Welcome to Digging Up Positivity, where we cover positive news from the Furry Fandom and beyond! Where we cover charities from conventions and fundraisers all over the world, including some really special moments at Eurofurence, some lovely animation news and an exclusive interview with one of the more relaxing chillstreamers: Casey Explosion.

But first! All those wonderful charities, and with con-season going in full effect, there sureare a LOT of them!

A brief press release made by IndyFurCon on April 27th announced that Cassidy Civet would no longer be their Guest of Honor at their 2023 gathering slated to happen at the end of August this year. No reasoning was given by the board for the decision in their press release.

Cassidy, in response, took to social media to express her shock at the announcement:

I feel completely blindsided. Being asked was such a rush, I canceled my Furrydelphia 22 to attend and be announced at closing ceremonies at IFC 2022. Then complete silence from the con for months, I reached out, then today the rug got pulled out from under me.

I’m in shock.
-Cassidy Civet - April 27, 2023 7:03 PM

Welcome to the August edition of Digging Up Positivity! Slowly we are sliding into convention season and of course this comes with plenty of the traditional charitable goals. Speaking of which, this months featurette has a big role with that in South Africa. We have some animation news, and we see where badgers teach traffic safety! And also, if you want to win this T-shirt? Then stay until the end of the show!

Being a con's programming director may sound easy on paper. You take a bunch of panel submissions, and assign them to rooms. However, there are a bunch of logistics involved. Like the conflicting interests of the panelists, who want to attend other events themselves, or making sure there are no schedule overlaps by knowing which rooms are available, and when.

And now to that list of concerns we can add: Making sure that inviting a particular headliner won't cause interpersonal issues with other performing talent who'll be attending.

IndyFurCon, a furry convention that takes place in Indianapolis with a Hawaiian theme this year, found itself in the midst of a gnarly programming snafu last week when it began to announce its guests for this year's gathering.

In order to celebrate their tenth anniversary, there was a decision to try and bring back the special guests they'd honored in all their prior years of operation. Things have changed in that decade though, and one of the returning alumni, 2 Gryphon, was seen as being too controversial. This led not only to Internet outrage, but other performers to back out of their planned attendance.

The fandom continues to show strong growth on the last weekend of August 2018. A weekend in which 5 furry conventions took place: Fur Affinity: United, Eurofurence, Camp Feral!, Indyfurcon, and DenFur. Of them the inaugural gathering in the state of Colorado has turned heads as it had shattered the first year attendance record of a furry convention at 2,086.

The first year attendance record was previously held by FurryPinas, a convention in the Philippines at 1,542 attendees, which acquired it just this last May making this year a strong startup for furry gatherings in general. Other conventions also had solid growth in attendance rates. Fur Affinity: United showing its first growth since their move out of the state of New Jersey. The number breakdowns for last weekend's cons can be seen below:

Update 6/29: Story indicated previous record holder was Biggest Little Fur Con, was corrected to be FurryPinas. -Cirrus credited for correction.

Kigai Holt is an artist whose works include anthro art. Although not considering himself a furry, and not being deeply involved in the furry fandon, Kigai attended last weekend's IndyFurCon 2013 to sell commissions in the Artists' Alley.

According to journals posted on deviantART and Fur Affinity, Kigai enjoyed the convention and was able to sell several commissions; but the experience was soured when his car was broken into, and his original artwork and art supplies stolen.

Most new furry conventions strike an uneasy balance with growth. Furry Connection North found it had to move immediately after its first year. But IndyFurCon has gone one better, claiming to have outgrown its hotel half a year before launch.

Whoozfur Inc. Vice President Drittauge Cougar explained the situation:

After research due to high demand for the event, we have concluded that our current venue is unable to provide adequate space and accommodations for the convention. [...] The Hilton Indianapolis North will be taking over as our venue for IndyFurCon 2010.

Update: Memberships are on sale until Sunday. Regular: $40 -> $25, Sponsor: $70 -> $50, Supersponsor: $130 -> $105, Lifetime: $250 -> $225

Yet another furry convention has sprung up in the last month, this time the Indianapolis-based convention IndyFurCon.

Headed by Tora Nightprowler and scheduled for August 5-8, 2010; IndyFurCon is Indiana's first furry convention, starting life with the theme of "Tropical, Furry, Fun!"

It is to be held at the Fishers Conference Center and offers a range of entrance choices, from the $15 day pass to the $130 super-sponsor. There are also a range of lifetime memberships, which give entrance to this and every future IndyFurCon for up to $750.