Festival introduces cooperative revenue platform, free AI voice protection, and interactive timeline honoring 275+ Black women across seven decades of comedy.
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, February 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The 7th Annual Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest returns to New York City February 25 through March 1 with 27 events across nine Manhattan and Brooklyn venues. For the first time, the festival launches a cooperative economics platform that pays comedians directly, free AI voice protection for every performer, and an interactive timeline honoring 275+ Black women who shaped comedy across seven decades.
The Funny Fund is a first-of-its-kind cooperative fan-backing platform dedicated exclusively to Black women comedians. Fans subscribe monthly at four tiers ($5, $10, $25, $50). Every dollar splits transparently: 70% goes directly to the comedian, 15% supports the platform, and 15% goes into a shared pool distributed equally to all active comedians each month. No hidden fees, no algorithm tax, and no claim on comedians’ content or voice data.
“Clubs pay comedians $50 and a drink ticket,” says Joanna M. Briley, founder of the BWIC Laff Fest. “Social media platforms profit from their content and pay them little to nothing. The Funny Fund lets fans pay comedians directly — and the cooperative pool means even comedians who are just starting out benefit from the strength of the whole network.”
Launching Valentine’s Day 2026, blackwomen.love is a digital campaign inviting people to write love letters to Black women. Each love letter lives on a permanent page at blackwomen.love with a custom link — comedians can connect it to their Funny Fund page, their show tickets, their social media, or anything they choose, connecting celebration to direct economic support.
The festival’s 2026 Honoree is Dr. Sylvia Traymore Morrison, a comedic actress and producer whose career spans six decades. She is credited with replacing Richard Pryor at the Apollo and became one of the pioneering women to headline the Apollo’s comedy nights.
The BWIC Laff Fest is the first comedy festival in the country to offer every performer free AI voice protection registration through a dedicated voice data trust, in partnership with Sisterhood Sit-In and the Sisterhood Voice Data Trust.
“Matthew McConaughey pursued trademarks to guard his voice against AI misuse. Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of replicating hers without consent,” says Minista Jazz, founder of Much Different World, who built the festival’s core digital infrastructure. “Celebrities have legal teams. We’re giving that same protection to every Black woman comedian with a phone number and a stage name.”
The festival’s core digital infrastructure was built by Jazz Cook-Kendrick (Minista Jazz), a self-taught coder and reality TV show winner with 15+ years touring globally with Live Nation and three provisional patents filed with the USPTO for voice sovereignty technology.
Festival: February 25 – March 1, 2026. 9 venues. 27 events. 30+ comedians. bwiclafffest.com. Love letters: blackwomen.love. Funny Fund: bwiclafffest.com/funny-fund.
The Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest is New York City’s premier multi-day festival centering and celebrating Black women in comedy. Founded in 2018 by Joanna M. Briley. Featured in the Today Show, New York Times, TimeOut NY, NY Daily News, and Gothamist. Digital infrastructure by Much Different World.
Media Contact: admin@bwiclafffest.com | Joanna M. Briley: joanna@bwiclafffest.com | 347 704 4746 | Talk to Joanna’s DD (Digital Double) AI voice line: (925) 275-5299
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