User:Myfanwy/BiCon (2)

The UK BiCon (more formally known as the UK National Bisexual Convention or UK National Bisexual Conference), is the largest and most consistent annual gathering of the UK's bisexual community. It is also the world's longest running bisexual community event.

While the format does vary, the common format is a long weekend over 4 days consisting of workshops, discussions, meetings and social events. Although being billed as a "bisexual" event, it is open to partners of bisexuals, supporters, non-bisexuals, non-definers, and anyone else interested in the issues around bisexuality. To that extent it can often be characterised as a nexus of the sexual freedom and queer movements. Since the late 1980s, BiCons have normally attracted between 150 and 250 participants.

Each year's BiCon is organised by a different team of activists, sometimes under the banner of a local Bisexual group, sometimes as independents.

History

In December 1984 the London Bisexual Group (in association with the now defunct zine 'Bi-Monthly') ran a conference called "The Politics of Bisexuality" at The Factory Community Project in Highbury. Around 40 people braved the icy weather to attend and judged the event to be a huge success. A second event was then attended by over fifty people in April 1985. Unfortunately the venue used, the London Lesbian and Gay Centre, had just decided to ban bisexuals (and some other groups) from their premises. This did not stop the conferences which soon gained popularity in a Britain devoid of bisexual focussed event.

That following October the Edinburgh Bisexual Group took up the torch and ran an event called "Bisexuality and the Politics of Sex". This established the idea of conferences moving around the nation. The next was run by a bisexual women's group in London. By this point the communtity was starting to know what they wanted from BiCon - a chance to meet other bisexuals (and their allies) from across the country, discuss sexuality issues, and relax in the company of likeminded folk and network.

Armed with an agreed purpose, for the next few years the conference alternated between venues in London and Edinburgh. Then in 1989 it branched out to Coventry. As well as being the first one outside the two capitals, it was also the first to be residential (previously, people from outside the host city had either booked accommodation privately or stayed with local attendees: 'crash space') and to use the name 'BiCon', in part because of the organisers' and venue's experience with SF cons.

A range of cities and towns have hosted it since. Over time BiCon has evolved to fit with the needs of the community. The word 'conference' has been largely replaced by 'convention', but there is still a political and campaigning side to the event. In recent years the momentum behind the event has spawned a number of off-shoots, such as 'BabyBiCon', 'BiFest' and the 'Bi Academic Conference', which have concentrated themselves on particular aspects covered by BiCon.

Past events

Name	Dates	Venue	City / Town	Attendance	Residential?
The Politics of Bisexuality	December 1984	The Factory Community Project	London	40	no
2nd Politics of Bisexuality Conference	April 1985	London Lesbian and Gay Centre	London	+50	no
Bisexuality and the Politics of Sex	October 1985	The Pleasance Student Centre	Edinburgh	52	no
4th National Bisexual Conference	July 1986	The Mary Ward Centre, Bloomsbury	London	70	no
5th National Bisexual Conference	? 1987	The Pleasance Student Centre	Edinburgh	119	no
6th National Bisexual Conference	October 1988	Friends Meeting House, Hamstead,	London	154	no
BiCon 7 : The 7th National Bisexual Conference	26-30 August 1989	Coventry Polytechnic (now Coventry University)	Coventry	+200	yes
8th National Bisexual Conference	? 1990	Tollcross Community Centre	Edinburgh	+200	no
9th National Bisexual Conference	? 1991	University of London Union	London	+240	no
BiCon 10	26-30 August 1992	University of East Anglia	Norwich	200	yes
BiCon 11	? 1993	University of Nottingham	Nottingham	+250	yes
BiCon 12	? 1994	Methodist Central Hall	Edinburgh	~200	no
13iCon (when printed can look like 'BiCon')	1-3 September 1995	University of Central England	Birmingham	245	yes
BiCon 14	30 August - 1 September 1996	Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames	London	250	yes
BiCon 97 / BiCon 15	28-31 August 1997	University of Greenwich, Woolwich	London	180	yes
BiCon 98 / BiCon 16	4-6 September 1998	New Hall, Cambridge University	Cambridge	~200	yes
BiCon 1999 / BiCon 17	16-18 July 1999	Pollock Halls (Edinburgh University)	Edinburgh	201	yes
BiCon 2000 / BiCon 18 (incorporating the 6th ICB)	24-28 August 2000	Owens Park Campus, University of Manchester	Manchester	265	yes
BiCon 2001	24-27 August 2001	Singer Hall and main campus, Coventry University	Coventry	169	yes
BiCon 2002	16-18 August 2002	College Hall, University of Leicester	Leicester	189	yes
BiCon 2003	22-25 August 2003	Docklands Campus, University of East London,	London	237	yes
BiCon 2004	26-30 August 2004	Fallowfield Campus, University of Manchester	Manchester	273	yes
BiCon 2005	25-29 August 2005	University College Worcester	Worcester	+170	yes

BabyBiCon

A spin-off event BabyBiCon, aimed at bisexual youth (under-26 year olds) was held in Manchester on 5-7 June 1998. It was organised at the Ardwick Youth Club by the group 'BiYouth' (which folded in 2000) with support from a couple of local lesbian & gay youth projects. While attracting around 25 people, discussions of holding successor events in 1999 and 2000 led to nothing.

Future events

Name	Year	Dates	Venue	City
BiCon 2006	2006	13th-17th July	Glasgow Caledonian University	Glasgow

References

"BiCon UK: Archives" at Bicon.org.uk. Accessed 13 July 2005.
2 March 2002 - "BiCon's Past" at Bi.org. Accessed 13 July 2005.

External links