OzCon International

Thank you for your patience as we navigate the MANY details of these early planning stages, particularly given that we are building a nonprofit from the ground up. With that, we are excited to share some news!

We are moving away from the initially proposed nonprofit name to a more general one, not tied specifically to any one Oz property. So…drum roll, please…the new name is amzO Entertainment. As you may have deduced from the odd capitalization, it is Ozma spelled backward. This name will allow us to put on OzCon International and develop additional programming outside of that to fundraise and provide opportunities for the Ozian community to connect, etc. The mission statement will be developed through our Board of Directors and marketing will reflect OzCon International, brought to you by amzO Entertainment.

And speaking of board members, we finally have enough members to complete the 501(c)(3) filing and submission of the state Articles of Incorporation. Thank you again to those who donated to pull together that financial piece. In addition to members-at-large Colin Ayres and Dwayne Burgess, we will introduce our board president and vice president over the next few weeks. Further board members will be recruited in the coming months as we hold our first board meetings.

We also have a date for 2027! Get out your calendars for next year and mark July 9th through 11th for OzCon International. The venue has not yet been decided, but we are in the final stages of narrowing down some very good options in Portland. As soon as we have a venue in place, we will begin fundraising to secure the down payment and lock in the dates and space. There are also a few Portland tourism grants we will be pursuing early next year to help with costs. More to come on all of that soon.

Whew! We appreciate you joining us on this journey down that brick road we all know so well and we look forward to seeing you next year in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

- Heather and Keith

What’s new in OzCon International planning? Well, Keith and I attended the Oogaboo event last weekend in Chehalis, WA. We met some new folks and connected with others we’d met at last year’s event.

The group had some great ideas for possible venues and Keith Cordova will be doing some research while I finish filling those initial board seats and finalize the 501(c)(3) paperwork.

More to come, fellow Ozians.

Thank you, Karyl Carlson, for putting this together.

Roll call!

Who will be at the Oogaboo Grand Rendezvous meet-up in Chehalis, WA this weekend?

Keith and I will both be there and look forward to seeing everyone.

We'll be looking over your name ideas and brainstorming some others during the drive and hope to have more details of the filing status and name updates soon.

- Heather

Thanks to some fellow Ozians who were quick to step in, we were able to quickly and easily reach our goal (and then some) in just 24 hours. This will allow us to file and have some cushion to start the bank account, make flyers for other Oz events, cover mailing costs, etc. The costs of starting a nonprofit add up. I’ve done this before!
We thank you very sweetly!

We’ll let you know when that nonprofit status is in place, which can take weeks or months. Then, we’ll be looking at grants and soliciting donations and discounts. We can also begin to look more seriously at venues, set dates, and lock down auction items, panels, vendors, and entertainment. We already have some verbal agreements on some of those latter pieces, but we just need to get those dates in place!

So why aren’t we staying with the OzCon International name? Well, we’ll keep the name for the con itself (same website, same social media, same logo, etc.), but we cannot have “international” in the title of the nonprofit as that comes with a ton of stipulations that don’t match up to what we’re doing. Plus, having an “umbrella organization” allows us to do more than the con in the future potentially, fundraise outside of the con, etc.

We were informed that “To Oz” is currently used by the club for virtual programming, so if you have ideas for a name change, let us know. There’s still time to make that change as we work on the applications.

We’ll send out a special donor shout-out in the next few days. Thank you again for the generous support. Keith and I are both feeling positive about the future of the con and look forward to making new Oz friends along the way.

OzCon needs your support! We are filing for non-profit status as To Oz, the parent organization that will support OzCon International, putting on the annual (or possibly every other year) convention and fundraising during the off-season to support the con’s growth and ensure its stability for generations to come.

The event in 2027 will be held in Portland, OR with the date yet to be determined. We already have a few panel and vendor commitments, as well as a bit of entertainment already in the works.

We are asking for your help to raise the $325 to cover filing fees for the 501(c)(3) application and the Articles of Incorporation for Oregon. Your support of $10 or more will earn you recognition as a founding member of To Oz, mentioned on the OzCon International website and in other advertisement. What a great way to leave your legacy by supporting OzCon for today and for the future.
You can follow updates here on Facebook and at www.ozconinternational.com.

If you are in a position to support financially at this time, you can visit our To Oz PayPal by scanning the QR code on the photo or donate through our GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/e6600201b.
We look forward to bringing Oz-zy friends together next year in Portland.

Heather and Keith, your new OzCon co-chairs and To Oz co-founders

Planning is on for 2027!

Stay tuned for more information.

Sadly this has news been confirmed: OzCon is very sad to hear of the passing of the incredibly unique Lyle Conway, lead creature designer and the voice of the Gump in Disney’s Return to Oz, and known for his work on Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal and The Little Shop of Horrors, where he created the Audrey II puppet.

We were exceptionally blessed that Lyle chose to help kick-start OzCon in Burbank with our 40th-anniversary Return to Oz screening event at the Garry Marshall Theatre. He took part in a talkback session with our emcees from Down the Yellow Brick Pod, and he was also instrumental in helping us secure the use of the screen-used Tik-Tok from the original film props.

Lyle was a tad shy and uncomfortable with crowds, but he genuinely enjoyed talking with attendees. He came to the convention as an attendee himself, relishing quiet moments with Oz fans. Several of us have many fun quirky fond memories of him.

We feel extraordinarily blessed and privileged that he was part of OzCon last year, in what became his only Oz convention appearance.

All of us at OzCon International will hold those memories close and send our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Rest in peace, Lyle.