Organizers of the second annual San Diego Anime Con anticipated about 4,500 guests for the three-day pop culture event this month. But thanks to well over 500 walk-in registrations, a bigger site and expanded amenities, they easily blew past those projections.
“It was bananas, especially on Saturday,” Dennis-Michael Broussard, a La Jolla resident and the event’s founder and executive producer, said of the Nov. 15-17 festival at the Legacy Resort Hotel in Mission Valley. “We had an estimate of what we were going to work with in of attendance, but that was definitely overshadowed by how many people actually showed up and were willing to pay more at the door.”
Broussard is no stranger to taking on notable projects, often wearing multiple hats at once. With this latest successful event, his resumé continues to grow.
Anime Con is a creation of Broussard and his company, Silk Road Productions. The event assembled local and regional artists, cosplayers, live entertainment and guest appearances.
After suring attendance projections, Anime Con seems set to expand further in 2025.
Since Silk Road started as Broussard’s “side project” in 2006, it has served several notable clients, including the San Diego Padres, SeaWorld San Diego and the San Diego County Fair.
The company is a full-service production firm that focuses on multiculturalism and pop culture. Other notable Silk Road projects include 2023’s Fangaea, an event celebrating fandom, and 2024’s Scream Diego, the city’s newest Halloween and horror convention.
Broussard said part of his inspiration is to change San Diego’s perception of being “the red-headed stepchild to Los Angeles and San Francisco,” despite its abundant things to do.
Though none of Broussard’s large-scale events have taken place in La Jolla, his home community is where he developed a stronger interest in his field of work.
After earning a pair of master’s degrees at UC San Diego in La Jolla and the University of San Diego, Broussard applied himself to event planning.
His graduate school experience — during which he also was working a full-time job — was ittedly “rough,” he said, but it pushed him to persevere.
“I think college and grad school really shaped me to look at things in of deliverables with deadlines,” Broussard said. “That and I have a short attention span, so constantly working on other projects and not the same in-and-out, day-in-day-out, ‘Groundhog Day’-type stuff … is what really drives me.”
His events also offer unique opportunities to interact with people outside of his core team and build on two of his key tenets — culture and community empowerment, Broussard said.
Broussard was raised in New Orleans and spent a majority of his childhood in the Philippines and Guam. He moved to San Diego for his higher education and has lived in Pacific Beach, Normal Heights, Mission Valley and now La Jolla.
He is a board member of the San Diego International Affairs Board, president of Balboa Park’s House of and departing second vice president of the House of Pacific Relations. He previously served on the La Jolla Town Council.
His community-oriented efforts have earned Broussard several accolades, including the California State Controller Volunteer Commendation and the City of San Diego Neighborhood Hero Award.
“Some people have hobbies. Some people like to make baskets or ski. … I’ve always been plugged into the community and I’ve always volunteered and given my time,” Broussard said.
Even with all his responsibilities, Broussard said he’s not interested in plastering his name at the forefront of Silk Road’s events.
“Nobody knows it’s me, and they don’t need to,” he said.
Rather, Broussard said he’s pleased when people are surprised by the variety and quality of the company’s offerings.
“I don’t have time for ego,” Broussard said. “Even at my own events, I’m not the dude walking around … [saying] ‘This is my event.’ I’m working registration, I’m picking up trash, I’m straightening tables.”
Less than a week after Anime Con, Broussard’s attention now shifts to the sixth annual San Diego Ramen Festival on Thursday, Nov. 21, at the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley, featuring five local ramen vendors.
Next year promises a full slate for Silk Road, with a masquerade ball in February, the second annual Fangaea in April and another anime convention in May in Escondido.
But for the next project he’ll be part of, Balboa Park’s December Nights holiday festival Dec. 6-7, he’s taking a backseat in the operation.
“I kind of enjoy it when I’m at an event and I’m not in charge,” Broussard said. “Someone else just tells me what to do and I do it, instead of being the ultimate decision-maker and having all the burden of everything on me. It’s a nice change.”
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