Fursuit Support

What is the FURSUIT-SUPPORT-TEAM?

If you have ever been to a furry convention, you will have likely found yourself surrounded by cute fursuiters posing for photos and offering hugs. And while the furry fandom thrives on the wide range of creativity and different art forms; fursuiters are often the most prominent phenomenon on site. These giant fuzzy critters are bringing their anthropomorphic fantasies into the living world.

Fursuiting is a whole lot of fun. However, it is also an extremely warm and exhausting thing to do. Imagine, if you will, running around in a thick whole body winter coat in the middle of summer. - Your vision is limited, your breathing is muffled and your sense of touch is greatly reduced. - It's not the most pleasant situation to be in for a long period of time. This said, fursuiters brave these harsh conditions to bring smiles to people, entertain and have fun.

Here is where the Fursuit-Support-Team comes in.

We love to see these critters around as much as possible. And the better we take care of their needs and wellbeing, the more often we get to see them performing. The work we do is unseen by most attendees, but we are there when fursuiters hide from the public eye to break character to recover.

We get paid in hugs and thank yous from people who can fursuit twice as long now rather than dying of heatstroke or dehydration. Seeing that Eurofurence is praised for its fursuit friendly services and having one of the highest fursuiter quotas of all conventions fills us with great pride.

So what does the Fursuit-Team actually do?

By far our biggest job at the convention is running the "Fursuit Lounge". A 1000m2 hall filled with cooling blower arrays, self-constructed costume drying systems, a fursuit repair center, dozens of drink supply stations and lots of storage space. Once set up, we constantly have to keep all this clean, stocked, and looked after. We are, of course, always there to lend a helping hand, answer questions, check on people's health, and ensure a fursuiter's "character-privacy" is respected.

We also provide these services to panels and events. If a panel or dance involves fursuiters, then we ensure there are wind machines and a backstage area with water and snacks for them.

Fursuiters also get their own convention badges that need to be produced and handed out by a whole team of dedicated volunteers.

Many of our tasks may seem menial, such as refilling water, cleaning areas, carrying things around etc. But even these small tasks can mean the world to an exhausted fursuiter who needs nothing more than some fresh air and water.

Would you like to help?

Every year the Fursuit Lounge is among the first permanent service running and is usually the last to close down at the end of the convention. This is a lot of time to cover and a lot of suiters to keep happy. If you would like to join our team and help us keep our fursuiters suiting, here is what we are looking for in a volunteer:

• You feel that assisting fursuiters and giving them a safe space is important,
• You are willing to help for about an hour per volunteer shift. Preferably more than once during the convention,
• You are capable of communicating in basic English,
• You can handle heavy water kegs without breaking them or yourself, or know how to use a badge printer to help with the fursuit badges,
• And lastly, fursuiters need us the most when they are out having fun and exhausting themselves. We are at our busiest during these times and will need all the help we can get often late into the night to cover the fursuit dances.

Have questions or want to help?

We would love to hear from you at fursuit-team@eurofurence.org.