Applications are now open for the Octocon Community Fund and for free memberships for Cork locals!
The Octocon Community Fund has been created to support less well-off fans who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend Octocon this year in Cork, with bursaries towards accommodation and travel costs.
We are also making a limited number of free memberships available to Cork locals. We plan to have 2 full adult attending memberships and 3 pairs of Young Adult memberships (aged 13-21) available. If more people apply for memberships than the available number, we will draw them by lottery.
The deadline to apply to the Community Fund or for a membership is August 15th, and we aim to let applicants know within a week.
Ways to Contribute to the Community Fund
- In the Octocon’s Shop on our Ko-fi.
- When you purchase your membership using the Contribute to the Octocon Community Fund option.
Donors will be credited on a special page in the appropriate year’s souvenir convention book.
More About Community Fund Applications
We recognize that different people will have different financial needs based on distance of travel, availability of accommodation and other factors. However, because this is a crowd-funded programme, we don’t know how much money we will raise, nor do we know how many people will apply.
This means that we plan to offer a bursary of the same value to all successful applicants – the amount and number of bursaries will be determined once we know how much funding we have raised.
Factors that will determine how many bursaries we can award, and whether you are awarded one, include:
- the number of applicants and the amount of money raised
- whether you are an active member of the Octocon community (from anywhere)
- whether you would normally attend Octocon in Dublin
We do not expect to be able to award a bursary to every applicant. We will make every effort to assess applications impartially based on the above factors.
If we receive additional funding, we will open a second round of applications. You will be welcome to apply for a second bursary, but priority will be given to those who did not receive funding in the first round.
You are expected to buy your own membership for Octocon 2026.