An organizing group that includes acclaimed cartoonist Jeff Smith and Lucy Caswell, founder of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library, has been formed with plans to launch Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), an annual four-day comics festival slated to begin in Fall 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. The new show will debut with a two-day event in 2015 (Oct. 2-3), that will be split between the Billy Ireland Library (Oct. 2) and The Columbus Cultural Center (Oct. 3).
The two-day October show will feature events and programming at the Billy Ireland Library and Museum on October 2 and an exhibition and selling floor (with more than 35 exhibitors) on October 3 at the Columbus Cultural Center. The four-day show will also be split between the Billy Ireland Library and the Columbus Cultural Center.
Jeff Smith, creator of the Eisner award-winning graphic novel Bone, will serve as president and artistic director of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus. Joining Smith on the executive committee is noted comics journalist Thomas Spurgeon, who will serve as executive director of the festival and relocate to Columbus, Ohio from New Mexico.
Also joining Smith, Spurgeon, and Caswell on the executive committee for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus is Vijayer Iyer, president and co-publisher of Cartoon Books, Jeff Smith’s publishing company, which is based in Columbus, Ohio. Iyer is Smith’s wife and business partner.
Asked about funding the new festival, Spurgeon told PW “We'll be working very closely with a variety of partners on funding, in terms of both direct financial support and shared resources, on both the overall festival and specific elements of each event.” Spurgeon also expects grants to be part of the “overall makeup. We'll have more to announce in the new year.”
Spurgeon said the launch of the new show was initiated by Caswell, Iyer and Smith. “Lucy, Vijaya and Jeff are not just esteemed persons in the world of comics, they're old friends and first citizens of Columbus that have known each other for years.” Jeff Smith’s archive is housed in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. Affiliated with the Ohio State University, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library is the world’s largest and most comprehensive research collection of comics, comic strips and cartoon art.
Caswell, Iyer and Smith, “all share an intense personal interest in working with artists, particularly younger ones,” Spurgeon said. “It seems a natural extension to build a show around those values, in this era of great comics shows."
