Manifest (convention)

Melbourne Anime Festival, colloquially known as "Manifest", was a three-day fan convention held in Melbourne, Australia. It focused on the art of anime and manga, East Asian culture, and its associated fandoms. Manifest was held at the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne until 2009, when it moved to the Melbourne Showgrounds. It was held in August each year. Following the 2013 convention, Manifest closed.

Manifest (Melbourne Anime Festival)
Status	Defunct
Venue	Melbourne Showgrounds
Location(s)	Victoria
Country	Australia
Inaugurated	2000
Most recent	2013
Attendance	9,000 as 2011[1]

Manifest was run by the not-for-profit organisation MAFI (Melbourne Anime Festival Inc.) and staffed entirely by volunteers. The organising committee held regular meetings to plan and organise the event, and was made up of 30-75 people. In addition, more than a hundred individuals volunteered their time on the event weekend to help run the convention.

History

Manifest was originally held at the University of Melbourne until 2009, when it moved to the Melbourne Showgrounds. On 1 December 2013, it was announced that Manifest would not be running again in 2014 due to financial and staffing issues.^[2]

Event history

Dates	Location	Attendance
11–12 October 2001	Melbourne University Old Arts Building Melbourne, Australia[3]
10–11 August 2002	Melbourne University Melbourne, Australia[4]
8–10 August 2003	University of Melbourne Economics and Commerce Building Melbourne, Australia[5]
14–15 August 2004	University of Melbourne Parkville Campus Melbourne, Australia[6]
23–25 September 2005	University of Melbourne Parkville Campus Melbourne, Australia[7]
22–24 September 2006	University of Melbourne Parkville Campus Melbourne, Australia	3,500 (estimated)[8]
14–16 September 2007	University of Melbourne Parkville Campus Melbourne, Australia	4,400 (estimated)[9]
26–28 September 2008	University of Melbourne Parkville Campus Melbourne, Australia[10]	4,800 (estimated)[10]
21–23 August 2009	Melbourne Showgrounds Melbourne, Australia[11]	6,750 (estimated)[11]
20–22 August 2010	Melbourne Showgrounds Melbourne, Australia[12]
26–28 August 2011	Melbourne Showgrounds Melbourne, Australia	8,900 (estimated)[1]
17–19 August 2012	Melbourne Showgrounds Melbourne, Australia[13]
16–18 August 2013	Melbourne Showgrounds Melbourne, Australia[14]

See also

• List of anime conventions