TLDR:

Bangou Productions needs your help to keep serving the community! For the past 5 years we have been dedicated to comedy & community, raising over $5000 for local Bay Area charities, hosting hundreds of shows, and bringing joy around the world. Additionally, we have hosted some of the most inclusive and diverse shows across the Bay Area. The last two years since COVID ended have been challenging, with rising costs (equipment, venue, artists, etc.) forcing me to have to pay out of pocket more often than not.

I am asking the community to contribute $5-100 (or more/less per their income) to help fund our upcoming projects, and 90 new patrons on Patreon .

Our longterm plan for sustainability include growing our online presence and fiscal sponsorship for additional grant considerations. Hence this donation is a one-time gift needed to help us stay afloat and grow.

Projects:

How to Survive Fascism: A Ppt. Comedy Show - Comedy & activism to prepare of the apocalypse

Ice Cream and ICE, CBP, and other Scary Tings- Know your Rights Training & Reporter Training, Oakland, SF & SJ

Restorative Joy Project - Movement, Listening Circles, Comedy & Community to recenter our health & healing amidst capitalism & burnout

+more

This money will go toward capital expenses such as buying new cameras and speakers we crucially need to improve our events and make them more accessible to those in our Zoom room, clipping the videos for Instagram/Tiktok, and making it available forever for anyone else.

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Background:

Hi Hooman!

My name is Cynthia In Public. For the past 5 years I have run Bangou Productions, a tiny business that seeks to create community through comedy. It was named after my grandmother's village in Cameroon and symbolizes just that- the spirit of a village or community of people coming together to spread joy, and help one another. My logo is my cat Samson-- my first audience member during our Zoom shows who passed away in 2023.

Bangou Productions started as a simple idea: bring joy to friends, family, and close internet strangers during the 2020 apocalypse and lockdown. Armed with a webcam, and my cat Samson we started one of the first Zoom comedy shows in the world, supporting hundreds of local and international artists around the world suddenly left jobless in a chaotic world.

Each show, our mission statement grew a little bit.

-Can we raise money for local food banks? Yes!

-Can we ensure that each show is diverse and inclusive (live captions, women, men, Queer, disabled folks, etc.)? Yes!

-Can we raise money for local nonprofits addressing issues of racial inequity such as Anti-Asian hate and Black Lives Matters? Yes!

-Can we use comedy to both discuss and bring levity to racism? Yes!

Each yes led us to the ultimate mission for our organization: destroy comedy, and create a new normal in which all people are included and welcomed. As such, our shows have always included people of all backgrounds, ages, gender, orientations, and abilities which reflects our general audience in the Bay Area.

Our accomplishments of the past five years include:

With the changing times, and turbulent economic and political landscape -- people need comedy and community now more than ever. Our last event proved that.

We had our first How to Survive Fascism: A Ppt. Comedy Show to resounding success, with over 50 attendees in person and online. Thanks to the Awesome grant, it was made free to all. However, we need long-term monthly Patrons as well as capital (this GoFundMe) to improve future shows. Money will be used to purchase Sony A7 IV and FX3 cameras, and RCF EVOX J7 speakers, their warranties, reimburse purchase of a Focusrite 18i20 audio interface, and encoders ($13,000). Our longterm plan for sustainability include growing our online presence (Twitch, Tiktok, and more original content) and fiscal sponsorship for additional grant considerations. Hence this donation is a one-time gift needed to help us stay afloat and grow our technological capabilities, and enable future financial independence.

At the end of the day, Bangou Productions has always been about the community. We sincerely believe that if the community wants these projects, then they will help us fund it to fruition. However, if our goals are not met by end of 2025, we will call it quits. Five years is more than most orgs have lasted, and we cannot be prouder of our accomplishments & bangou hoomans.