Jakarta. The upcoming Popcon Asia convention is about to indulge Jakartans by showcasing creations from experts in the creative industry, including professional comic artists, illustrators, and pop culture performers.

Popcon Asia 2015 will take place at the Jakarta Convention Center in Senayan, South Jakarta, from August 7 to 9, and aims to promote the creative industry as well as increase awareness of the intellectual property rights of Indonesian creators.

At the convention, players in the industry will have booths to present their creations. Participants include professional comic artists and illustrators, toy designers, animation creators, popular culture performers, art, design and film enthusiasts as well as investors who may be looking for their next creative assets.

“We have foreign partners who said they would look for new talents at Popcon Asia 2015," Grace Kusnadi, co-founder of Popcon Asia, told GlobeAsia on Thursday. "A representative of IFI, the Institut Français d'Indonésie, also told me it was seeking to acquire comic portfolios from authors throughout Indonesia to be reviewed and brought to France."

IFI is an institution under the patronage of the French embassy in Jakarta that serves as a bridge between France and Indonesia in cultural, linguistic and tertiary education matters.

Organizers at the convention said they had registered a total of 230 booths from enthusiastic participants.

This year’s convention will be the fourth Popcon Asia held in Indonesia, and organizers are targeting up to 30,000 visitors during the three-day convention. Last year, it booked about 24,000 visitors.

Ubisoft, a Rennes-based video game developer and publisher, was one of the big players that found new talent at the annual convention last year, said Grace.

Dennis Adishwara, CEO at Layaria, an online video startup that works with multiple YouTube channels, said last year's convention had recorded transactions worth a total of Rp 5 billion ($375,000) from merchandise sales and memorandum-of-understanding signings among creative-industry players.

“This exhibition is not only a place for creators to meet consumers but also for investors to meet creators, for business-to-business deals,” said Faza Ibnu Ubaydillah Salman, a local comic creator.

Between September 25 and 27, Comic Con, the iconic convention for entertainment and comic book enthusiasts, will be held for the first time in Indonesia at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran.

The event will feature various pop culture attractions, including movies, TV series, animation, comics, cartoons, toys, video games and more.

GlobeAsia