it’s own but rarely have they shown the same hostility Comic Market’s staff has.

This year at Anime Expo I had somewhat of a personal crisis happen. I emailed the staff an AX asking if it was possible at all to accommodate a request I had even though I knew my request contradicted some of their rules directly. I didn’t expect much. I was expecting a simple, “No, rules are rules.”

Instead, they treated me like a human being. They brought up my specific case during a meeting to discuss it further and what could be done and in the end they ended up choosing to accommodate my request. 

The biggest convention in North America, nearly 4 times the size of AN, took the time to understand my situation and discuss it, and chose to accommodate me despite it conflicting with their rules. I nearly damn teared up I did.

This year at AN was more of less the same. Getting screamed at to leave the convention as soon as closing time hit. Getting attitude from staff members. Artists getting put on “lists.”

I absolutely hated the layout this year. Some aisles had little space between them while others were MASSIVE. It was extremely obvious that as it was being set up, they later realised halfway through that there was a ton of space that needed to be filled up. The placement of the entrance of Dealer’s Room meant that people easily walked around the artists. I also can’t remember how many people came up to our table and said, “Oh! I had no idea there were more artists here.” or “I wish I saw you guys earlier!” :’)

The staff... were even more insufferable this year. I guess this was the year of the Curse of the Text.

An artist beside me had some art on display in a portfolio book. The staff member picked up and flipped through it furiously, bending some of the artwork. After he was done, he then dropped the portfolio case back onto the table messing up the rest of artist’s display.

I also had staff take my buttons off my display and throw them across the table saying, “You can’t sell this.”

I find it incredibly sad that Anime North has to be this way because I absolutely love hanging out with my local artists and fellow fans but given how AN has just gotten worse and worse every year, this might be my last Anime North.

I don’t how many times at other conventions this year I’ve seen artists do really creative things with different mediums to showcase their artwork. I absolutely love seeing the diversity in their art, and then seeing a positive response to it all from con goers. It makes me want to try out similar things but then I remember, wait - AN doesn’t allow it. And I know I’m not only the artist who really considers it’s sell-ability at AN before making new art.

So yeah, this is why I’m definitely considering cutting AN out of my summer plans. It’s just not good for me or myself as an artist.

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Anime North has been my main convention for a very long time until the past couple of years where I had my first taste of the outside world. Every single time I am at another convention, I go, "Wow. Why the hell is Anime North the way it is." Our artist badges alone compared to conventions a fifth of the size gives us nicer badges and lanyards than at the Comic Market. What the hell??

what you’re saying you DONT like flimsy cardboard stapled to a plastic and shoelace protector? now you’re asking for too much

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hand cut stickers printed on shitty paper and cut out using scissors were allowed to be sold. same art, vinyl laser cut sticker (much higher quality), not allowed. even though they are in stock and in hand, we had to find sticker paper and print it at home cuz for some reason thats the only way we were allowed to sell our art.

every evening they would scream at us to get out the minute the show closed. we waited for a friend to take their setup down so we could give them a ride, they were incredibly rude and told us to basically leave without her. ummm.. no?

i appreciate that the organizers do a good job and are on the ball, but have some respect and treat us like people, we paid alot of money to be here.

everything about anime north was absolutely wonderful, other than the insanely strict rules and organizers walking around looking for trouble basically. it makes me not want to participate in the future.

also mailing contracts with cheques is such an outdated way to do things. i can send money electronically with scanned signed contracts in 2 min for free, why such an archaic system?

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to mail the ridiculous contract package to toronto from the US in time was ~$50 USD. why do they do this

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The last two posts are almost insulting, implying these are all young or inexperienced artists just "whining" because it's easy. Getting perma-banned for rubbing the staff the wrong way is a real threat in AN Comic Market. Two of my colleagues who are in their late 20's that do roughly 25 shows a year got banned for essentially standing up for themselves and questioning their rulings. The only way to guarantee safety is anonymity. Please don't disregard people's fears like they're not real.

I’m 26 and have been doing artist alleys since 2007. :’) ��I’m also a full time artist at an animation studio so yeah, definitely a young and inexperienced artist here, HA.

I haven’t said anything until now because I thought it was just me making stupid mistakes because I’m clearly such an idiot according to AN.. but after making this blog I’m seriously blown away about how awful AN is to other artists AND it’s own volunteers and staff, and amazed at HOW MANY there are of us out there who feel AN needs to change.

But regardless of your age or experience, no one deserves to be treated the way AN treats artists.

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I understand a lot of people using this blog or submitting to it are young people who don’t know how to proactively make change, but running a blog to solely complain about a corporation or business isn’t how to make things happen. If you want change  you need to be talking TO the staff, not making posts about how badly they’ve treated you on tumblr. It’s like patting yourself on the back for complaining to friends instead of talking to people directly that can change things.

You need to go through the proper channels. If you have an issue with a company, you talk to that company directly. You email them  or go to their forums and say hey, I love your store in general but I’ve had problems with this. By just posting on tumblr you’re getting upset there’s no change  while HOPING someone from the convention sees your posts and HOPING they reply or do something about it, instead of talking to them directly and knowing someone is looking at/reading what you have to say.

This is the reason we created this blog in the first place. People CAN’T talk to them directly because they won’t hear it and are afraid of being banned, and in fact HAVE been banned for standing up for themselves. It seems to be a common thread with many of the stories that have been submitted to us. 

Every single time I personally have had a problem, or am trying to come up with a reasonable solution, I was either dismissed or told that if did not enjoy the outcome I could simply get my taken table away. If I have a problem with a company I can talk to them because they have customer service. Customer service seems to go out the door when it comes to Comic Market.

I’ve been tabling at Anime North off and on for about 10 years now. It does a lot of things other conventions I  table at don’t bother doing. It’s frustrating, but when I’ve had issues with their policy or with the way one of the staff members handle a situation, I email them. I talk to them at the convention. I try suggesting improvements. I go right to them and try to get answers in a respectful but firm way.

I can see a lot of complaints on this blog that come from being uninformed about the community and rules. A lot that could easily be cleared up if people were actually looking for answers instead of playing the blame game. You’re doing the exact same thing you’re blaming them for, treating them inhumanly without any room to defend themselves. Treating them as one solid figure when they’re all just kids volunteering to help make the area  we all love possible. Not saying they’re without fault in this conversation, but by excluding the other side of it you’re putting this cause at a disadvantage.

And I’ve been doing it for about a decade as well as do many of the artists who follow this blog. In short, the application is over complicated. The problem isn’t making the mistake in the first place however, the problem is how those mistakes are addressed. I don’t think it’s acceptable for the staff to be completely patronizing towards their artists just trying to navigate their convoluted application process and practically shaming us for making a mistake.

It’s in my original post but I want to repeat this, “ I understand that the actions of a few nasty individuals does not reflect a group. The some of you volunteers I met at the con were just sweet as apple pie, the ones that who were physically there and running around to address everyone’s needs ..” The problems are very specifically with the core staff of Anime North Comic Market. 

Anime North as a whole has problems. I think anyone who goes there for more than a year or two know that much. But if we want change, especially in the comic market, we need to reach out and talk to them about it.

That’s this old timers opinion anyway. I know it’s intimidating and not as easy as a tumblr post that may or may not get read, but if we’re all this passionate about the area and actually try talking to them through an email campaign or more legitimate means, who knows what we can make happen.

Agreed, communication is key but we’re not just being stonewalled, we’re being threatened. A lot of the stories here state how they tried to talk to them but were met only with hostility.

Despite my own problems with AN, I assumed it was just me being an idiot. But when friends of mine starting doing conventions, and when I gained more experience at other conventions over the years, I realized something was wrong with Anime North when every other convention was a breeze to apply to and when one of my friend’s starting crying over some of the emails they’ve gotten from the staff.  

The thing is a lot of us HAVE emailed staff, trying to sort things out, but it’s rarely helpful. That’s why all that frustration ends up on here, which I simply collect into a singular place. We’re just here to let artists know that it’s okay, we’re frustrated too.

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I’m very open to suggestions for this.

Personally, I don’t want to tell people to boycott Anime North nor am I planning to myself. The reason for this is because if we do, someone else will just replace us. AN will still make their money and the Artist Alley staff will continue to abuse their positions. That’s just my personal feeling though, I really applaud people who have the strength to boycott because I know the choice isn’t easy.

But just because we want to be able to be a part of Artist Alley means we have to be happy about it, or quiet. It doesn’t mean we don’t have a right to be upset with the way it has been run.

 We’re not expendable. Sure, giving them money might make us customers but that still doesn’t mean they should be allowed to dehumanize us. Imagine walking into a store and being told that shopping there is a privilege. Imagine walking into Wal-Mart and being shamed because you accidentally walked into the wrong aisle. 

I admit I don’t know how the inner workings of how running a convention work, but after being to so many over the past decade I knew there was something seriously wrong with the way Anime North is run.

I started this tumblr because there’s no way I could be the only one. I also wanted to give a voice to us because I know we’re all afraid. I wanted a place to gather as many stories and frustrations as I could so others can hear what the artists of Anime North have to go through. My hope is that with enough voices we can put pressure on the staff to make changes. 

I’m really amazed at all the people that came forward and actually surprised by the positive response I’ve gotten from this blog. So thank you, all, who have been following this. 

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I’m very open to suggestions for this.

Personally, I don’t want to tell people to boycott Anime North nor am I planning to myself. The reason for this is because if we do, someone else will just replace us. AN will still make their money and the Artist Alley staff will continue to abuse their positions. That’s just my personal feeling though, I really applaud people who have the strength to boycott because I know the choice isn’t easy.

But just because we want to be able to be a part of Artist Alley means we have to be happy about it, or quiet. It doesn’t mean we don’t have a right to be upset with the way it has been run.

 We’re not expendable. Sure, giving them money might make us customers but that still doesn’t mean they should be allowed to dehumanize us. Imagine walking into a store and being told that shopping there is a privilege. Imagine walking into Wal-Mart and being shamed because you accidentally walked into the wrong aisle. 

I admit I don’t know how the inner workings of how running a convention work, but after being to so many over the past decade I knew there was something seriously wrong with the way Anime North is run.

I started this tumblr because there’s no way I could be the only one. I also wanted to give a voice to us because I know we’re all afraid. I wanted a place to gather as many stories and frustrations as I could so others can hear what the artists of Anime North have to go through. My hope is that with enough voices we can put pressure on the staff to make changes. 

I’m really amazed at all the people that came forward and actually surprised by the positive response I’ve gotten from this blog. So thank you, all, who have been following this. 

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I literally had them tell me and a friend that "tabling there wasn't a right. It was a privilege." when she had her first "offence". I've also had a friend who got banned for the year because she put her english name and not her Chinese name. She tried to send the papers with the "corrected" info before it was too late, but they received it, they didn't look at it until the deadline was over. When she tried to dispute this she got banned for the year and they shredded it.

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Oh, we get an hour for take down? Can someone let the staff at AN know because they seem to start yelling at us right as closing. :’)

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Describing them as completely dehumanizing and patronizing is hitting the nail on the head.

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From hythrain

Since I honestly have no cares about going to Anime North ever again, I have no qualms about putting my name with this story. In 2015, I applied to be a part of Anime North’s Pro Plaza. However, as a writer who was attempting to sell a comic and some merch based on that comic and who doesn’t create the artwork themselves, I had to jump through several hoops just to apply. I met all conditions to apply, was given a table, signed through a 10 page contract (I still don’t get why they have a 10 page contract where you initial every single page, including the final page which was labelled as “For Trans Artists ONLY”), paid for the table and everything was fine. A month later, I asked to add a helper to my table. All I really needed from a helper was someone who could watch my table while I needed to use the washroom or get food, and otherwise they could do what they want. The documents to add a helper was sent to me with a deadline of 15 business days (from March 11th) but no mention of what the repercussions of missing this deadline would be (I figured, at worst, no helper allowed for reasons I’ll get into later). I also noticed how the documents sent to me were an exact copy of the contract I signed PLUS 2 additional pages. So okay, I figured my helper only had to sign the last two since the rest were a duplicate of my contract and why would they need to sign that? We get it signed and sent in with payment. Just over a week later (6 business days gone) I find out they had to send everything in. By this point, it’s the weekend of Toronto Comicon 2015 (Where my helper and I were sharing a table) and it wouldn’t get processed through the mail until Monday so we just made sure we had everything signed (And to be safe, we both initial’d and signed every page. I didn’t want the possibility of a screw up, so we did it together on the Friday of Toronto Comiccon). Monday comes, my helper drops it in the mail, We should have 7 business days left. Hours later, Pro Plaza coordinator says that if it’s not in by the following Monday (5 business days later), my table will be cancelled. Remember that part about how there was no mention of what the repercussions was? When I looked through the contract again, the wording is vague. It speaks about how you can lose your table is your helper doesn’t read and understand the contract, but it says nothing about them signing every single page. In addition, however, I spoke with people I knew who had gotten tables in the past in other parts of the AA. The people I spoke with said that when they wanted to add a helper, the documents were first sent to the helper themself and NOT to the main artist. These documents were also sent with the clarification of “Every page has to be signed and initialed, and failure to get it in on time can mean the table is lost.” So here I was, with two of the business days I was suppose to have left being taken away, as I was threatened to lose my table. And since we didn’t send my priority mail (Had I know outright I could lose the table, I would’ve ensured it went by priority mail), it was obviously late. The coordinator, however, was “nice enough” to “give me an extra day.” Which means they really only stripped me of one day. Based on my knowledge on how long regular mail can take, those documents likely arrived two days after this which, if I had been actually been given an extra day, would have been fine. It’s worth noting, it was March 31st when I was told the table was canned and when I had last contact with anyone related to the AA. Now mind you, some of that is my fault. I’ll admit that. I should have asked, I should have made sure. But when it sounds like standard procedure to give the documents directly to the helper, to inform them of what needs to be done and that failure to do so can result in cancellation, I feel like that needs to be across the board for all coordinators. BUT OH HEY THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE. Thanks to a friend, I got in contact with someone who was part of AN staff and asked if they could file a formal complaint because I had no idea where to do it. I ended up hearing nothing from this at all. When AN came along, I met another staff member and they agreed to file another complaint again and, this time, regularly check in on it for me. They provided my e-mail in the complaint so I could be contacted. It wasn’t until the end of October before the exhibitor head said they were looking into it and who wanted my e-mail to get in contact with. So I provided it again. From here, things were silent until the end of the year when my new contact informed me that she had gotten a reply: I was being asked to send an e-mail to the head of exhibitors. However, another comment sent to my contact from the head was along the lines of “We spoke with this person in April and have already discussed it internally.” Of course, this is complete bullshit since the last e-mail I had from anyone related to the AA was March 31st. So regardless, I sent that e-mail on January 1st, 2016. I was hoping something could be resolved such that I’d actually care to go back to AN again. My hope was to try and get them to ease on the rules for helpers and instead do what other cons (Otakuthon, ConBravo, Toronto ComicCon) do, where the head of the table is responsible for ensuring others at the table follow the rules and that if they don’t, it’s the head of the table who is punished (I mean, this would happen anyway under AN’s set-up, so why add this needless red tape of a 12 page contract for a HELPER?) To this day, July 6th, 2016, I have been given no reply. I’ve also heard that Anime North has made their contracts even more ridiculous, where the 10 page contract is now a 15 page contract. So yea, they sure did a good job of dealing with my complaint… by going the OPPOSITE direction.

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I had several staff come over to my table this year. The first staff said I couldn't have names/series-related-texts over my fanart and asked me to just cover it up, which I did...but later on that same day, another one comes and says I have to remove it completely and that it's my second warning, and also a third warning would prompt me to be permanently banned from the alley. This rule was a newly added fine print, btw.

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I got permabanned because staff shouted at my secondary artist to get out of comic market even though he had an artist badge and I told them to stop being so rude to my friend. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯