FAN EXPO Seeks Student Groups, Community Partners

Denver’s Pop Culture Classroom has opened up applications for local student groups to apply for the Experience the Comics program, and for community partners to join the Kids’ Lab and All-Age Stage at FAN EXPO 2022, which is being held at the Colorado Convention Center over the weekend of July 1 through 3.

Experience the Comics, now in its eighth year and having hosted over 2,000 participants, will invite up to 500 students to FAN EXPO Denver for an entirely free Friday on July 1 of learning and pop culture-centered fun. “Experience the Comics is a manifestation of PCC's mission,” says PCC Education Program Manager Matt Slayter, "[to] inspire a love of learning, increase literacy, celebrate diversity and build community through the tools of popular culture and the power of self-expression. This is an opportunity for students — especially those that may not have the opportunity to attend a fan convention otherwise — to find likeminded folks and dive deeper into their passions.”

Slayter says that students who participate in Experience the Comics will start their day with “a few scheduled activities, including a brief welcome session and a handful of specially curated panels to activate students' creativity, curiosity, critical thinking skills, social/emotional skills and career aspirations.” But they’ll also have plenty of free time, he promises, to enjoy all the other things that FAN EXPO Denver has to offer.

Experience the Comics applications close May 1, and enrollment will be capped at no more than 500 participants. Chaperones can apply for a spot for their student groups on the PCC website.
The deadline for Community Partner Applications closes a little earlier, on April 17, but the opportunities for local organizations are just as important to PCC. “We're looking for local organizations that can bring their unique activities with an added pop-culture spin,” Slayter says. “In previous years, we've featured everyone from Talk to the Camera, who runs film camps for kids, to Play-Well TEKnologies, who teach engineering using LEGOs, to the Museum of Nature & Science. We want any organization that can activate kids' and families' curiosity, excitement, creativity and critical-thinking skills through interactive pop-culture-themed fun.”

Some of the past participants on the Kids’ Lab and All-Age Stage include some big names in entertainment, too. In 2021, kids and families got to meet the actors behind the voices of Pinky and the Brain (Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen), Pocahantas (Irene Bedard), and Belle (Paige O'Hara). Actors Alan Tudyk and Matt Mercer read children's books, actress Tara Strong did a lively audience Q&A, and PCC hosted a session called "Make Patrick Warburton Laugh," where kids told Mr. Warburton their best jokes. It’s all in good fun — and it’s a learning opportunity, too, which is what PCC is all about.

Interested organizations can apply to present educational programming on the All-Age Stage or exhibit in the Kids’ Lab at the PCC website.

“Part of what makes pop culture so special is the connections it allows us to make with other people, including the young folks in our lives,” says Slayter. “And those connections can ignite new passions and unparalleled joy. Kids need a space to feel like someone is speaking to them and can relate to the experience of being a kid, and that's what we hope to provide. By doing that, we're creating a future generation that loves learning and feels empowered to tell their stories.”

Pop Culture Classroom is an education and community nonprofit that works to inspire a love of learning, increase literacy, celebrate diversity and build community through the tools of popular culture. Learn more at its website.