The PAC exec staff took a tour of the Rhode Island Convention Center (RICC) and the Westin Providence last week, which went well. The RICC struck everyone as attractive and comfortable with lots of carpet; PAC will occupy one floor, which will keep all the programming and events convenient to each other. The next step is to finish allocating the space — speaking of which, the RICC has a nice rotunda with lots of windows, and we’re already brainstorming nifty ways to use that room. By all means, check it out at the convention just to see what it’s like and whether PAC Unplugged: The Acoustic Sessions has become a reality. (Well, probably not.) We’ll also have to give some thought to what concessions will be in the RICC. There’s already a chocolate and nuts kiosk on the first floor, and one PAC executive has put in a strong vote for bringing out the Dipping Dots cart…
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First Night attendees watching Negima and… hey, is that guy reading?

Happy belated New Year, everyone! It’s been a productive year for PAC so far — we held a staff meeting and toured the Rhode Island Convention Center, but more details about that soon. For now, we’ll briefly backtrack to New Year’s Eve and First Night Boston, when we held our first in-person preregistration event at the New England Anime Society’s anime screening. Despite a misprinted schedule in the official program guide, the screening ran pretty smoothly. And to our pleasant surprise, some people even bought a First Night button just so they could come register for PAC! To our first 10 registrants, thank you very much and hope you enjoy the show.

Speaking of registrations, the man in charge of them at PAC is Doug Wilder, the Director of Memberships. We asked him a few questions about how registration is set up for PAC 2008 — as well as a few questions for our own amusement. See if you can tell the difference…
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If you’re planning to be in Boston for New Year’s Eve, you might want to consider checking out First Night Boston. New England Anime Society (NEAS), the organization behind Providence Anime Conference, will be holding anime screenings in Room 100 of the Hynes Convention Center as part of First Night Boston, and you can register in person for PAC 2008 as well. (Cash or check only, please!) We’ll be there from 1 PM to 11 PM–you can view the schedule at firstnight.neanime.org. To enter the Hynes, you’ll need a First Night Boston admission button, which is $15 at local retailers like Shaw’s and Au Bon Pain. It’ll get you into all the First Night Boston arts and entertainment activities, and the New England Aquarium, Franklin Park Zoo, Museum of Fine Arts, and Museum of Science are offering some special bonuses for First Night Boston attendees too. Lots of good stuff out there–download a program guide at firstnight.org for all the details.

If you do join the First Night party, stop by the Hynes to watch some anime, say hello to our staff, and register for PAC at the lowest rate of $65. (Consider dressing for posterity, because we will have a camera in case we decide to take pictures of the first registrant. Or perhaps the second, or the third, or… we’re not picky.) We’ll even toss in a PAC 2008 button while supplies last! But wherever you are, stay warm, stay safe, have a great holiday, and we’ll see you in 2008!

Welcome to the official blog for the Providence Anime Conference (PAC)! Our inaugural event in 2008 will be Rhode Island’s first anime conference as well as the first anime conference exclusively for fans 21 and older, so we’re more than a little excited about it.

But why start a blog when we already have a forum? Well, first, so we can share all kinds of news and updates with you in handy-dandy RSS-feedable form, and second, because it’s fun. As we prepare for our inaugural event in October, we’ll regularly update this blog with news, interviews, information on the city of Providence, and even the occasional behind-the-scenes look at what goes into running an anime conference (besides many, many meetings and a lot of take-out). Once PAC 2008 starts, we’ll continue to update this blog on a daily basis with photos and articles, too.

Speaking of regular updates, we’ve got several updates planned for the upcoming weeks. So stop by again soon to learn what makes PAC programming different and hear about our plans for cosplay events. Maybe you have an idea of your own for something you’d like to see us cover here, so if you do, let us know!