The Can’t Stop The Serenity promotional art contest is back for 2017! Do you think you’ve got what it takes to design our official promotional artwork?
In its twelve years, Can’t Stop The Serenity has raised over one million dollars for Equality Now. We can do even more good works in 2017, but only if people show up! That’s where you can come in. The annual logo is a critical tool for raising awareness about the event, building excitement, and getting people out to CSTS events around the world. It tells people that we are back for another year. And we know there are lots of creative Browncoats out there with the skills to make this happen!
THE SHINY STUFF:
The winner’s artwork will be featured prominently throughout our website and social media outlets, and on any T-shirts, and promos created for the annual CSTS season.… Read more…
With the 2016 season coming to a close, the Global Steering Committee (GSC) started the process of looking for a new Global Event Coordinator to take over from Annie Burnaman who did such a great job last year.
We’re excited to announce that Bob Averell will be taking over the reins for 2017! Bob is a member of the Pennsylvania Browncoats, Rivers and Bridges Brigade (Pittsburgh), which he helped start back in 2004. He has been involved with his local CSTS event every year, and we are very pleased that he has agreed to step forward to the global organization.
Bob tells us: “Annie said last year that CSTS is too pretty to die and it’s a testament to all those who have worked at both the local and global level over the years that we are still able to make a mark.”… Read more…
The 2016 Global auction went very well, raising over $4,100.00 for Equality Now in our final effort of the season. We congratulate and thank our generous winners for helping make this year’s auction such a shiny success! We’d also like to extend enormous thanks to the California Browncoats for their gracious hosting, as well as to all our wonderful donors, bidders, Organizers, and everyone who helped boost the signal. Your love really does keep this ship in the air – thank you for your continued support!… Read more…
We’ve told you about the wonderful items in the auction.
We’ve emphasized how rare or downright awesome they are.
We’ve shown you pictures and demonstrated how they are only a few of the many items we’ve got.
We’ve told you about the items signed by Ben Edlund, Felicia Day, Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Jewel Staite, James Marsters, Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Leary, Emma Caufield, Clark Gregg & Ming Na Wen.
Oh yeah, and some guy named Joss Whedon
We’ve mentioned the pillow, the jewellry, the Tshirts, the prints. The action figures, the postcards, the buttons.
And now we’ve run out of time. The auction ends tomorrow starting around noon Pacific if you haven’t checked it out, you owe it to yourself to do so.… Read more…
Lots of people have seen Season One of Con Man but have you seen the extras? The Con Man DVD is full of them and that particular auction lot is worth winning for it along. But it also has a poster signed by Alan Tudyk and a Spectrum poster featuring James Raaker & Cash Wayne aka Jack Moore and Wray Nerely aka Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk. (Are you confused yet?)
Another Con Man collection includes Con Man Trading cards and a character sheet from Spectrum as well as a signed copy of PJ Haarsma’s SoftWire
But maybe you want to stick with Firefly. In that case, may we draw your attention to the Kaylee collection? The messenger bag is sturdy and matches the overalls that Kaylee wears on the accompanying action figure.… Read more…
Browncoats are a generous bunch. And so are the companies whom make wonderful things to sell to us.
Take for instance Loot Crate who sent us the Zoe Loot Crate full of exciting things like the Zoe figure, a Serenity Journal, a mystery QBits figure and so much more.
Right at this moment it is still under $30.00. At twice that amount it would still be a steal.
We have a lot of auction items like that – currently going for much less than they are worth. Check them out.
Bid.
Tell your friends and family to bid. Make the world a better place by supporting Equality Now through our auction.
These two groups are some of our favourites in the auction. We’ve paired this year’s stunning Tshirts with cunning hats and a big comfy Firefly pillow. The twist? Two of the hats and 2 of the Tshirts are for children!
But maybe you have a little one not quite old enough. Then this baby sling is for you! Woven especially for this purpose you’ll notice it is what Kaylee might use if she had a child. Patterned with strawberries and parasols and other Kaylee type images, this baby sling comes with instructions on how to use it.
Our huge eBay auction is now live! You can find it here.
And just take a look at what we have! A member of the Pittsburgh CSTS gang was at San Diego Comic Con and went to the Dark Horse signing for the new Serenity comic. He got the poster signed and told Alan, Nathan and Joss that it was for CSTS, at which point he said Joss talked to him for several minutes about the CSTS event in Pittsburgh, said how much he appreciated what we do, grabbed a copy of Serenity: Those Left Behind off a pile at the table and signed it!
And now it could be yours. This is only one of many items we have in our auction. Go look.
Our big eBay auction starts on Monday but we just couldn’t wait so we’ve put one item up already! You can find it here. (http://www.ebay.com/sch/californiabrowncoats/m.html)
Georges Jeanty illustrated Serenity: Leaves on the Wind and this graphic novel collects all the issues in one place. That would be shiny enough but when he was asked to sign this for us, he went one step further and drew a picture in it. So the winner of this great title will also own an original Jeanty!
Because we put this one out early, it ends on Friday. But the rest of the auction starts on Monday and ends next Sunday. Money raised goes to support the important work done by Equality Now. We thank the California Browncoats for allowing us to once again hijack their eBay account for the CSTS auction.… Read more…
Due to changes at eBay we have to postpone our h-u-u-uge auction one week. It will now start Oct. 24 and end the 31st.
Once it goes live, we’ll post the URL but you will always be able to find it by searching for the California Browncoats who have been good enough to allow us to take over their eBay account.… Read more…
Sean Faust is a singer-songwriter in the alternative/ progressive rock genre from New Jersey that has been playing Can’t Stop the Serenity events since 2008. In 2012 he started the “Hero Of Canton Sing Along Challenge” where he plays the song live with as many people in attendance joining him on stage (or whatever the platform may be) to sing along!
In May of 2014 Sean released his single called “Signal” inspired by the movie Serenity and starting off where the show Firefly ended. From the beginning he has donated 50% of sales from that song to Equality Now on behalf of CSTS and happily continues to do so year after year. “They’re my favorite events of the year! It’s always a blast to meet new people or get to see friends again that I’ve made along the way.… Read more…
Joss Whedon’s influence reaches far. Ben Edlund wrote for Whedon on Firefly and Angel. Now he is finally bringing his own creation, The Tick, to TV. This promotional poster is clearly intended for CSTS. We feel pretty confident is asserting that no one else will have a poster remotely like this!
Clark Gregg aka Agent Phil Coulson is currently staring in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He has signed this picture of Coulson and his beloved car Lola.
And these are just two of the many items that will be up for auction starting Monday Oct. 17. Our great thanks go to the California Browncoats who have once again allowed us to use their eBay account for our auction.
Browncoats are fans of many diverse things and our upcoming auction reflects that. This amazing collectible for instance. Who wouldn’t want a replica Thor Helmet signed not only by Chris Hemsworth but the one and only Stan Lee himself? Now that Stan is cutting down on his con appearances, it will get harder to acquire his autograph. And with the new Thor movie coming out next year, the winner of this helmet will be ready!
There is also a mystery auction item! In every Firefly LootCrate there is a QBit. Who is it? You’ll have to win it to know!
Every Fall we close out our CSTS year with a big auction but this year, we may have outdone ourselves!
We have hundreds of items from the fun collectibles to the very rare. How about the Serenity chopsticks that were available only if you had enough points on the Serenitymovie website?
Or a bracelet that says “Shiny?”
There are loads of great autographs and donations directly from some of our Big Damn Heroes. Stay tuned for date and time and be sure to share this with everyone you know. All proceeds go to support the wonderful work done by Equality Now.… Read more…
Organiser Shane says “our event features the incredible musical talent of Mikey Mason, a screening of the movie Serenity in full HIGH DEFINITION glory, and, because we made the lawyers happy, THE RETURN OF Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog!!!!
We will AGAIN be doing our annual Peanut Butter drive to benefit the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore! If you don’t have peanut butter to donate that’s ok! Any non-perishable unopened food item will be accepted! Every little bit helps and you guys have been phenomenal with your donations in years past. A special thank you shout out to the loyal fans who keep coming!”… Read more…
The Albuquerque Browncoats are very pleased to be hosting Can’t Stop the Serenity 2016 at the marvelous KiMo Theatre on Saturday, July 9th 2016. The KiMo is a New Mexico historic landmark built in 1927 in a “Pueblo Deco” (Art Deco + Pueblo Revival) style, which is very “Browncoaty”! The theatre has been lovingly restored and now features state-of-the-art projection system and surround sound that really shows the Big Damn Movie in all its glory!
Doors open at 5:00pm for shopping and raffle selections. The Albuquerque Browncoats have really outdone themselves this year with an incredible array of Firefly merchandise and highly collectable raffle items. The pre-show at 6:00pm will be opened by local nerdy comics, Genevieve Mueller and Joe Quesada (these two will also be emcees for the event throughout the night) and will feature Con Man comedy videos – they were granted permission by show creators PJ Haarsma and Alan Tudyk!… Read more…
Toronto’s CSTS event will be on Saturday 9th July at the Royal Cinema in Toronto.
They’re keeping it simple with a screening of the Big Damn movie followed by an auction and the money they raise will be split between Equality Now and the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape (TRCC/MWAR).
TRCC/MWAR is a non-profit feminist organisation committed to fighting violence against women and children. They work both independently and together with other community organizations to provide support services for all survivors of sexual violence, sexual harassment, human trafficking and other forms of gender based violence.
The Utah Browncoats have held CSTS events since the very beginning. Some large, some small, but all of them filled with great people who love to make a difference. Their most recent CSTS was no different in that respect, but they did do things a bit differently this year in that they split the event between two different venues.
With 110 Browncoats in attendance, the event started at Brewvies Cinema Pub with musical singalongs of the Hero of Canton and the Firefly theme. They were also able to have a small Easter egg video from Done the Impossible with a short introduction by Brian Wiser and they replayed the introduction video from 2015 because the end clip with Joss Whedon had not been shown at that year’s event.… Read more…
Can’t Stop the serenity is changing the way we do our Global T-shirts! We’ve partnered with Represent, and for the first time ever, T-shirts are available to the general public through online sales, allowing anyone to support CSTS regardless of their proximity to an event location. Whether you can attend an event or simply want to add your support, join us as we aim to misbehave for a good cause!
As you may be aware, Represent is a T-shirt printing company specializing in charity drives. They’ve been the powerful machinery behind several high profile celebrity fundraisers, including efforts by Nathan Fillion, Jared Padalecki, Felicia Day, and many others. In order to maximize the profits for Equality Now, our campaign will work a little differently than a typical short term Represent fundraiser.… Read more…
To help shine a shiny light on the amazing people who are joining in CSTS this year, we’ll be posting a series of articles introducing them to the rest of you and explaining not just what they’re doing but hopefully why they’re doing it too.
The first of these articles focuses on the Alamo City Browncoats led by the lovely Mel.
They will be holding an affiliate event at SciFest in San Antonio, Texas, on July 9th & 10th. This is an annual free convention held at Wonderland of the Americas, formerly known as Crossroads Mall. Alamo City Browncoats will have a collection jar at their table for those feeling generous. Assuming Mel’s origami skills improve (her words not mine!), there will be a ship in the jar that they hope will fly on the love and donations from those that stop by their little corner of the world.… Read more…
We are very proud to be able to announce the winner of this year’s CSTS logo design contest: Congratulations and well done Jeffrey Weniger! We would like to extend a heart-felt thank you to each entrant for their time and talent. We know we had a hard time deciding which logo to vote for! They were all brilliantly done and all four did very well in the poll, generating some fierce competition. We received a record number of votes with this year’s contest and we’d like to thank our hundreds of voters as well as our artists – your enthusiasm and support are very much appreciated! This winning logo will be featured on our 2016 t-shirts and used for the promotion of events all across the ‘Verse.… Read more…
Click here to vote! Thank you to each artist who took the time to share their talent with us. We have some tough choices to make this year in choosing a logo design.
What design do you want to represent CSTS this year?
Voting is open here on the official CSTS website as of 10 March 2016, and we will close voting at 11:59 p.m./PST on 24 March 2016.
In the event of a tie, the Global Steering Committee and Global Team will choose the winning piece.
You may only vote once, however, there’s nothing stopping you from soliciting votes for your favorite, including your own entry.
Voting is open to the general public.
We will be posting links to the voting page via our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)… Read more…
We are delighted to announce that we have two new members on the Global Steering Committee! Please join us in welcoming Sheilah O’Connor and Stephanie Leasure!
Serving as an executive and consistency committee, the Global Steering Committee (GSC) is responsible for maintaining the high standards and reputation of CSTS, and is a repository of CSTS knowledge for the Global Team and Local Event Organisers. We also support the Global Event Coordinator (GEC), can step in if the GEC is unable to continue in that capacity or needs additional help, and provide a recourse for Local Event Organisers if they have issues that need additional support beyond the Global Team. The GSC is made up of past Global Team members with lots of experience with CSTS at a global and local level, and who are passionate about CSTS.… Read more…
That’s right, it’s time for the Promotional Art Contest! Do you think you have what we’re looking for?
As we go into our eleventh year, Can’t Stop the Serenity is looking for a new logo. The logo will be featured on posters, t-shirts and will be a focal point for every event. The winning artwork will help build excitement and draw people into theaters around the world, and will be prominently featured on our website and social media outlets.
The Short and Sweet of It
Anything you submit must be your own artwork, your own designs. Any stock imagery you incorporate into your entry must be accompanied by documentation showing you have permission to use and reproduce it. This goes for any copyrighted imagery as well.
After a successful tenth anniversary year, 2016 brings us to our eleventh Can’t Stop the Serenity season! We are looking forward to creating memories with current Browncoat friends and making new ones as we plan our events and come together in raising money for Equality Now.
Registration is now open so you can begin planning your Can’t Stop the Serenity event! All the information you’ll need to get started can be found above in the Host an Event section.
Most of the CSTS events are known as “Screening Events” in which Joss Whedon’s “Serenity” is shown on the big screen in conjunction with merchandise sales, auctions, raffles, contests, and and other multimedia (once licensing agreements have been made.)
If you are unable to organize a Screening Event due to funds, location, or proximity to other Browncoats, an Affiliate Event might be your answer.… Read more…
Can’t Stop the Serenity (CSTS) is a unique opportunity to indulge your geeky side while doing some good! Since 2006, fans have organized screenings of Joss Whedon's Serenity to raise funds and awareness to support Equality Now in their work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Join us as we aim to misbehave for a good cause!
There are two ways to fight a battle like ours. One is to whisper in the ear of the masses, try subtlely and gradually to change the gender expectations and mythic structures of our culture. That’s me. The other is to step up and confront the thousands of atrocities that are taking place around the world on an immediate, one-by-one basis. That’s a great deal harder, and that’s Equality Now. It’s not about politics; it’s about basic human decency.
