If you’re looking for a stellar virtual event this weekend, Virtuous Con: Juneteenth is it. The two-day show will celebrate the holiday and spotlight Black creators in comics, sci-fi, fantasy, and gaming with an all-star line-up of guests, programming and a Master Class program sponsored by Kickstarter.
The show runs Saturday and Sunday, June 19-20 from 11 a.m. ET-6 p.m., and it is FREE! Just sign up here.
There are two full days of programming and the guest line up includes Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director Peter Ramsey and many more: Wilson Cruz (Star Trek Discovery), Marc Bernardin (Castle Rock, Adora and the Distance), Rodney Barnes (Boondocks, Killadelphia), L.L. McKinney (NUBIA: Real One, A Blade So Black), Phil LaMarr (Supergirl, Samurai Jack), Justina Ireland (Star Wars: High Republic), to name a few.
Virtuous Con was founded by award-winning author Cerece Rennie Murphy, and it kicked off with a smaller event in February for Black History Month. For Juneteenth — the newly official holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States — they have a bigger and even more ambitious slate. According to Murphy, “Woven within the spirit of Juneteenth, as an event and a celebration, is the notion of possibility and progress. We’re about leveraging creative freedom to expand the narratives and mediums where marginalized voices can thrive. Each of our vendors and guests is a shining example of that!”
This year’s theme is “Seeing Farther: Taking Our Vision to the Next Level” and in addition to programming, there will be a live-streamed Master Class series sponsored by crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and a live Black Music Month series sponsored by comics and culture company Urbanime.
More info:
The Kickstarter MasterClass Mini-Series is designed to help independent artists elevate their craft and business acumen with free lessons in everything from creating an audiobook, to marketing self-published work, to crowdfunding techniques to augment funding goals.
June is also Black Music Month, and urban geek lifestyle brand Urbanime will be leading discussions on how the intersection of Black music, comics, anime, and sneakerheads have created a new geek lifestyle.
Virtuous Con: Juneteenth’s virtual floor show will feature Indie artists and exhibitors dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, comic books, anime, and more in a live interactive virtual space. Complete with virtual “booths” for vendors to interact live with attendees about their products and interactive panels and live programming. The audience can interact in real-time with panel discussions, as opposed to pre-recorded Youtube or Zoom links.
Check out the complete programming schedule here, and the guest list here.
