ClexaCon

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Convention
Name: ClexaCon
Dates: 2017 - 2022
Frequency: Yearly
Location: Las Vegas, USA
Type: Procon
Focus: Femslash, Clexa, Multifandom
Organization:
Founder: Holly Winebarger, Ashley Arnold, Danielle Jablonski
Founding Date: 2017
URL: ClexaCon
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ClexaCon was a multimedia convention held in Las Vegas. While the convention was named after The 100 femslash ship Clexa, it was aimed at queer female fans across all fandoms.

Programming

ClexaCon featured panels, roundtables, and workshops catering mainly to queer female fans and creators. As a procon, it included panels, autograph sessions, meet-and-greets, and photo ops with the actors of popular femslash ships and queer characters. Although it was a multi-fandom event, the convention usually featured several panels specific to its namesake Clexa/Lexa. This included a panel with former The 100 writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach and workshops with The 100's conlang creator David J. Peterson. ClexaCon also featured other typical convention activities such as a Vendor Hall, parties, and cosplay contests.

A ClexaCon Film Festival was also held concurrently, screening "a variety of new releases and classic films with content relating to LGBTQ women and non-binary people."[1]

History

After the death of Lexa on The 100 and a growing number of female LGBT character deaths that were happening in 2016, Holly Winebarger, Ashley Arnold, and Danielle Jablonski started to plan ClexaCon, a multimedia con for LGBTQ women and allies.[2] It was originally intended to be a small fan-run convention of around 100 people but grew into a much bigger event with thousands of attendees after more interest was shown online.

2017

The first con, held in March 2017, featured several panels and workshops as well "reunion" panels between actors of popular femslash ships such as BAM from All My Children, Hollstein from Carmilla, Shoot from Person of Interest, Spashley from South of Nowhere and the Saving Face cast.

2018

The second ClexaCon was held April 5–9, 2018. It featured around 100 panels and workshops, including panels with the actors of popular femslash ships such as Amy Acker and Sarah Shahi (Shoot from Person of Interest), Katherine Barrell and Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Wayhaught from Wynonna Earp), Zoie Palmer, Anna Silk, and Rachel Skarsten (Doccubus and Valkubus from Lost Girl), Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis (Hollstein from Carmilla), Elizabeth Maxwell and Bryn Apprill (Yumikuri from Attack on Titan); as well as the actors of popular queer female or transgender characters such as Caity Lotz (Sara Lance on Legends of Tomorrow), Chyler Leigh (Alex Danvers on Supergirl), Nafessa Williams (Anissa Pierce/Thunder on Black Lightning), Dot Marie Jones (Coach Beiste on Glee), Erica Luttrell (Sapphire on Steven Universe), and the cast and showrunners of Lost Girl and the One Day at a Time reboot.[3]

There was also a London ClexaCon on Nov 3 - 4, 2018. Guests included actresses such as Katherine Barrell (Nicole Haught from Wynonna Earp) and Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis (Hollstein from Carmilla), along with writers and other figures of the entertainment industry such as Debbie Moon, creator of Wolfblood.

2019

The third ClexaCon was held April 11–15, 2019. It featured over 100 panels and workshops, including panels with the actors of popular femslash ships such as Caity Lotz and Jes McCallan (Avalance from Legends of Tomorrow), Caity Lotz and Katrina Law (Nyssara from Arrow), Katherine Barrell and Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Wayhaught from Wynonna Earp), Nafessa Williams and Chantal Thuy (Thundergrace from Black Lightning), Crystal Chappell and Jessica Leccia (Otalia from Guiding Light and Venice: The Series), Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis (Hollstein from Carmilla); as well as the actors of popular queer female characters such as Amber Benson (Tara Maclay from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the female cast of Marvel's Runaways (Virginia Gardner, Lyrica Okano, Ariela Barer, and Clarissa Thibeaux) and the cast and showrunners of the One Day at a Time reboot.

Clexapocalypse

On April 15, 2019, Jiji Knight started a twitter thread sharing their experience at ClexaCon'19 as a vendor in the artist alley.[4] The thread summarised how there was no promotion of the artists, no vendor list on the official website, and little signage at the con to show attendees where artist alley was. As a result, several vendors did very poorly in sales. There was also confusion around vendors having paid different amounts for table space. Jiji encouraged others to share their experience using #clexapocalypse, which several more vendors and attendees did.[5] Outside of stories from artist alley, there was also concern that the heavy fandom promotion, particularly for Wynonna Earp and the Arrowverse, lead to the space having a more cis white lesbian focus and was less welcoming to other orientations. On April 17, five core staff members stepped down from their positions within ClexaCon, citing personal reasons.[6][7][8][9][10]

2020

The fourth ClexaCon was originally planned to be held in April 16–19, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was rescheduled to April 15–18, 2021. Before the rescheduling, over 100 panels and workshops had already been announced, including those with the actors of popular queer female characters such as Katherine Moennig and Leisha Hailey (Shane McCutcheon and Alice Pieszecki from The L Word), Amber Benson (Tara Maclay from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jaime Murray (Helena "H.G." Wells on Warehouse 13), Felicia Day (Charlie Bradbury on Supernatural), Janet Varney (Korra on The Legend of Korra), Amy Acker (Root on Person of Interest), as well as the female cast of Legends of Tomorrow (Caity Lotz, Jes McCallan and Maisie Richardson Sellers) and Marvel's Runaways (Lyrica Okano, Ariela Barer, Clarissa Thibeaux).[11]

2021

There were two different ClexaCon events in 2021. First, ClexaCon Virtual was held on April 16 - 18, 2021.[12] Many of the guests originally scheduled for 2020 were also featured in ClexaCon Virtual.[13] Later that year, ClexaCon was held in-person on October 7-10 in Las Vegas, Nevada.[14] Special events included an afterparty, pool parties, burlesque, trivia, and musical performances.[15]

2022

ClexaCon held a virtual mini con on April 10, 2022.[16] A full in-person event was held in Anaheim, California on August 26-28.[17]

Convention Reports

See also

References

  1. ^ ClexaCon Film Festival, Archived version
  2. ^ http://blog.bellabooks.com/2017/05/the-clexacon-team-gives-us-a-look-behind-the-scenes.html
  3. ^ 2018 Panels & Workshops, Archived version
  4. ^ Official verdict on ClexaCon: Yikes. 😬😬😬 Thread on why to come below after I’ve organised my thoughts and talked to others. I will say, if it wasn’t a local show for me it would not have been worth it. @jijidraws, Twiter.
  5. ^ clexapocalypse hashtag Twitter.
  6. ^ "@Metriosity steps down".
  7. ^ "@second_stringer steps down".
  8. ^ "@dannisaywhat steps down".
  9. ^ "@CL_Sunnydalesteps down".
  10. ^ "@rialize steps down".
  11. ^ 2020 Panels & Workshops, Archived version
  12. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210421035802/http://clexacon.com/virtual-2021/
  13. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20210421050007/https://clexacon.com/programming/2021-clexacon-virtual-guests/; https://web.archive.org/web/20210412215343/https://viewstub.com/ClexaConVirtual
  14. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20211001022350/http://www.clexacon.com/
  15. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20211001022350/http://www.clexacon.com/
  16. ^ Tweet by clexacon, posted on March 18, 2022. (Accessed May 31, 2024.)
  17. ^ Tweet by ClexaCon, April 2, 2022. (Accessed May 31, 2024.); https://web.archive.org/web/20220702055007/https://clexacon.com/2022/
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