Gay Comic Con Launches Fundraising Drive

Oct. 5, 2012 - PRLog -- In space, no one can hear you scream. Bent-Con is betting that on Earth people can hear you launch your fundraising drive.

Bent-Con, the world’s largest gathering of LGBTQ geeks, nerds, fans, creators, industry and allies of genre pop-culture announced today the launch of their 2012 convention fundraising drive. This year, the third year of their event, Bent-Con is looking to raise $20,000 to better enhance, develop and expand their annual convention celebrating the gay contribution to the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror genres, as seen in comics, movies, games, literature and technology.

Started in 2010 with a one-day gathering that blew past expectations when 500 guests crowded into a small, donated storefront, the event exploded in 2011, when 2000 people attended two day event, complete with vendors, panels, guests, movies and parties. This year, expectations and excitement are high, as Bent-Con has announced a stellar line-up of guests from across the genre landscape, industry lights that include authors Christopher Rice (The Heavens Rise) and David Gerrold (When Harlie Was One), actress Claudia Christian (Babylon 5), creator Jane Espenson (Husbands), artist Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman), and the legendary mutli-hyphen Wendy Pini (Elf Quest, Masque of the Red Death.) The convention organizers are raising funds to better serve the increasing visibility and interest the convention.

“Unlike most conventions, we’re a non-profit, 501c3 foundation,” says convention organizer and Bent-Con president Sean Holman. “We do this by the skin of our teeth and cut corners where we can, doing without many of the things the larger, for profit cons do. With this year’s fundraiser, we’re looking to pay a host of expenses before the con starts and that way add back in the box-full of corners we usually cut out.”

Funds raised through IndieGoGo will cover step-and-repeats, red carpets, internet-wifi, professional grade video recording of panels, internet streaming of panels, scholarships, larger and more numerous meeting spaces, guest services, t-shirts, access and opportunity for guests in other countries to attend, advertising, signs, individual convention guides and paying off the event-space rental bill paid off before the con starts.

“We’d like to breathe easier this year — and make the best con we possibly can,” Holman said.

The full fundraising campaign information can be found at http://www.indiegogo.com/bent-con2012. The page includes a full and detailed list of what money being raised is going towards, ways to donate and the various perks and gifts offered at each donation level. Perks include original art, signed books, power balls, celebrity lunches and free tickets to the event.

Bent-Con is a 501(c)3, non-profit corporation that was created in 2010 to promote, encourage, celebrate and appreciate LGBT and LGBT-friendly contributions to comic-book, gaming, scifi, fantasy and horror mediums from artists, writers, creators, publishers, directors, actors, and producers, that create works targeted directly to LGBT audiences or the larger realm of underground and mainstream pop-culture as a whole.

Bent-Con hosts an annual convention that provides a forum for these creative genres in its various forms to present to the public comic art, writing and multi-media not normally accessible or presented through normal commercial channels. The convention brings together some of the best and brightest established and new creators (and companies) of LGBT and LGBT-friendly comic-books, gaming, sci-fi/fantasy/horror film-makers, writers, directors and other related creative mediums. In addition to the opportunity for public exposure and potential revenue the con provides to the attending creative talent, the event also allows less established talent to network from among their creative peers, providing unique opportunities for those that are just starting out.

But it’s just easier to think of it like a Comic-Con, only gayer!