Make ECBACC 2017 Free for Everyone!

The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) was established in A.D. 2002 as a community-based educational, literacy, literary and artistic initiative with the following objectives: 1] To bring together the men / women in the comic book industry, including sci-fi, fantasy and political satire, cartooning / animation, to share ideas and showcase their work; 2] To discuss the impact of the comic book industry; 3] To look at the business aspects of the comic book industry; 4] To look at how the comic book industry can more actively serve as a tool to address community concerns: literacy, incarceration, addictions, homelessness, racism, sexism, etc.; and 5] To establish a network / consortium (ECBACC Synergy Group) and an annual convention (Comic-Con) to address this initiative in an open and public forum.

Starting 2008, ECBACC, Inc., became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization while continuing to present The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, America's premiere Black comic book convention encouraging youth literacy and expression through reading, writing and drawing comic books.  In order to fund facilities to hold our events, we have required paid admission for teens and adults at our Saturday convention.  The Friday reception and kick-off is free and open to the public.

In addition to our flagship events in Philadelphia, PA, we've also held the Towson Mini-Fest on the campus of Towson University just north of Baltimore, MD.  This event was sponsored by the university which allowed for free admission by all attendees.  We've learned how our community benefits when more people can participate and would like to bring the same experience to our main events.

Your donation will be used to fund the facility costs for our Friday reception and Saturday convention currently planned for May 2017 in Philadelphia, PA.  This will enable us to serve more fans and families in growing appreciation and skills for using the medium of comic books to tell diverse stories.  Every kid deserves a hero!

Fully meeting our goal will enable us to make the convention free for everyone, but any amount will help us to make adjustments.  Possibilities include making teen admissions free or reducing the dollar amount.

As a token of our appreciation, donors meeting one of the tier amounts will receive ECBACC 2017 items including convention program guide, event flyer, program brochures, and admission wristband, if applicable.  We will also have a recognition page on our website where Ruby donors will have their name listed, Sapphire donors will have their name with a link to their website, and Emerald donors will have a logo along with their name and a link to their website.  If you include any additional dollar amount in your donation, we’ll add past convention guides and flyers in your package.

In addition, Sapphire and Emerald donors will receive a copy of our publication, the READ FOR FUN workbook.  Aimed at upper elementary grades, the stories and activities let young people have fun while learning and seeing their images represented.  On top of that, Emerald donors will receive a t-shirt using one of the designs at our Zazzle store .

Even if you are unable to donate at this time, you can still help us by getting the word out to anyone who could be interested.