Anthro New England
| Anthro New England | |
|---|---|
 Anthro New England 2022 poster | |
| Location | - The Westin Boston Seaport District |
| Website | |
| Status | Ongoing |
| First iteration | February 27 - March 1, 2015 |
| Organizer(s) | Anthro New England, Inc. |
| Charity | Wings of the Dawn & Youth On Fire |
| Subject | Furry |
| Resources | Photos, videos, reports: Anthro New England resources |
Anthro New England (ANE) is a regional furry convention held in Boston, Massachusetts. ANE represents itself with a deer mascot named Copley as well as a cougar mascot named Quincy. The event was started by Gale Frostbane, Logn Roo, and KotaHusky in 2014.
ANE was initially held at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge in Cambridge, MA. The first theme was "The American Revolution: Boston Strong!", centered around the history of Boston during the American Revolutionary War. After the 2017 convention concluded, ANE sought out a new hotel location to accommodate the over 1.3K attendees that had been recorded that year.
In 2018, ANE moved to the Boston Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The theme was "To The Sea!" It set a new record attendance for that year, which was 2K+. The last pre-pandemic convention took place on February 20 - 23, 2020, with the theme "The Roaring Twenties", and a new attendance record of over 2.5K attendees, featuring GoH Boobun and Pulex.[1] It announced at the closing ceremonies that they would return for 2021 with the theme "Back to the 90s!", featuring GoH Nightlinez and the creators of Circles.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which developed shortly after the 2020 iteration concluded, the previous announcement that ANE would return in 2021 was revised to notify attendees that the 2021 event would be cancelled.[2] Included in this announcement was that ANE would instead feature a virtual event in the same month that ANE 2021 was scheduled. This was held from February 19 - 21, 2021, entitled "Anthro New England: Online!", featuring an America Online look-a-like logo for the event. Despite the theme, being postponed until the next year, the 90s theme was still maintained. The main feature of the event was a virtual recreation of the immediate surroundings of the Boston Park Plaza hotel, including portions of Back Bay and the Public Garden. This was created by a handful of ANE Staff members leading up to the event. The event also featured a livestream via the convention's Twitch channel of various DJs performing 90's themed mixes, as well as a virtual dealer's den featuring various previous vendors.[3]
ANE announced on July 6th, 2021[4] that Anthro New England 2022 would be happening in person - with the "Back To The 90's!" theme originally selected for ANE 2021. For 2022, ANE was held at the Boston Park Plaza between the dates of February 17 -20, 2022.
At closing ceremonies in 2022, ANE announced a move to a new hotel, and from the 2023 iteration and forward the convention takes place at the Westin Boston Seaport Distict, with attendees being given the option of two overflow hotels for the first time. The theme of the 2023 convention was "Trains!" and with the move, attendance grew to 3548 members. ANE 2023 featured GoH Braeburned, Hearth Fox and Tonya Song.
The 2024 iteration was held from January 18-21, 2024, with the theme "It's a Nor'Eastah!" (referring to a type of severe blizzard associated with New England winters) and featuring GoH DJ Woozie, Howl Out and Declan Mouse. Attendance again rose by over a thousand to reach 4482 attendees.
At the conclusion of ANE 2024, the theme for 2025 was announced as "A Staggering Case!", featuring an animated trailer[5] centered around the disappearance of their mascot, Copley. Also announced were the GoH for 2025, Jaystor, Godbird and NONSTOPPUP. ANE 2025 will take place January 16-19, 2025.
Organization[edit]
ANE is hosted and managed by Anthro New England, Inc., which is a 501(c)(7) non-profit corporation registered with the state of Massachusetts. Anthro New England, Inc., is run by a Board of Directors charged with operating the annual convention, facilitating donations for charity, and presenting a positive image of the furry fandom for New England and United States. Anthro New England, Inc. maintains enough funds to continue operations, and donates all other proceeds to charities that fall within the bounds of their mission statement, which reads as follows: "Anthro New England's mission is to raise funds and increase awareness for local charities that connect animals with humans in need, while providing a fun, safe event for anthropomorphic fans to meet and enjoy art, performance, music, and literature."
Board of Directors[edit]
The Board of Directors consists of:[6]
- Foxar Wolfen (Treasurer)
- Smudge Cat (Vice-Chair)
- Camille Lee-Fitzgerald (Secretary)
- Drahck
- Kaito
- Kaithral
Statistics[edit]
| Year | Theme | Attendees | Charity |
| 2015 | The American Revolution: Boston Strong! | 757 | $10,000 |
| 2016 | Sportsball! | 965 | $11,000 |
| 2017 | For Science! | 1384 | $15,000 |
| 2018 | To The Sea! | 2050 | $21,000 |
| 2019 | Attack of the Were-Con! | 2251 | $22,500 |
| 2020 | The Roaring Twenties! | 2570 | $25,700 |
| 2022 | Back To The 90's! | 2530 | $27,000 |
| 2023 | TRAINS! | 3548 | $21,000 |
| 2024 | It’s A Nor’Eastah! | 4482 | $30,000 |
References[edit]
- ↑ "soon we'll be celebrating the turn of the decade, with: 🎉 ANE 2020: The Roaring 20s 🎉 🔜 February 20-23, 2020 🔜 Boston Park Plaza Hotel 🔜 featuring Guests of Honor @booboobunn and @LordPulex" - Anthro New England, Twitter
- ↑ "We hope that it will come as no surprise that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we need to announce the official cancellation of Anthro New England 2021. ...We're already working on plans for a Virtual Anthro New England in February 2021. While we may not be able to physically be with one another, we can still be together." - Anthro New England, Twitter
- ↑ [1] - Anthro New England, Website
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Anthro_NE/status/1412479293926543368
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cVMwea54BM
- ↑ Team page on the Anthro New England website. Retrieved November 2018.
External links[edit]
- Anthro New England – official website
- Anthro New England on Twitter
- Anthro New England on Mastodon
- Anthro New England on Fur Affinity
- Anthro New England on Weasyl
- Anthro New England on Instagram
- Anthro New England on Facebook
- Anthro New England on Discord
- Announcement channel on Telegram
- Photos, videos, reports: Anthro New England resources