Lyon BD Organisation for Comic Art Europe

Comic Art Europe

The «Comics - A new language for Europe» project is a pilot project bringing together five European organisations representing different elements of the comic book ecosystem: a higher education institution, festivals and a museum. It aims to strengthen the comic book sector in Europe by experimenting with collaborative working methods. It promotes the transnational mobility of artworks, workers and creators as a means to significantly upscale the work. It prefigures a European comics community capable of positioning creators and organisations at a European level thereby challenging the historical dominance of the American and Japanese giants.
The project will experiment with professional training (summer camp and residency pathways), creative assistance (grants and residencies), dissemination of results in Europe and outside Europe (European comic book catalogue, large-scale dissemination channels) and mediation around the transformational power of comics (in particular through literacy workshops with comics). The project partners, united by shared values and a belief in the transformational power of comics, constitute the embryo of a future network capable of bringing the sector together at a European level. This network will develop the capacities of its members, represent the sector at international trade fairs and markets, and consolidate a common culture built throughout this experimental project.

Comic Art Europe launches a call for projects for European authors on the theme “Visions of tomorrow” - all formats - Comics, Shows, Exhibitions, ... - are welcome, the only constraint being the use of the comics medium.

• The theme:  Visions of tomorrow - what do we do now? As nations struggle, in the midst of a global pandemic, to cope with unprecedented social, economic and political turmoil, people around the world are challenged to question their lifestyles, how they got to where they are today and what they could do to ensure a better tomorrow. Comic books have often proved in recent decades that they are capable of bearing witness to contemporary societal issues, be they political, economic or social. This project invites comic book authors to offer us their visions of tomorrow, of what comes after the strange period we are going through. Optimistic or pessimistic, realistic or abstract, of the immediate future or further into the future, comic book artists are invited to give their visions of tomorrow.
• Selection and conditions: 5 projects will be selected by a jury comprising comic strip experts and representatives of each of the 5 cultural organisations participating in the Comic Art Europe project. Each selected artist will be awarded a 5000€ grant and a two-week residency in one of the 5 partner cities of the project (Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark, Lyon in France, Brussels in Belgium, Barcelona in Spain and Kendal in England). The winning artists will also have the opportunity to present their work at festivals and events proposed by the project partners and in 2022.

The completed works will be presented during the project’s partner festivals. Each applicant will have to make a proposal for an output format around their project which will be presented during the partner festivals (e.g. exhibition, installation, graphic novel, etc).

To be defined with selected artists.

Depends on each partners' place.

Each residency place is different and has its very own specificities. In Lyon you will be in the middle of the city ; in Barcelona your residency will take place in a higher education comics school ; in Belgium you will be in one of the biggest comics museum of Europe, etc.