Artist Alley Space Petition

[pinklemonadegoddess]

Waitlisting for the Artist's Alley started after fifteen minutes. There is obviously a huge demand for Artist Alley tables, yet the Artist Alley is put into the smallest exhibit hall. From what I remember last year the Game Room had a lot of empty space and could probably fit what they had pretty comfortably in Exhibit Hall One.

The Artist's Alley is a chance for entrepreneurs to earn a little bit of income doing something they love at a time when employment opportunities are few. I have a feeling that's partly why it filled up so quickly. It's an opportunity to support small businesses which I think should be encouraged.

If you have thoughts on this or ideas please contribute. <3

[ewu]

We will definitely consider it, and have in the past too. However, these things take time and it's likely that even if everything was greenlighted, it would not happen this year.

[pinklemonadegoddess]

Understood, thank you for the reply. I hope this opens up more dialog on the subject though.

[RaelynnMarie]

I understand having it done this year would be near impossible, but it would be a nice change for next year. I'm a fan of the Gameroom almost as much as the Artist Alley, but the problem with the Gameroom is how empty it looks (despite having quite a few games). It would be more comfortable and inviting in a smaller area, and the illusion of having so few games would be banished because there really is quite the selection.

Looking at the floor plan (http://c634653.r53.cf2.rackcdn.com/tse_sj_floorplanONLY.jpg ) minus the expansion, it's not as if it's a great difference, but enough to add a few extra tables. It'll also create the illusion of the gameroom having more of a selection, without putting it in too small of a space.

[phr34kish]

Even if it takes a while to get the green light, so to speak, it's still a great idea. People have been mentioning it casually for a a while, but I think it's really something that should get more attention. So this forum to open it up for opinion I think was a great idea. I've never seen the game room as busy as the AA Hall, and with the growing number of artists looking for a seat, it would make the most sense for everyone - including those that run Fanime, to open up for a larger amount of tables. The more artists they can seat, the more revenue is generated for both the artists AND Fanime. A new seating plan would have to come into play, but if you add another 50, 100, 200 tables of artists, paying for their space? Leave it at $75 a table, and that's another $3,750 (50 tables) / $7,500 (100 tables) / $15,000 or so (200 tables) for FanimeCon to work with.

Incentive, yes?

[Gigantor]

I love both the Artist Alley and the Game Room but I agree with swapping their locations. The bigger convention space for tables with the increased demand seems to make a lot of sense and will allow a lot more people the opportunity to come and sell.

[Hachimitsu]

wait...how is exhibit hall 3 the same as exhibit hall 2 in space wise?? its the same dimension!.. it only looks larger bcause they took about a few feet on the width and replace it on the height?

and even if we added those segments in.. where will Art gallery and lounge going to be?

[Laggy]

wait...how is exhibit hall 3 the same as exhibit hall 2 in space wise?? its the same dimension!.. it only looks larger bcause they took about a few feet on the width and replace it on the height?

and even if we added those segments in.. where will Art gallery and lounge going to be?

I don't think anyone mentioned Exhibit Hall 3. That's the Vendor's area. We're talking about swapping Artist Alley (in Exhibit Hall 1) with the Gaming Room (Exhibit Hall 2). Exhibit Hall 1 is smaller than Exhibit Hall 2.

[Hachimitsu]

sorry i can't recall which exhibit hal has the artist alley
I KEEP THINKING 2 for some reason!>>>!!!

yes of course its 1..
...
..
yeah we soo need to move to bigger space!

[darkkako]

I'm definitely in favour of this. The extra 7,000 sq. feet should allow a few more tables, and though I've never had trouble getting a table it has been really clear for the past few years that the demand for tables far exceeds the supply. The game room on the other hand is only half-covered every year unless the swap meet is going on.

[Oniko]

But then where would swap meet go?

[Hachimitsu]

if we move artist alley to "that one section you guys keep talking about"

Applying the Table charts from 2011, to this method of an idea would mean an additional 56 tables! (modified the front row to add 4 tables per column (14)

without the serpate row your looking at an additional 14 more tables, but we cannot do that because of safety measurements and trafficking.
That should be the total maximum amount of tables to apply within a extra 7,000 sq
sorry cannot provide a picture due to spoilers!

as for swap meet, it kinda depends how successful it becomes...
thursday was abit.. friday is hecktick... but that means we need to remove some spaces from the center since alot of people are more after on the walls!.... plus we might reduce the spaces on the swap meet by at least 1 feet out!.... but then that would also expand the height of it as well!...

don't worry about the swap meet though... even with the changes, swap meet wont be hurt by a dent! it's just a getting the dimensions use to, let's just hope they don't raise the prices!

[MysticEden]

I would also love if the artist alley and game room swapped places, and I LOVE the gaming room but it is weird to have that much empty space. As for the swap meet I always found the section in the middle awkward anyway.... The best places are on the walls for sellers and buyers.

[CoughDrops]

More space is cool, but iirc the Gaming Room is pretty dark compared to the lighting in the Artist Alley isn't it?

[reaver]

Yep, I say switch em!  If you can even get just a few more tables for artists it is worth it.  There is a demand, and there will always be artists that want to get in that don't make it and will be upset, but if you can even help a few more artists get in it will be worth it.  Game room would not suffer from losing that little amount of space.  Plus if you look at the poll on the fanime.com website, it says that after cosplay, the rest of the people (that have voted on the poll at least) come to the convention for the artist alley, so we know what the peoples want!  ;)

[chibimonster]

I think that switching the artist alley and the game room is an excellent idea because there are definitely a lot of good artists who should get an opportunity to sell their work at Fanime. The more, the merrier, after all. However, it might be hard to do at this point. Fanime is in only 117 days, and the final floor plan has to be submitted 60 days before the start of the event, according to page 17 of this document. http://www.sanjose.org/EC2/sitepdfs/Facilities_User_Guide.pdf

Therefore, there are 57 days left for those in charge to agree to make the decision, make a new floor plan for the two exhibit halls, figure out what to do with the swap meet, etc. That's not very much time, especially since everyone is already busy with other stuff. Based on this, I don't think switching the rooms is impossible, but it would be very difficult, and it would take a lot of extra effort from everyone involved.

Even if it can't be done this year, I think the switch should definitely be made for Fanime 2013.

[Hachimitsu]

yeah i knew there had to be some sort of dilemna with the swapping...

it's way to late to change the ideas, so i guess we can repost this when 2012 AA feedback arrives!....

[Cole]

Um... You guys do know that the convention center is in the process of getting an expansion right? Meaning new rooms will be opening up in the future.
Game Room is expanding as well, last con there was more room b/c the number of arcade machines dropped.  However with the new Just Dance games gaining tournament popularity among other new games more space will be needed for them as well.

[Hachimitsu]

i know adding an expansion can work out through negotiations, but when it comes to switching / swapping, I think there was a different ruling for that!...

all we can do is wait a response from AAA.
I mean somewhere around The mid-line for table registrations, the process was announce for "lottery"..
maybe we might get a different announcement on Display rulings and The new room....

[chibimonster]

Oh yeah. Didn't they make a big adjustment to the floor plan last year? When was that done? If they were able to add a large number of tables right before the con, perhaps the switch isn't totally out of the question.