Conference

BFA Cartooning, BFA Illustration and the SVA Library host the 2019 Queers & Comics Conference, a biennial event created to celebrate, explore, document, and analyze LGBTQ cartoonists and their work. This year's keynote speakers are cartoonist Paige Braddock and SVA alumnus and faculty member Phil Jimenez. 

For tickets, click here. For a full schedule, click here. 

The Queers & Comics Conference is a biennial, university-based LGBTQ comics conference alternating between New York City and San Francisco. This year, it is hosted in New York City, by the School of Visual Arts’ BFA Illustration and BFA Cartooning programs, Thomas Woodruff, chair. Over 140 LGBTQ cartoonists, scholars, publishers and librarians will participate in this historic event spotlighting five decades of queer cartooning.

The conference features two keynote presentations, conversations with five featured guests and 36 lively panel discussions with slideshows. This is a unique opportunity for LGBTQ cartoonists to network, build community, discuss their craft and foster new work, and for readers and fans to immerse themselves in this unique artistic community.

 The Queers & Comics Conference differs from a “comics convention.” Similar to a writer’s conference, this forum allows participants to celebrate, analyze and document queer comics creators and their work.

The conference is organized by founding director and cartoonist Jennifer Camper, and Justin Hall, cartoonist and associate professor of comics at California College of the Arts.

Keynote Presentations:

BFA Cartooning faculty member and SVA alumnus Phil Jimenez (Tempest, New X-Men, Wonder Woman, Historia)Paige Braddock (Jane’s World)

Featured Guests:

Diane DiMassa (Hothead Paisan)Nicole Georges (Fetch, Calling Dr. Laura)Rachel Pollack (Doom Patrol, New Gods, Mine!, etc.)Mariko Tamaki (This One Summer, Skim, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Supergirl, X-23)Magdalene Visaggio (Kim & Kim, Eternity Girl, Dazzler: X-Song, Transformers vs. Visionaries)

Thursday, May 16, 7:00 – 8:30pmQueer Comix Live! – Cartoonists’ reading with slideshowFree and open to the publicSchool of Visual Arts, 380 Second Avenue, 7th floorAfter the reading there will be a reception in the SVA Library, on the 2nd floor of the same building.

Registration is $20 for the two-day conference. Registration, schedule and more information can be found at queersandcomics.com. For more information and interviews, please email queer.comics@gmail.com. 

A pop-up bookstore will sell work by the panelists during the conference, organized by Prism Comics.

Panel subjects cover a wide range of topics, including:

Genre – memoir, sci-fi, fantasy, manga, superheroes, erotica, health, humor, younger readers, horror, etc.Identity – queer cartoonists of color, transgender and nonbinary cartoonists, European cartoonists, etc.Craft – experimental comics, serialized comics, activism, worldbuilding, long-form projects, etc.Career Building – publishing, creating webcomics, tips from pros, etc.Education – teaching queer comics, history of QPOC comics, queer comics in libraries, etc.