Can’t Stop the Serenity is grateful for the helping hands that have stepped forward over the past seven years in support of Equality Now and the Fans of Serenity. Our Global Sponsors support all of our events and contribute to the global success of Can’t Stop the Serenity. We are also fortunate to have many local sponsors, who support the individual Affiliate and Screening events. Along with our lifetime sponsors, we’re welcoming new and returning sponsors from last year. Click here for information on how to become a Global Sponsor.
Lifetime Sponsors
Global Prize Pack Sponsors
These wonderful folks have donated items that can be used as prizes at local events in raffles, auctions or competitions to assist our local organizers raise money for Equality Now.
- Bedlam Bards
- The Browncoats
- Dark Horse Comics
- Done The Impossible
- DragonWeave Jewelry
- J. L. Hilton
- Smart Pop Books
- ThinkGeek
- Utah Browncoats
- The Verse: The Firefly/Serenity Costuming Club
Auction & Prize Sponsors
These fine folks have donationed items for our Global eBay Auction, including memorabilia, autographs and other unique items. Auctions will be held in August and September
- Anne Thuong
- Browncoat Ball 2011
- Creation Entertainment
- Dark Horse Comics
- Done The Impossible
- Ian Leino
- Jane Espenson
- Kids Need To Read
- New Melbourne Browncoats
- Thomas Grooms
- ThinkGeek
- Utah Browncoats
- The Verse: The Firefly/Serenity Costuming Club
Merchandise Partners
Our Merchandise Partners enable local organizers to purchase merchandise at a discounted rate to sell at local events to raise money for Equality Now.
Media Partners
Our Media Partners are hard at work promoting Can’t Stop the Serenity!
- Anne Barringer
- Big Damn Fan Films
- Buffyfest
- Dark Horse Comics
- Done The Impossible
- Mikey Mason
- Sending A Wave
- The Signal
- Whedonopolis
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS
Anne Barringer was the 2009 Global Organiser of Can’t Stop the Senenity. As a passionately dedicated Browncoat and advocate for Equality Now, Anne has given countless hours of her time to help make Can’t Stop the Serenity what it is today. Her “Why We Are Here” articles have inspired likeminded fans to do that something extra and to go the additional mile to help others – those we know and those who are strangers to us. Anne’s contributions to CSTS include covering the website hosting and domain name registration fees.
Anne Thuong is a huge fan of Firefly/Serenity and Joss Whedon’s work at large. She admires what he does as a writer,director and activist with Equality Now. She happily contributed her handmade dolls to this season’s auction.
Twitter: twitter.com/AnneTC
Bedlam Bards are the premier musicians of the Browncoat movement. Their award-winning album, On the Drift: Music Inspired by Firefly and Serenity, set the standard for Whedon-based fan music, leading to their being a part of many of the major flan activities around the globe: The Signal and Firefly Talk podcasts, the Browncoat Backup Done the Impossible, The Big Damn Cookbook, the Browncoat Cruise, Bards without Borders, the Browncoat Ball, the 76th Independent Battalion, and of course, Can’t Stop the Serenity. During the writer’s strike, they marched with fans outside of Fox Studios on Mutant Enemy Day, even serenading Joss Whedon as he walked down the street. They made a cameo in the recent independent film, Browncoats: Redemption, which features one of their songs.
Website: www.BedlamBards.com
Big Damn Fan Films, Inc. is a remarkably different type of non-profit organization. The Browncoat Big Damn Fan Films’ mission is to “increase the awareness of non-profit charities through fan made films”. Bringing a unique combination of independent filmmaking and grassroots fundraising, our focus is creative, thoughtful, and inspiring. Offering much more than a basic non-profit fundraising experience, our unique and effective approach is a refreshing change from traditional filmmaking and fund raising. Check out our current projects below to get a feel for our level of production quality and the stellar volunteers involved in raising funds for some great causes.
Website: ww.bigdamnfanfilms.com
The Browncoat Ball started in Chicago in 2004 and has since been hosted by mighty fine Browncoats in a different city every year. The 2011 Browncoat Ball was held at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick, RI about eight miles outside of the state’s capitol, Providence, in October 2011. Home of the first Browncoat rebellion against an overbearing Alliance, New England abounds with great history, art, culture, food and entertainment. The New England Browncoats group has been active for six years hosting regular shindigs, CSTS screenings, and more.
Website: www.browncoatball.com
The Browncoats are a comical rock band hailing from St. Louis that laments about outer space, drinking, flying airplanes, and shenanigans. The band literally flew onto the national music scene driving a Cessna in the release of their first music video for “The Hero of Canton” in April 2009. Since the release of their debut album CD/DVD combo at Dragon Con 2009, they have been touring conventions, nightclubs, and other shindigs. The Browncoats have a live show that stays fresh by consistantly pairing with unique acts from comedy, to rock bands, to circus freak shows! They have worked with actors from Saturday Night Live and MTV and are always in production of new music and video.
Website: thebrowncoats.org
Buffyfest is a collaboration of 3 writers, artists and activists who have created a place to share news and thoughts about the works of Joss Whedon. Based in NYC and LA, Buffyfest has readership in over 170 countries and has conducted over 60 interviews with the cast and crew of the Whedonverse. The founders of Buffyfest have proudly sponsored Can’t Stop the Serenity since 2009.
Website: buffyfest.blogspot.com
Creation Entertainment: Founded in 1971 by Gary Berman and Adam Malin, two young teenage sci-fi fans in New York, Creation Entertainment continues an over 40 year tradition of producing the world’s leading conventions for fans of genre television and film.
Inventing the concept of “traveling” fan conventions, Creation has brought its brand of live interactive entertainment events to millions of attendees throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Beginning with the development of localized comic book conventions in the 1970’s 1980’s, including its long running annual Thanksgiving weekend event in Manhattan, Creation later moved its interest into focusing on sci-fi, fantasy and horror television series and films.
Along with being on sale at its conventions, Creation’s genre merchandise is also on sale through the website. Creation also maintains a popular presence on eBay and its own Creation in house auction site, offering autographed collectibles gained contractually through celebrity appearances at conventions.
Website: www.creationent.com Facebook: CreationEntertainment Twitter: Creationent
Dark Horse Comics: Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent such as Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, Brian Wood, Gerard Way, Felicia Day, Guillermo Del Toro and comics legends such as Will Eisner, Neal Adams, and Jim Steranko, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties such as The Mask, Ghost, Timecop, and SpyBoy. Its successful line of comics and products based on popular properties includes Star Wars, Mass Effect, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, Emily the Strange, Tim Burton’s Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys, Serenity, and Domo. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading publishers of both creator-owned content and licensed comics material.
Website: www.darkhorse.com
Done The Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity is available on DVD and CD soundtrack through DoneTheImpossible.com and Amazon.com. Done The Impossible has had the distinction of being an Official Selection at many film festivals around the world. The DVD, hosted by Adam Baldwin with voice-over by Jewel Staite, features interviews with Joss Whedon, the cast, crew, and most important, the fans themselves. The story chronicles the rise, fall, and rebirth of the cult TV show “Firefly” as told from the perspective of the fans who helped save it. Fans share what inspired them to become passionate about Firefly, to help save Firefly, attend shindigs, participate in message boards, donate to charities, and become Serenity extras. The CD soundtrack features seven outstanding artists and crosses multiple genres including Celtic and filk: The Bedlam Bards, Brobdingnagian Bards, Dan Sehane, Emerald Rose, Michelle Dockrey, Rob Kuhlman, and Tony Fabris.
Website: www.donetheimpossible.com
DragonWeave Jewelry offers a unique collection of stylish silver jewelry. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, DragonWeave is run by Nicole Bornak, and features her sister Jillian’s bead bracelet designs. Designs include dragons, gothic and celtic mythology, goddess, angel and animal motifs, Japanese, Chinese and Egyption symbos and striking modern pieces. Nicole and Jillian have also designed Serenity inspired pieces. They are always eager to hear your comments and suggestions, feel free to drop them a line and share your opinions and ideas. They will do their best to make DragonWeave Jewelry a rewarding experience for you!
Website: www.dragonweave.com
Ian Leino is an independent graphic artist, who has worked with a broad range of regional and national clients on a host of projects including identity, packaging, print and apparel design. Many of his personal apparel designs have also been picked up for production by a number of online apparel sites including Threadless, DesignByHumans, Woot and many more. His Serenity Sake design is a fan favorite among Browncoats.
Website: www.ianleino.com
Jane Espenson has written for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, The O.C., Gilmore Girls, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Game of Thrones, and Torchwood: Miracle Day among other series. She is currently a consulting producer on ABC’s hit Once Upon A Time, and is co-creator of Husbands, a comedy viewable online at http://husbandstheseries.com You can follow Jane on Twitter @JaneEspenson.
Website: www.janeespenson.com
J. L. Hilton is a storyteller and jewelsmith whose art is featured in the books “Steampunk Style Jewelry” and “1000 Steampunk Creations.” Her cyberpunk romantic thriller “Stellarnet Rebel” is the first book in the Stellarnet Series published by Carina Press. Browncoats know her as the founder of the Raleigh-CSTS event and 2009 global sponsor JLH jewelry.
Website: stellarnetrebel.com/
Joss Whedon is certainly our first Lifetime Sponsor. He has delighted fans since he began writing episodes for Roseanne and on beloved movies like Toy Story. Since then he’s given us jewels like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-along Blog and Dollhouse. Of course, for us here at CSTS, Joss is THE MAN responsible for giving us the very shiny Firefly and her big damn companion movie, Serenity – the flagship of our Can’t Stop the Serenity efforts.
Kids Need to Read works to create a culture of reading for children by providing inspiring books to underfunded schools, libraries, and literacy programs across the United States, especially those serving disadvantaged children.
Website: www.kidsneedtoread.org
Mikey Mason is a Comedy Rock Star, a naughty cartoon character, and an experiment gone wrong. He explodes on the stage with unfathomable energy, relentlessly pounding away at his audience with a wit as fast as his mouth, infectiously outrageous original songs, and his completely twisted world view. Mikey’s latest hit ‘She Don’t Like Firefly’, is a runaway internet success!
Website: www.mikeymason.com
New Melbourne Browncoats: Incorporated in 2011, the Melbourne Browncoats became the New Melbourne Browncoats, Inc. This afforded them a better way to preserve and build their local Browncoat community, both now and for the future and gave them a framework within which to operate. As the New Melbourne Browncoats they continue to successfully fundraise for both local and global charities. They continue to organise great functions for local Browncoats and are an important part of the Browncoat community worldwide.
Website: newmelbournebrowncoats.com/
Quantum Mechanix specializes in the design and manufacture of licensed high-quality replicas of vehicles, props, and other artefacts from television and motion pictures. The Official Serenity Blueprint Reference Pack, The Malcolm Reynolds Stunt Pistol and the Blue Sun Travel Posters are just some of the fine Qmx products from the ‘Verse, with many more to come! Licensed franchises include Serenity, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Classics of Sci Fi, and Universal Monsters.
Website: www.quantummechanix.com
Sending A Wave is the first UK based Firefly/Serenity podcast, going strong since 2006. Subscribe now and join hosts Wendy and Odile for all the latest news about the verse and all things Joss Whedon fresh from the United Kingdom.
Website: sendingawave.wordpress.com
The Signal is an award winning podcast covering all things Firefy and Serenity. Since 2005, the dedicated Signal crew have entertained and educated Browncoats across the world with special features, news, reviews, interview, chat, and anything else they can think of relating to the universe of Firefly and Serenity.
Website: www.serenityfirefly.com
Smart Pop (an imprint of BenBella Books) is a line of smart, fresh, funny essay anthologies on the best of pop culture tv, books, and film, with a particular focus on science fiction and fantasy television and literature. Since 2003 they’ve published over 4 dozen titles on everything from Star Wars to Gilmore Girls to the work of Joss Whedon (including Finding Serenity, Serenity Found, and The Psychology of Joss Whedon). Check out the rest, and read a new free essay every day from their line, at their website.
Website: www.smartpopbooks.com
Thomas Grooms is a Firefly enthusiast and prop collector. He is better known as Punctated on Fireflyprops.net and has created various Firefly universe-related paper prop items. He is especially proud of his latest creation, the Ten Credit Alliance Coin.
ThinkGeek On the surface, ThinkGeek is the premier retailer for the global geek community but we’re also much more. Founded in 1999 to serve the distinct needs and interests of technology professionals and enthusiasts, today ThinkGeek creates imaginative gifts for the geek in everyone. We’re proud Browncoats and are happy to support Can’t Stop the Serenity.
Website: www.thinkgeek.com
The Utah Browncoats are long time supporters of Can’t Stop the Serenity and the Firefly fandom at large. They gather every year to host events and screenings around the state and raise awareness for the charities of the Big Damn Heroes and Joss Whedon’s work.
Website: www.utahbrowncoats.com
The Verse: The Firefly/Serenity Costuming Club is a club for Firefly/Serenity fandom worldwide, with hopes of becoming the public face of the Firefly/Serenity costume community through costuming, public appearances, promotions, and charity work. Think of them as the 501st (official Star Wars Costuming organization) of the Firefly ‘Verse, minus the “official” title (although they’d eventually like to acquire that as well). This is a costuming club that accepts any and all costumes related to the Firefly ‘Verse with hopes of bringing together Firefly enthusiasts all under one roof. A place to share info on costumes, how-to’s, sources, and anything else costume related.
Website: theverse.proboards.com
Whedonopolis – a subsidiary of Fandom Charities – is dedicated to promoting the Whedonverse and everyone involved in it, whether cast, crew, writer, director, producer, or what have you. We feel it’s our job to help you keep track of what’s going on with the people that made the fictional universes we love so much. Whedonopolis was founded by C. Kelly Amor, Alison Frankel, Patti Hutchens, Ray McDermott, Marsia Powers, Shan Ray, Brian Rubin and Susan Weber.
Website: www.whedonopolis.com
