The tenth triennial Festival of Cartoon Art will take place at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH October 14-17, 2010. The Festival is a unique celebration of cartoons and comics, and their creators. This year’s line-up of presenters include Steve Breen, Roz Chast, Tony Cochran, Jan Eliot, Matt Groening and Tom Gammill, Dave Kellett, Paul Levitz, Dan Piraro, Jen Sorensen, James Sturm, Michael Tisserand and Gene Luen Yang.
The Festival will also feature a special tribute panel to Jay Kennedy, the late Editor in Chief of King Features Syndicate. Kennedy was a comics collector and scholar who bequeathed his extraordinary collection of underground comics to the library. Panelists include: Brendan Burford, Bill Griffith, Matt Groening and Patrick McDonnell.
If that wasn’t enough, a special event with Art Spiegelman will take place on Sunday, October 17, as part of his residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts.
Two cartoon exhibitions will be on display during the Festival. A retrospective of the work of Billy Ireland, Columbus Dispatch cartoonist from 1898-1935, will be held in the Exhibition Gallery of the spectacular and newly-renovated Thompson Library. Scenes of My Infint-hood: Celebrating the Birth of Krazy Kat will be exhibited in the Cartoon Library & Museum Reading Room Gallery.
The Festival will once again include an academic pre-conference co-sponsored by Project Narrative of The Ohio State University Department of English and the Popular Culture Program of the College of Arts and Sciences. The pre-conference will take place on Thursday, October 14 at the Ohio Union. That evening, all Festival participants are invited to celebrate the 100th birthday of Krazy Kat at a special exhibition reception and birthday party. The reception will be co-sponsored by the Great Lakes Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.
The Festival is limited to 275 participants. Registration will open on June 1, 2010 and will be available online for the first time. The registration fee will be $125, with an early bird discount of $20 (must register by August 1, 2010). Members of the National Cartoonists Society and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists will be able to register at the reduced rate of $100 (early bird discount will also apply). The registration fee for students and senior citizens aged 65 and over will be $25 (ID will be required, early bird discount will not apply). The registration fee includes admission to the academic pre-conference, all Festival of Cartoon Art Forum presentations, receptions and special events, complimentary copies of the catalogues for the Billy Ireland and Krazy Kat exhibitions, morning refreshments on both Forum days, and a souvenir tote bag.
Oooh, tempting.
It is always an OUTSTANDING event! If you have an interest in the art of cartooning, you can’t miss this event!!!
I’m pretty excited to be speaking at the Festival in 2010. Past lineups have been amazing.
In fact, the 1989 Festival talk by Watterson will be the specific jumping-off point for my talk that weekend: http://www.sheldoncomics.com/forums/sheldontalk/7472
I was unfortunately poor at planning in 2007, and missed the last festival. I really don’t have any excuses this time around, especially since it’s in my backyard! Really looking forward to it.