Fur Isle

2015-02-16T22:36:04Z

186.45.179.251: Minor edit

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'''Fur Isle''' is a proposed [[convention]] with related [[meet]]s planned to be held on the [[W:Isle of Wight|Isle of Wight]], England.

== History==
[[File:FurIsle2014Logo.jpg|right|thumb|Fur Isle 2014 proposed logo]]
* Early 2013 - Work on what would be the '''Fur Isle''' 2014 convention starts{{cn}}, originally plans were for the event to be held in [[W:East Sussex|East Sussex]]{{cn}}, before the move to the Isle of Wight was confirmed during an informal discussion amongst local [[fur]]s.{{cn}}
* December 2, 2013 - The convention discussion went live on the [[UKFur]] [[forum]]s and other websites<ref name="forum%2525252520thread">[http://forum.ukfur.org/topic/44698-fur-isle-con-october-2014 ''Fur Isle Con - October 2014''] post on the [[UKFur]] [[forum]]s. Dated December 2, 2013. Retrieved ?.</ref> generating a lot of interest, both positive and negative.{{cn}}

:The event as originally planned suffered a number of issues along the way, including the failure of an attempt to sell tickets almost a year in advance, with many potential attendees{{who}} citing the limited available information and uncertainty of plans that far ahead as reasons for waiting until later in the year.

:Meanwhile, the event website went down for maintenance, and to bring in professional design assistance{{cn}}, and did not return on the planned schedule.

* March 2014 - The chosen venue requested not only payment of a deposit by the end of the month, but also a confirmed list of all attendees in the same time frame.{{cn}}
* Late March 2014 - An emergency [[staff]] meeting was called,{{cn}} wherein the decision was made to postpone the convention to 2015, and in its place host a series of smaller events. These would serve many functions, giving a fun day or weekend experience for local furs, offer a chance for the staff to gain experience at hosting events of this size, with many of them having only run smaller local furmeets before{{cn}}, and present an opportunity to get the word out about the new upcoming convention through growing numbers of (fans?) {{cn}} and year-round attendees.
* July 5, 2014 - The '''Fur Isle Summer Party''', the first of the planned smaller events, a small beach picnic and [[W:BBQ|BBQ]], is schedule for one Saturday. Initially planning went well, but due to some confusion over which days senior staff would be available, and a disorganized attempt at rescheduling, for a brief time there were two separate summer parties planned, for different weekends.{{cn}}

:The original plan for the party had been to charge a small admission fee, to cover the cost of equipment hire and food for everyone at the event{{cn}}, but opposition to this led to the quick dropping of any charges, with staff covering most of the costs themselves.<ref name="forum%2525252520post">[http://forum.ukfur.org/topic/45858-fur-isle-summer-party-57/ ''Summer Party''] post on the UKFur forums. Dated May 8, 2013. Retrieved ?.</ref>

* October 31, 2014 - The [[W:Halloween|Halloween]] party took place in a different part of the island{{cn}}, taking advantage of the variety available there,{{clarify}} with a lower than expected turnout in part due to the date{{cn}}, with many local furs being unable to attend on a major holiday for which they had other plans{{cn}}.

:A result of this was to add weight to the idea of moving the main convention away from the same weekend, in order to avoid a similar issue in the future{{cn}}. With the small turnout and lack of [[fursuit]]ers, the day played out more like a typical monthly meet{{cn}}, with a visit to the beach{{cn}}, card games{{cn}} and the like{{cn}}. The small number of attendees{{cn}} provided generally positive feedback {{cn}} in spite of this.{{cn}}

* October 31/November 3, 2014 - '''Fur Isle''' the convention fails to take place. Whilst no convention tickets were sold, the same fundraising effort did bring in a few sales of event merchandise{{cn}}, both [[plushie]] [[bat]]s, modeled after the [[mascot]] design,{{clarify}} and official convention T-shirts, now bearing the slogan "'''''the convention that never was'''''".{{cn}}

:Funds raised in this manner were put towards purchase of a small quantity of both, being offered up for sale in support for a new proposed attempt to held the convention in 2015.{{cn}}

Fur Isle has gone quiet for now and no updates have been posted online for some time.

== 2015 convention and events ==

Following the issues with the original convention venue, the decision was made{{cn}} to seek out a different hotel for the proposed 2015 convention event, in particular going through the list of planned overflow hotels and other nearby venues.

The decision to move the date of the event to the weekend after Halloween was confirmed due to a discount offer made by one hotel, after confirming that they, like many others, would not be able to offer exclusive use of all spaces over the holiday, they proposed a substantial group discount for the next weekend.{{cn}}

This price drop, below the already low rate of accommodation in the area, would allow the convention to compete price-wise with others across the country, even after including the ferry crossing, which had been a concern of some less local furs. The proposed con theme will be "'''Halloween"'''.

Prior to the convention event, three more seasonal events are tentatively planned throughout 2015, these being:

* January 17/18, 2015 - The '''Winter Party''', with a main focus on [[furry fandom]] [[furry music|musical]] talents<ref name="facebook%2520event">[https://www.facebook.com/events/629774847131786 ''Winter Party''] [[Facebook]] page. Retrieved December 5, 2014.</ref>
* (Date unknown) - An unnamed Springtime event to be held out in the countryside with outdoor activities
* (Date unknown) - The '''Summer Party''', most likely a similar beach picnic, amongst other things.

== Staff ==

* [[Kitutal]] - {{cn}}

== Criticism ==

Fur Isle and its staff have received a lot of criticism since the idea was first revealed, from mild critique that the "UK had no need of a third convention in such a small space",{{cn}} that "hosting the event so far south would make travel difficult (or expensive) for anyone in the north of the country",{{cn}} to outright accusations of theft, scams, threats of violence and worse by the event staff.{{cn}}

Subsequently, the event organization was more active in seeking out the opinions, positive or otherwise, of local furs, asking around on their various [[W:Social network|social networking sites]], first on [[W:Ask.fm|Ask.fm]], later on the discussion forum on the newly rebuilt event website, posting a forum thread asking for opinions on these issues, specially the change of locations, citing it as the most common complain received.<ref name="poll">[http://forum.ukfur.org/topic/47240-fur-isle-convention-serious-questions ''Fur Isle Convention - Serious Questions''] post on the UKFur forums. Dated December 4, 2014. Retrieved ?.</ref> The increased travel cost of the ferry crossing concern prompted the committee to investigate coach hire as a cheaper alternative.{{cn}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==

* [http://www.furislecon.co.uk/ Fur Isle] official website
* [http://furislecon.co.uk/discussion/ Fur Isle] [[Forum]]s
* [http://www.facebook.com/FurIsleCon Fur Isle] on [[Facebook]]
* [https://twitter.com/FurIsle/ Fur Isle] on [[Twitter]]
* [http://furisle.blogspot.co.uk/ Fur Isle] on [[W:Blogger (service)|Blogger]]

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[[Category:Proposed conventions]]
[[Category:England]]
[[Category:2014 events]]

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Fur Isle