Cosplay for a Cure Interview
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Interview by: Geek Girl Jenn Marvel
Hello all, Jenn Marvel here. So I have been volunteering with this amazing charity Cosplay for a Cure for a few months now and I thought I would share, what this amazing group does for not just the cosplay community but all women in Ontario affected by breast cancer. I got a chance to talk to one of the creators of Cosplay for a Cure, Casey Brown of Skyleaf Creations.
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Q: What is Cosplay for a Cure?
Cosplay For A Cure is a non-profit, photo booth style fundraising event run at comic book, sci-fi, gaming and anime conventions in the GTA and surrounding area. Our goal at our photo booth is to give convention-goers the opportunity to have their photo professionally taken and printed for as little as $2. All money raised at our booth goes to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
Q: How did you come up with the idea?
I had been trying to think of a way to combine Cosplaying and Charity and on June 9th of 2012 as we were getting ready to head for a local convention my dear friend and fellow cosplayer Shannon Neprily told us that she had been diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer. Over the coarse of the next few days the idea to run a photo booth offering prints for a small donation was formed and I sent out an SOS to my friend Gina Greco who also knew Shannon and between the two of us we were able to get the booth up and running within 6 weeks for Con-Bravo 2012.
Q: Why?
Because we are fans ourselves, and we are lucky enough to be part of a community spanning such an age range that we can effectively spread awareness about Breast Cancer and how it can affect so many people at any age. It also brings this to the attention of a younger generation, something that I did discuss with Shannon when this all first started was how she was told that Breast Cancer is something that is occurring more and more in those of there 20’s and 30’s. This is something that we should all be aware of no matter what our age. A thought I have at the end of any interview is that if we find the cure for one we find the cure for all.
Q: How long have you been doing this for?
At Con-Bravo 2014 we will be celebrating 2 years of Cosplay for a Cure.
Q: What do you hope to achieve?
There are many things we hope to Achieve are main goal right now is to find a sponsor or partner to help us with the expense of running the booth (hotels, transportation, paper and ink, business cards, backdrop ect, ect ,ect), and to help us take the booth to the next level by become our own non-profit organization not just a fundraising event. We want to be able to take the booth to other areas other then the GTA and Niagara Region. To take it across Canada and into the States but to do that we need the funds as we are all volunteer based and completely non-profit. I would love to get to the point where having Cosplay for a Cure at a convention as a booth is a draw something that convention runners and convention goers want.
Q: How many cons do you do per year?
The number of Cons we do varies from year to year. It all depends on whether the convention is willing to donate the booth space we need , 15 x 15 space is a lot of floor space at cons. Also passes and power if the can. Although we have squeezed into 10 x 10 space in the past. I would say we do 3-5 multi-day Cons and 4-6 one day events thru out the year.
Q: What are some upcoming events this year?
Anime North, Niagara Falls Comic Con, Con-Bravo and Frostcon our 4 of our yearly cons. We also do a lot of the 1 day toy shows run by Renegade Promotions (toyshow.ca
) We are also in talks with Atomic Lollipop, Unpluged Expo and GenreCon for this year as well, And are working on some special events for the month of October which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Q: What is your most memorable experience?
I don't have just one, every event brings a new memory. Over all I would have to say that my most-memorable is when we get thanked for doing what we do, hearing about how the booth means something to people. Good or Bad every day I get to do this is a memory I cherish.
Q: What is your least memorable experience?
Honestly I wouldn't say it's my least memorable experience more like my most frustrating, and that has been trying to get the booth into a FanExpo event. I am trying guys and it's something I hope I can make happen in the near future.
Q: How many volunteer cosplayers and photographers are involved?
With all of our volunteer cosplayers and photographers we have over 20 of us invovled.
Our Cosplayers are Skyleaf Creations, Gina G and Red Ribbon Cosplay, Gillykins, Undead Pixel, Olivia's Atelier and Cosplay, Honeysaliva, Alexsaurus Ink - Illustration and Design, Lily Spitfyre, W e i r d t a k o y a k i, Sperren Cosplay, Rea, Yepa, Roxy Lee GG, Jenn Marvel, Silverwolf Cosplay, our newest member Cupcake Princess Cosplay with get help from Julia G, Anastasia and on occasion Christine of the Dangerous Ladies.
Our Photographers are Elemental Photography, Heart Candy Photography, Rebel Shotz Photography, Droo Photography, with help from Ailes Noir Cosplay Photography, Jenn Marvel and myself aka Skyleaf Creations also picking up the camera.
So there you have it, Cosplay for a Cure. An amazing cause. If you're at any of the cons they attend be sure to stop by and say hello, and donate to such an important worthy cause.
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July 03 2014