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Open Call: French residency program for Taiwan comic artists

  • Date:2020-03-18
Open Call: French residency program for Taiwan comic artists

To connect up-and-coming Taiwanese artists with the international arts community by helping them work alongside artists from other countries, the Ministry of Culture will sponsor one comic artist to embark on a three-month residency at the Blois-based bd BOUM Maison de la BD (House of the Comic Strip), organizer of the renowned bd BOUM Comics Festival. Applications are open until April 17 and the successful candidate will be announced in August.

The joint residency program is part of a cooperative pact inked between the Ministry and bd BOUM Maison de la BD in 2017. Apart from creating works in the French institution designed to nurture the next generation of comic professionals, the successful candidate has the advantage of attending bd BOUM Comics Festival, Angoulême International Comics Festival, and other famed comics-related events.

The Ministry shall cover travel and residency fees in addition to a monetary stipend, while bd BOUM Maison de la BD will provide housing and studio space. The program, now in its third year, selected comic artist Ho Hsueh-yi (何學儀) and cartoonist Stellina Chen (陳筱涵) as its Taiwanese artist-in-residence of 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Taiwan artists who wish to apply must have a basic knowledge of French or English and a minimum of three years of experience working in the medium of comics. The 2020-2021 residency is scheduled for Nov. 16, 2020 through Feb. 12, 2021 — application details are available here.

bd BOUM Maison de la BD is located in the heart of Blois and just a stone's throw from the Loire. Surrounded by the French Museum of Natural History, city squares, and Royal château of Blois, the unique venue itself is a tourist attraction after gaining notice for its exhibition hall that displays collections of comic books and materials documenting the history of the visual art form.

Created in 2015 by the bd BOUM association, an organization composed of social workers, teachers, and public education advocates, bd BOUM Maison de la BD is always bustling with workshops, meet-and-greet events between comic artists and fans, exhibitions, and comic festivals.