WiSHCon: The First Ever Convention Celebrating Women in Sci-Fi and Horror

As soon as I heard about WiSHCon on Twitter, I immediately researched and found out as much as I could about the inaugural event honoring women who work in and create Sci-Fi and Horror. Indeed, WiSHCon stands for “Women in Sci-Fi and Horror Convention”, and we at The Geekiary are looking forward to supporting and attending this event – which will take place November 18-20, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. Because this is the first ever convention celebrating women in those specific genres, I knew I had to get involved (and don’t worry, you can too!). Luckily, I was able to nab an interview with one of the founders and organizers, Crystal Taylor.

Q: WiSHCon is such an interesting and unique concept. How did you decide on Women in Science Fiction and Horror?

A: It was all about coming up with a name that encompassed the majority of what is out there on TV now as well as in the past. The bulk of shows, at least it seems, tend to revolve around Science Fiction and Horror. Most of the shows we watch fall right into that category, so we started to come up with a name for an event to show support for the women that brought those genres to life.

Q. Was a convention always part of the plan, or how did you decide on a convention to support this concept?

A: When we first started talking about putting this together, it always started as a convention. We all have gone to many conventions. You might even call us avid convention attendees. It just seemed like the most logical way to go for the fans to be able to get up close and personal with these amazing women.

Q. You have an impressive list of special guests attending. Are you planning on adding any more to the roster?

A: We love the lineup that we have right now and we are very hopeful to add more in the future. Currently, we have hundreds of invitations sent out to many women from many different shows. With luck, and some funding, we’ll be able to bring in a fair amount of those guest we’ve invited.

Q. What are some programs that you anticipate holding during the convention? Are you still looking for programming ideas?

A: We are currently talking with YogaQuest (if you haven’t heard of them, you should totally check them out) to have yoga sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning. We plan to have a special event on Friday night, a concert on Saturday night, and a very special VIP breakfast on Sunday morning with several of the special guests that will be there. Also, we will have a large vendors’ room, costume contests, autograph sessions and hopefully a fair assortment of games!

Q. In 2016, WiSHCon will be your first official event. What sorts of events do you plan on doing in the future? Are you hoping that the convention will be an annual event?

A: Pending on a successful first year, it is our plan to make this an annual event. We hope that within the next 5 or 6 years that we can do this event in different states and in about 10 years be in at least 4 states across the country. Four events a year would be amazing.

Basically, WiSHCon is going to be an amazing convention with some incredible guests and some super cool programming. I mean, they even plan on doing a salute to women in the military in celebration of Veterans Day. And the best part is that all of the organizers are fans themselves, so they are going to put forward programming and fun events that other fans want to participate in.

Right now is a GREAT time to get involved in WiSHCon. They are currently in the middle of a crowd-funding campaign to help offset costs for this convention. Crowd-funding can be a precarious position, but they have some absolutely amazing perks for donating, including a Skype session with professional makeup artist Mandy Cummins, autographed goodies, the chance to introduce a guest at the convention, and of course, discounted convention passes. Please visit their Indiegogo campaign, donate, and get one of crazy awesome perks (time is limited!)!

Speaking of guests, as mentioned by Crystal in the interview, they have some incredible women lined up so far, including actress Kim Rhodes (Supernatural and Star Trek Voyager), actress Luvia Petersen (Continuum and Battlestar Galactica), director/writer Marita Grabiak (Buffy, Firefly, and Lost), actress/writer Claudia Christian (Babylon 5), author Shannon Eichorn, and actress Leah Cairns (Battlestar Galactica and Interstellar), among others.

For more information regarding WiSHCon, be sure to check out their website here or give them a follow on Twitter at @WISHConOfficial. You can also sign up to be a vendor or a volunteer by applying at their website.

All images here are used with permission from WiSHCon.

Author: Erin

Erin has reviewed many shows over the years including Orphan Black, iZombie, Penny Dreadful, and Killing Eve. She has a keen eye for on-screen chemistry, and loves to tackle the subject of casting. She is also our horror aficionado. She live tweets shows, and loves to share her feelings. Erin has a BA in History, and likes to analyze the lore behind historical fiction. She attends San Diego Comic Con every year and has also attended C2E2 and WonderCon.

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