Anime Crossroads

I don’t have the words to describe how bad it was

I don't actually live in Indianapolis but I've been going to Anime Crossroads since 2017 and I've been watching it grow. It was the first con I did well at as an artist and 2022 was the best year yet for me. I agree with what some others say; the artist alley is fairly casually done so it definitely feels less professional. But it's never been a problem for me personally. I love the attendees and other artists. It's just all around a very close-knit con. I wouldn't fly here for sure but if you can drive and it's not too far I'd recommend. They're moving to applications next year (from just letting artists buy their table at the end of the con for next year) so I hope to get in again!

Highly disorganized staffing. There were no table numbers and have been putting people in random places. People who have paid for bigger spots or rolled over from corners ended up having to be placed on a 6ft spot. They gave tables away meant for other artists who paid. It was a set up nightmare. However, the convention itself was pleasant and the money was nice. Unsure if it was worth the headache since the 2 year prior was also a very similar experience with disorganization

I started attending anime/comic conventions this year as an artist. Anime Crossroads is one of the smaller local ones I attended this year. Let's start with communicating with the staff before the con. It was fairly easy to get a respond when I submit my application, but once I paid and confirm my table, I hardly getting any responds from the staff. I was given a very simple map for the artist alley, but no indication of where the vendor hall was. When I got to the hotel, the layout was a super long corridor with multiple entrances, with no signs whatsoever for direction, I was dragging my suitcases like a crazy person running down the hall trying to get to the artist alley. It also didn't help that the staff changed the official hours. I drove there across states, thinking that I would have one hour to set up, no, they decided to open one hour early without sending me any email notification. I had to set up in about 10 minutes before everyone came in, not to mention the space was really cramp, I pretty much couldn't turn around behind the table, I am a tiny Asian girl that doesn't even take up that much space. Through out the entire weekend, everyone was confuse what the official operating hours was, because what was printed on my badge was different from what they verbally announced. The stuff themselves was confused too.

The biggest kicker of the weekend was the artist alley was set up in one room, which the electrical line was attached to the main event/panel room. You could hear and feel every beat of their music. The worst part was, when they drained too much electricity, our room would be in pitch dark. It was great showing your artwork with no light.

Obviously it was a smaller local one so attendance was not big, I have been seeing the same faces passing my table a few times during the weekend. Everyone was very polite, I felt that they genially enjoy looking through my portfolio and talking to me, I did appreciate a lot. Business wise it would get really really quiet from time to time because everyone went to panels, business was not that great on Friday, but I made my table and expense back.

The other artists were very nice and talented, I enjoy talking to them during down time. I got a few awesome prints traded with other people, which was pretty much highlight of my weekend. But overall, I made profit, I just not sure if the profit is worth all the frustration over the entire weekend.