Open Calls

© Judit-Crehuet

For its second year, the Comic Art Europe project successfully launched its second open call for comics. Five ambitious projects from 5 european artists on the theme Living Together have been selected and will soon be at the Lyon BD festival in June 2023 and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in October 2023.

Second Open Call (2022) – Theme : Living Together.

Diversity enhances society. Learning about other cultures, being exposed to different values and influences is an enriching experience that broadens the mind and promotes tolerance and the appreciation of difference.

This year, Comic Art Europe is asking comics artists to reflect in their own way on “Living Together” in the modern world. Through true stories or fictional creations, comic book artists are invited to present projects that illustrate their interpretation of “Living Together” today.

Selection & general conditions

5 projects were 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 has been awarded a 5000€ grant and a two-week residency in one of the 4 partner cities of the project (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 in 2023.

 

First Open Call (2021) – Theme : Visions of Tomorrow.

The Comic Art Europe project launched its first Open Call for “comics” projects in October 2020, resulting in the selection of five european artists: Filipa Beleza (Portugal), Marine des Mazery (France), Karrie Fransman (United-Kingdom), Maria Surducan (Roumania) and Meikel Mathias (Germany).

The five of them were awarded of a 5000€ creation bursary and a two-weeks residency in one of the partners’ country. Their projects have been presented at the Lyon BD festival in June 2022 as well as at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in October 2022 as part of the Visions of Tomorrow exhibition. Find out more about the exhibition here.

Where do we go from here?

European comic artists on what comes next. As nations struggle to deal with unprecedented social, economic, and political unrest during a time of global pandemic, people around the world are challenged into questioning our ways of living, how they brought us to the present situation, and what they could become to ensure better outcomes. As the comic art has often proved over the past decades to be able to comment on contemporary issues, whether they are of political, economic, or social relevance, this project calls for comic artists to offer us their visions of tomorrow, of what comes next. Optimistic or pessimistic, realistic or abstract, from the day after to far in the future, comic artists will give us their visions of tomorrow.

General conditions

FAQ

As an European citizen, you are eligible to the open call for comics projects.

You can submit a project as a duo, but the amount of Comic Art Europe’s support remains the same:

  • 5000 € grant per project
  • one artist in residence per project (the arrival of the other member of the duo will not be covered - you can also imagine that the person will be on video-conference during your residency): the return journey, food and accommodation expenses for one person
  • the attendance of an artist during certain events of the project where he will present his work (the arrival of the other member of the duo is welcome but will not be covered).

What we called “a high level overview of the project in 5 lines” is a kind of synopsis in 5 lines, an intention note.

You do not have to show us a finished comic but the idea of a comic and ideally, footages/ insights of this project if you have some.

The jury will need to have an idea of your project and insights of your work (generally) to be able to know whether if they will select you or not.

What we call “a proposal for an output format” is related to your attendance to our events afterwards. The more infos you give us, the better.

A few examples:

  • if you have in mind to draw a 48-pages-comic, you do not need to have finished this 48-pages-comic for our festivals but you need to think of a way to show your work at our festivals: it could be an exhibition, a leaflet, …
  • if you have in mind to do a show mixing comics and music (i.e. drawn concert), it would be better for it to be ready for our festivals so we show it full, but you can also think of an extract you would like to show during the festivals.

Also, keep in mind that the two-week residencies are more about meeting people who will help you move forward in your work than being times completely dedicated to creation. You will not have to "deliver" your project immediately at the end of the two-week residency and will have time to work on your project afterwards. The first presentations will take place in 2022.

We do not know yet when the two-weeks residencies are going to take place, it will depend on their location, the partner and the artist’s schedule. But they might be between April and October 2021 the latest.

We do not ask for a finished project for the application. Please translate everything we would need to understand your project and intention. I might get back to you after your application if it is not clear enough.

Partners

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival, England

Escola Joso, Spain

Lyon BD, France

The Belgian Comic Strip Center, Belgium

design by Saysouk Graphic Design - development by elastik.eu /