The Art Of Akira Exhibit | Blog | Selections from the world's largest private collection of Akira production art

Excellent Opening Weekend!
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Just a quick post to say how fantastic opening weekend for Art of Akira Exhibit was! Here's the note from Joe Wos, director of ToonSeum:

Can a little bitty museum be an actual attraction?

The ToonSeum opened it’s newest exhibit “The Art of AKIRA” this past weekend. Visitors traveled in from around the country just for the opening of the show!

Toronto, San Francisco, New York, Columbus, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dayton, Connecticut and lots more.

A quick search on the web will show the buzz building for this exhibit and tweets and blog post like “anyone want to come with me to Pittsburgh to see the Art of AKIRA?”

The exhibit was picked up by I09.com, AOL News, Time Out New York, and tons of animation, technology and geek blogs. Not to mention local press including the Trib and City Paper.

The ToonSeum has already been featured nationally in the New York Times, Airtran Magazine, and West Wood One Radio to name a few.

It’s all about a fan based culture that surrounds the cartoon arts. AKIRA is a great example of the type of fan base who appreciate the art and drive buzz. It’s a secret San Diego Comic-Con, George Lucas, and Hollywood have known about for years, fan based culture can drive success!

We even got an email from someone in Spain who is flying in for the exhibit next month! He said it best when we told him we were a very small venue, “I’m not coming to see a big building, I am coming to see the art.”

So can a tiny museum dedicated to the cartoon arts be a draw?

You bet we can.

Joe

Photos and a full writeup, including media links, coming tomorrow. For now, I need some sleep!

Opening Weekend is Here!
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It's finally here - the opening weekend of The Art of Akira Exhibit.

First, I've redesigned the Art of Akira site - go check it out (you're likely seeing it right this second, in fact).

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Herald covered our opening weekend, and it's one heck of a great write-up. I read it this morning and I am not ashamed to admit, a tear came to my eye (okay, fine, more than one). This has been a long time coming. I've been actively working to make this upcoming weekend happen for more than three years now, and it's finally here.

AOLNews also let me cover my own event - and I'm so honored they did.

It's my hope that everyone in the comics, animation, art and film industries sees these articles and gets interested. I hope everyone with an interest in the field gets to check out the exhibit. So help me spread the word!