One evening this past July, Upstream Arts was tagged in the above tweet. We wondered: What is Horses at Home? And why would they choose to support us? A quick Google search and several tweets later, we discovered that Horses at Home Con (HAHcon for short) is an even more awesome initiative and community than we ever could have imagined.
In a nutshell, HAHcon is a free online convention for fans of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It is closely linked to BronyCon, the world’s largest in-person My Little Pony convention. Both are gatherings for “bronies,” a word coined to refer to My Little Pony fans of all ages and genders who “simply aren’t afraid to admit that they enjoy a show which is innocent, colorful, and funny.” In a way, HAHcon – founded by an animator who goes by Crowne Prince – is all about access. “At a physical convention,” notes the HAHcon website, “You go to different events in rooms at a location. At HAHcon, all of the events are livestreamed on the internet.” That means individuals who can’t attend in-person conventions like BronyCon, for any reason, can still have a convention experience and connect with the brony community through HAHcon. So cool!
Furthermore, every year, Crown Prince creates and sells a poster during HAHcon. then donates all proceeds to a charity aligned with HAHcon’s values. This year’s poster was a collaboration with Mdragonflame, and the posters were printed and donated by Bronycon founder Purple Tinker. Honored and eager to know how Upstream Arts came to be selected as the designated charity this year, we tweeted HAHcon to ask. The response came right away:
How amazing is that? Needless to say, we are blown away with gratitude.
Soon after poster sales closed, we received a check in the mail along with the sweetest card, listing the names of everyone who bought posters. It reads, “As artists, teachers, and people who enjoy many different forms of art, we wanted to thank you for all that you’ve done over the past ten years to empower disabled kids and adults through drawing, writing, music, and dance. We believe in you!”
Together with an additional generous donation from Purple Tinker, the poster sale generated a total of $740! These funds will directly support our arts programming for individuals with disabilities of all ages in the coming months.
Enormous thanks to everyone at HAHcon for choosing Upstream Arts. We are so moved by your support and grateful for all that you do!
If you would like to make a donation to Upstream Arts, simply click here.
The convention is all about art and cartoons, so we were very specific about what we wanted to support: arts education as a means to teach people living with disabilities, and an organization that had a diverse staff and a more local impact (as opposed to a national nonprofit). We did a lot of research before finally finding you!
Best-
CP