Annual Comic-focused event returned to the city.
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) brought more than 28,000 visitors and 315 artists to the city.
As one of the world’s largest independent comic arts events, the two-day event was held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, on June 6 and 7
What’s more, it has been free to attend since it began in 2003.
Comics have a growing fanbase in Canada. The festival brings that community together, linking local artists with readers, publishers, and creators from other countries.
“Comics have always been a very diverse crowd. I think one thing that we’ve definitely been working on, but that has been a very like steady progression, is just diversity in comics, more voices being able to come in and like take up space at the festival, which is incredible… We’ve been really working on making sure that those priority equity groups are both like heard, represented, and then also we’re always looking for ways to improve,” said MJ Lyons, one of the organizers of the event.
The festival is all about independent artists and building up the comic arts scene in Canada.
There were panels, workshops, artist exhibits, and comic-making sessions for kids. For anyone who needed a break from the crowds, organizers set up a quiet retreat space.
“So, I recently finished the story, well last summer. This was a web comic I had been working on for the past four years, and I really wanted to do a book tour because I have some fans in Canada. TCAF felt like the best place for me to meet my Canadian followers” said Violaine Riot, an artist showing their work at TCAF,” said Violaine Briat, an artist showing their work at TCAF
TCAF has worked to bring in more diverse voices over the years, and it’s still looking for ways to better represent and support equity-seeking groups.
This year the festival added a session on disability in comics, looking at how comics can handle the subject with empathy and care. There was also a French-language exhibit.
People came from other provinces and from around the world. For most of them, it came down to two things: networking and the chance for new opportunities.
Louise Carota, a visitor and artist, made the trip from Prince Edward Island.
“I’m a graphic, I’m an artist, and I’ve been creating a graphic novel, and I’m here to see if I can find a publisher for my book, and I drove up from Prince Edward Island, Canada, so I went to Ottawa, and then I came to Toronto for this show,” said Carota.
Cost is one of the festival’s biggest challenges. TCAF gets support from the Ontario Library Association, the Canada Council for the Arts, and several other arts and government funders across Canada.
It runs as a non-profit, community event.
For Lyons, the best thing to come from the event is the community which can get together to enjoy the artform, despite what’s going on around the world.
“The biggest thing that always seems to come out of TCAF is just the incredible community of, like, of comics people and their fans and supporters. It is genuinely heartwarming every year, and, and I think that that’s always that’s the reason why we exist, is just to create a space for the comics community.”
For more information, visit www.torontocomics.com
