Sometimes people call us furry, but we see ourselves as an anthropomorphic arts convention. We are a fusion of furry, professional costume designers, cosplayers, and performers. We exist to harmoniously bring out the best in all of these diverse communities.
It must be remembered that it was in some ways a reaction to the collapse of Rainfurrest - I imagine it's been hard for local "furry" cons in subsequent years, and the community may also have wanted to go in a different direction.
There's an argument that furry was born when Taral Wayne wrote to Vootie decrying the lack of sex in funny animals, inspiring Omaha the Cat Dancer. However, "maturity" comes in many forms. Albedo Anthropomorphics was one of the first to venture into this space, and only contained a minor amount of sexual content, its characters spending most of their time dealing with other "serious" topics.
In any case, it seems like ANW is in agreement, at least in terms of identity:
It must be remembered that it was in some ways a reaction to the collapse of Rainfurrest - I imagine it's been hard for local "furry" cons in subsequent years, and the community may also have wanted to go in a different direction.