AVCon (Adelaide's Anime and Video Games Festival)
Status	Active
Genre	Anime Manga Japanese pop culture Video games Tabletop Game
Venue	Adelaide Showground
Location(s)	Adelaide, South Australia
Country	Australia
Inaugurated	July 20, 2002; 21 years ago (2002-07-20)
Next event	June 28, 2024; 4 months' time (2024-06-28)
Attendance	13,000 (AVCon 2023 first event post covid)
Organised by	Team AVCon Incorporated
Filing status	Not-for-profit
Website	www.avcon.org.au

AVCon - Adelaide's Anime and Video Games Festival is an Australian anime and video games festival held annually in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the largest combined anime and gaming festival in the Southern Hemisphere.

AVCon celebrates anime, video gaming, tabletop gaming, Japanese culture, art and technology in one large, all-ages event. AVCon prides itself on being a not-for-profit, volunteer-based operation that has a focus on local Adelaide-based communities and business.^[1]

Events and Programming

The festival is divided into multiple sections focusing on individual industries or fandoms.

• Anime screening rooms
• Manga library
• Industry and community-based panels and workshops
• Video game free play
• The Indie Games Room for local game development
• Retro game museum
• Esports and video game tournaments
• Art tutorials and creative competitions
• Table top area including tabletop role-playing games, trading card games, Board Games and Wargaming
• Cosplay
• Quiz Night
• Kids learning and activity area
• Artist Alley and Exhibitor Halls
• Community areas and meetups
• Maid Cafe

AVCon After Dark is the 18+ event that is complementary to AVCon and usually hosts content with higher age ratings, alcohol consumption, DJs and other performances.

In December of 2023 Team AVCon Inc. ran its inaugural 'Games 4 Kids charity', using donations and proceeds from its Christmas Artist Market to purchase several Playstation 5 units for donation to the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital.

Mascots

AVCon’s original mascots were Ayvee, a green-haired anime-inspired humanoid female with angel wings, and Sprite, her koala animal friend. In 2004, a grey-haired anime-inspired humanoid male counterpart to Ayvee was added named Switch, which caused Sprite to no longer be featured. Ayvee and Switch were featured in art and promotional material drawn by various artists every year after up to and including 2024. Ayvee, Switch and Sprite were created by two of AVCon's original organisers Connell Wood and Melissa Waterman.

In 2021, a more petite pink-haired humanoid female named Juliette was designed and added to represent the AVCon Ichigo Ke-Ki Maid Cafe. Juliette was created by artist Rae Harris.

For the 2024 event, a new character was brought on because of the need for four team captains for that year’s Sports Festival theme. A yellow-haired humanoid male with spiral glasses, a ‘nerd’ aesthetic and robotic features created by 2024 convenor Matthew “Mowen” Owen. This character was christened 'Wayville' and his robot friend ‘Ridley’ to honour the event's move to the Adelaide Showground.

Festival History

Early Years (2002 - 2008)

AVCon began in 2002 as a joint effort between volunteers of the University of South Australia's Adelaide Japanese Animation Society (AJAS) and the Adelaide University Video Gamers Association (AUVGA). Originally known as ‘AVConnection’ (a reference to the AV cables that connect a game console or DVD player to a TV) for the first two years, the event was held at the University of Adelaide in the Union building. It featured anime screenings, video game free play, vendor hall, quiz night and cosplay.

In 2004, the event officially changed its name to ‘AVCon’ and continued to expand on the University of Adelaide campus.

In 2008, the event outgrew its convention status. It officially changed its title to 'festival' and registered their organising body ‘Team AVCon Incorporated’ as an incorporated entity and registered not-for-profit.^[2]

Growth and Expansion (2009 - 2019)

In 2009, AVCon had grown past the point that it could be categorised as a simple university club event and thus was no longer suitable to host at the Adelaide University campus. Team AVCon Inc. made the decision to relocate the event to the Adelaide Convention Centre to reflect its status as an established festival. This venue upgrade and addition of new activities, such as the Indie Game Room, The Ichigo Ke-Ki Maid Cafe and the Adelaide qualifying leg for the Madman National Cosplay Championship, resulted in double the previous year's attendance.

In 2011, AVCon hosted its first guests with local celebrities Jade and Ryan from Cheez TV and internet content creator Martin "LittleKuriboh" Billany. AVCon then began courting local and international talent as guests for each subsequent year.

In 2015, AVCon added esports to its line-up with community matches and professional teams competing in Dota 2 and StarCraft II. It also hosted the first AusSpeedruns speedrunning marathon.

In 2016, AVCon added a dedicated tabletop gaming section to its activities alongside video games, including tabletop roleplaying games, Japanese and Western trading card games, board games, and wargaming.

During these years, AVCon secured support and partnered with many large companies, such as principal sponsorship with Australian Internet Service Provider Internode (now known as iinet) and Nintendo Australia.

COVID-19 Pandemic (2020 - 2023)

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, the 2020 AVCon festival was cancelled.^[3] The 2021 AVCon festival was scheduled to be held at a reduced capacity at the Morphettville Racecourse from 9–11 July; however, it was cancelled due to pandemic restrictions.^[4] On the 16th of March 2022, an official statement was released on Team AVCon's social media and website announcing that due to the ongoing possibility of COVID-19 complications returning, AVCon would not be held in 2022.^[5] Instead, in 2022, Team AVCon held two small-scale events. As part of the Adelaide Fringe, an artist market in the style of their Artist Alley was run, and in July, an AVCon After Dark style event was held that featured DJs, artists, and local vendors.

After a three-year hiatus, and with COVID-19 measures lifted in South Australia, AVCon was held again as a large event at the Adelaide Convention Centre on 21-23 July 2023 with reduced space and a selection of virtual panels.

New Era (2024 - Present)

In 2024, Team AVCon Inc. moved the event to the Adelaide Showground and has renewed its focus on aspects of the event, such as a theme, creative and theme-based art and events, community outreach, cafe with maids, panels, art classes, arcades and international guests.

Previous Festivals

Organisational Structure

Team AVCon Incorporated, the parent organisation which produce AVCon, is a registered not-for-profit^[2] which follows an Incorporated Association structure under the Associations Incorporation Act 1985. Each year, a new Elect is voted in by the membership and the Committee are appointed by the Elect from previous Elect, Committee, new and existing members.

The purposes for which the incorporated Association is established for are:

(i) to organise and run:

1. anime and video game-related festivals,
2. anime and video game-related events, and
3. other events and/or festivals.

(ii) to promote community interest in Japanese culture and society,

(iii) to encourage the appreciation of anime and other related art forms, which include (but are not limited to) manga, video games and amateur works of written or artistic pursuit.