Save The Spawnies

Hi everyone! I'm Kahlief Adams, owner and host of the Spawn On Me Podcast. For the past 10 years, I've helped to champion and elevate the conversation around diversity and inclusion in the videogame industry through my work both on our show and at various gaming studios that I've had the pleasure of working with.

Two years ago I saw a huge gap in the industry when it came to acknowledging and giving the proper respect many developers and gamers were getting for their work. To offset that lack of visibility I decided to create a one-of-a-kind gaming award show called The Spawnies.

The Spawnies is a labor of love, love for this industry, love for the people who make the games we enjoy and a love of the various underrepresented cultures that make gaming so beautiful. Our first two shows have been wildly successful and have gone way beyond my wildest dreams in terms of views, cultural relevance and community sentiment. I am amazingly proud of what we've built and want to continue to dream big when showcasing our talent.

That being said, this year has been tough both personally and professionally. Due to the current economy, we've seen a pretty large decrease in sponsor funding which drove a huge amount of our show over the past two years. So much so that year three of The Spawnies is currently in danger of happening.

I've been amazingly proud of the help we've gotten in the past and hope that their support returns but in the meantime, we'll be looking to the greater gaming community to help us continue to make this dream project a reality.

Our goal of $200K will fund all aspects of our show for the next two years. Everything from production to paying artists and talent will come from these funds and hopefully give a bit of a cushion while we continue to source sponsorship funding. Our funding goal for year 3 is that we get over our first 100K before the end of October 2023 so we can resume Spawnies 3 planning with the remaining 100K going to year 4.

It is extremely important to pay good people for brilliant work and I will never compromise on that belief, so gathering that financial support will be super important for the future of The Spawnies.

Before signing off, I want to thank every one of you for supporting this project and Spawn On Me over the years. I've been able to reach so many goals and dreams through your support and love. The Spawnies is an extension of that love and belief that you can make the world better through hard work, being true to yourself and asking people to believe in your vision. Your support has literally changed my life and I appreciate each and every one of you.

I hope that you'll spread the word and if you have the means help support the cause because we are the culture!