History

SMASH! was founded in 2007 by Katie Huang and Paul Aeria. An accomplished artist in her own right, Katie was looking for an event with a stronger focus on art than most conventions in Australia had at the time (Paul just had some free time). Katie and Paul were quickly joined by others and the event expanded into a full-fledged anime and manga convention.

Later on, the organisers formed SMASH Inc, an incorporated non-profit organisation, to keep the SMASH! convention running after they had moved on. To this day, the convention still has a strong focus on art and creativity, despite almost doubling in size from its original incarnation, the fun, humour and irreverence it had retained from when it was just a couple of people sitting in Hyde Park saying ‘We should put on an anime convention’.

What does the future bring? Well it’s our sixteenth year in the running and we plan to make it even bigger and better! We’re planning a great line-up of special guests and events, and are doing everything we can to deliver a better year than ever. For that we need all the help we can get — Join Us and become part of the SMASH! experience.