Kickstarter

Greetings, Hola, Bon jour, Jambo, and What’s Up!!!

Alex Simmons here. I’m the founder of the Kids Comic Con, an all age event bringing the arts, literacy, and fun through comics to kids, teens, parents, and educators.

This all started out in 2007 when my team and I produced this one-day extravaganza on the campus of Bronx Community College, in New York City. We brought professional writers, illustrators, editors and publishers together to create an a wild and exciting environment where kids were encouraged to meet comics professionals, ask questions, take free drawing workshops, participate in panels, games, and more.

Young people under the age of 17 entered for Free, and thanks to the kindness of our supporters every child who entered received a gift bag filled with comics, or graphic novels, and other goodies. Many of the artists and patrons were thrilled to see hundreds of children enthusiastically reading age or subject appropriate material – ranging from superheroes to history, personal journeys to science and science fiction.

Parents and educators attended panels on using comics in the classroom, encouraging and nurturing creativity and imagination, and identifying the paths to various careers in the creative arts and media.

Inspired by the look of wonder and amazement in children’s eyes, I co-created and curated the COLOR OF COMICS Exhibit. The Color of Comics exhibitions seeks to throw a spotlight on the diversity of characters of color in comic art so that young people, especially, will see themselves represented in this art form, and educators will find a rich source of images and cultural contexts for classroom discussions.

Over the next 2 years we had such wonderful results that we were asked to create a mobile version. So we formed the KCC Road Show and went to Buffalo NY to participate in an event with the library system. Later that year we made our way south to be a vibrant part of the Miami Book Fair International where we taught comics arts workshops to hundreds of young people.
Perhaps you’re asking, “Alex, why are you here on Kickstarter?” Well, the fact is that we accomplished 99% of all of this through the efforts and kindness of volunteers, and with the donations of books and art supplies from our supporters.

We don’t have funds to sponsor what we do. The $5 we charge at the door (for those 18 and older) barely covers the cost of buying supplies for our workshops and printing programs, flyers and information handouts. This makes the success of each event a sizable challenge, and it makes our growth even more so.

We want to be able to produce these events in areas that have little or no resources or support. We want to continue to broaden kids’ literacy, creative, and cognitive skills even more. And we want to expand kids’ awareness of this global world in which we live.

Recently we’ve been offered the opportunity to be part of a really fantastic experience. We’ve been asked to bring the Color of Comics exhibition, and our KCC ROAD SHOW to the Senegalese American Bilingual School in Senegal Africa. When? December 3rd, 2010.
Over 700 students, their families, and other members of that community would have a chance to see the artwork of, as well as meet, professional writers and artists from the US, Europe, and Africa. Many of the students would create, write and illustrate their own comic art reflecting their views of their world.

Our exhibition, workshops and panels would take place at the same time as the FESMAN, a major international arts festival in that region – introducing even more people to the experience, and allowing the artists as well as the children to shine for an even larger audience.
This would be a phenomenal meeting of the minds both artistically and educationally, but on a remarkably global level.

And if being part of this is not enough reason to elicit your pledge, we’re offering some truly super cool gifts, goodies, and give-aways!

So, please donate to help us make this, and many others’ dreams come true.

Oh, and if you want to help us reach more than our goal, we’re open to that too.

Sincerely,
Alex Simmons,
Founder
Kids Comic Con & The Color of Comics Exhibition

For more information please feel free to explore our web sites:
www.KidsComicCon.com
www.ColorOfComics.wordpress.com