The second part of the Comic Art Europe (CAE) project, a Summer Camp for aspiring comic creators in Barcelona, Spain, has just been announced – and applications are open to young new creatives across Europe, including the United Kingdom.

Organised by four organisations from across the continent – Lyon BD, the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Escola Joso, Centre de Còmic i Arts Visuals and Centre Belge de la Bande-Dessinée (the Belgium Comic Strip Centre) – with the support of the European Union program “Creative Europe”, CAE aims to promote comic art in Europe, and the announced Summer Camp is an important part of the project.

The Comic Art Europe Summer Camp‘s organisation will be handled by the Escolo Joso in Barcelona, and will take place from 4th – 10th July, in Barcelona (by which time, hopefully, many COVID travel restrictions will have been lifted). Its main goal is to help young authors take a major step towards becoming professional, receiving invaluable training in aspects of the comic industry that an academic or self-taught education tends not to take into account and that the profession demands.

Hoping to ensure the comic art industry won’t have any secrets left for them (almost!), applications are being invited from young amateur artists, aged between 18 and 25, to apply for the Camp.

Applications are open until 30th March 2021 and it’s completely free to apply – only a digitalised portfolio is required. The 20 successful participants will be contacted around mid-April 2021. (Please note, applications will not be considered from industry professionals).

All costs for the summer camp (travel, accommodation, food) will be taken care of by the Comic Art Europe project, with the exception of an administrative fee of 120€.

Last December, Comic Art Europe, under its mantra “A new language for Europe”,
launched a call for projects from European creators, including from the UK, on the theme “Visions of tomorrow”. All formats were welcomed (comics, shows, exhibitions…), the only constraint was to exploit the comic medium. No less than 200 applications were received, from 32 countries. A huge success for Comic Art Europe’s first project.

A jury will announce the winners of a 5000€ grant, an artist residency and a package of production support, on 8th March 8th 2021. Judging the applications will be Mathieu Diez, Director of festival Lyon BD (France), Isabelle Debekker, Director of the Centre Belge de la Bande-Dessinée (Belgium), Julie Tait, Director of Lakes International Comic Art Festival (UK), Marion Glénat, Director of youth and audiovisual departments at Editions Glénat (France), Juan Carlos Concha, Director of NonStop Barcelona Animació (Spain), Jordi Sempere, teacher at Escola Joso and comic book author (Spain), Marie-Eve Tossani, letter and book attaché within Wallonie-Bruxelles International (Belgium), and Charlie Adlard, comic book author (The Walking Dead and more) (UK).

• To apply for the Comic Art Europe Summer Camp, visit the website: www.comicarteurope.eu

Please note, applications will not be considered from industry professionals. The 20 successful participants will be contacted around mid-April 2021

Applications are open to residents from European Union’s 27 countries members, Great Britain, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Georgia, Moldavia, Ukraine, Tunisia, Armenia, Kosovo and Lichtenstein

• Comic Art Europe is online at comicarteurope.eu | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter