It’s official – the National Cartoonists Society‘s Reuben Awards Weekend will become, at least for one year, The NCSFest. A much more public fan-friendly event than the Reuben weekends have been.
The National Cartoonists Society is delighted to announce that it has chosen the city of Huntington Beach, California, to host the inaugural NCSFest, a celebration of comics and cartoon art from all over the world. Based on the comic art festivals that are hugely popular in Europe, the festival will be held over the weekend of May 17-19, 2019.
Hundreds of the world’s most celebrated creators are expected to attend the three-day event, participating in seminars, exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions and signing sessions, the vast majority of which will be free to the public. Downtown Huntington Beach will be the setting, with all events staged beachside, on the iconic pier, at the city’s Arts Center and library and in local hotels and businesses, all within easy walking distance.
Notice the “International” in the logo.
To create NCSfest, the Society has partnered with the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, a much-admired annual festival held in the town of Kendal, in the picturesque Lake District of the UK. Julie Tait, Director of LICAF, will act as Assistant Director of NCSFest.
“This is probably the most ambitious comic arts festival ever staged in North America,” said NCSFest Director Steve McGarry, who also serves as President of the National Cartoonists Society Foundation, the charitable and educational arm of the NCS. “We’ve long admired the great comic arts festivals of Europe and we wanted to adopt that model for an American audience. We were hugely impressed with the work that Julie Tait has done, in a very short time, in establishing The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival as the UK’s premier festival, so we are delighted that Julie and her team have agreed to lend their expertise.”
Many more details at The NCS page announcing the event.
Not everything will be open to the public. NCS business meetings, of course, are for members/officers only. And the Awards banquet (still a dinner?) will also be a members-only function, as far as I have been led to believe.
A lot of the discussions that went on in Philadelphia was over this event. I’m happy to see it’s going forward, and wish it’ll be a success.
I’ll be making sure I don’t miss this event next year!
Cool! It is not over Memorial Day Weekend!!!!
I may be able to go this time!!!!!
Davy Jones
Oh this is a GREAT idea.