StratosFur

Abstract

StratosFur is Houston’s annual furry convention, founded in 2019. Website here. Video from a happy participant here.

Role

I was a founding board member, working as the Director of Public Outreach on its first year to launch its inaugural event. I provided organizational, IT, and artist management resources.

Background

When I was very young, perhaps 7, I found community in the furry fandom online. By about 8, I had moved to Houston. Online I had read about furry conventions– specifically about Anthrocon, which was the largest one. However, it was in Pennsylvania. I couldn’t imagine traveling so far away for a con at that young age.

Online, I had read a forum post stating that a fur con in Houston would ‘never happen’ because the city was too unfriendly.

Fast-forward about 22 years. I had recently launched Artconomy.com and was looking for more ways to get integrated into the fandom. So, I began attending local fur meets. The local scene had started to get sizable, with regular events.

We wanted a con. I was elected to Director of Public Outreach by the community, and then got to work. I negotiated deals with artists, including commissioning our logo, designing processes for dealer selection, provided and maintained IT resources such as email, the website, and the internal wiki, and oversaw the initial social media crew.

Things were going well, but shortly after signing a contract with the hotel we selected, COVID-19 hit, and everyone went into lockdown. We continued working, on the hope that we’d still be able to run. All meetings had to be run remotely with volunteers, yet with all the challenges, we were successful.

Our opening date was scheduled just as COVID restrictions were being lifted, and we had to cut off ticket sales to avoid attendance getting higher than we could manage for a first-year con. Around 800 people attended, making our first year a resounding success.

After, I stepped down to focus further on Artconomy and prepare for the arrival of my first child. StratosFur continues to operate, and just ran its fourth event, hosting over 1,300 attendees and raising over $16,000 for the charity it sponsors, Give Us Paws.

Despite the assertion that such a convention could ‘never happen’, it has now managed to run over multiple years and continues to do so. I enjoy watching it grow each year, and continue to volunteer my time presenting at panels during the event.

Technologies used

cPanel, WordPress, Dokuwiki, MySQL, Telegram, Excell