The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) has announced it has formalised its role as the UK Development Agency for Comics.
The new Agency for Comics will be based in Barrow-in-Furness, where the Government and private sector is investing in a bold programme of cultural renewal.
The announcement was made at a reception held in the UK’s House of Commons yesterday, Wednesday 30th April, hosted by Tim Farron MP, to celebrate UK comics.
Also speaking at the event were Chris Bryant MP, Minister of State for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism, who voiced the government’s support for the comics industry, LICAF Festival Director Julie Tait and Comic Book UK founder Mark Fuller.
Politicians from across each of the UK’s main political parties – including Creative Industries Minister Sir Chris Bryant MP – joined UK comic creators, industry leaders and senior figures from the wider creative sector to celebrate the UK’s comic heritage and look to its future.
LICAF has been building programmes to show the social and cultural power of comics in a variety of settings since 2014. This includes its “Comic Potential” project, research over the last four years into the impact of comics on literacy and enjoyment of reading in primary and SEND schools. This in turn has led to a new project to create blueprints for comics in the classroom to embed in teacher training courses.
LICAF has also developed and delivered touring exhibitions for libraries aiming to tap into the interests and enthusiasm of young people (so far reaching 16 libraries across the North of England).
Earlier this year, LICAF piloted a comics course in HMP Haverigg, creating a comics anthology by prisoners and gathering feedback showing the unique potential of comics to promote creativity and enrichment in prisons. The project aims to develop skills for release, that is now being developed further, working towards a roll out across the UK prisons estate.
initiatives to support comic creator development include British Comics Now, international exchanges and visits, training and mentoring to work in schools and a variety of contexts, and an International Rights Market to promote British comic publishers and creators to international buyers, the latter part of LICAF’s annual Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere, returning to Cumbria in September.
“We have ambitious plans to build on our past work,” commented Festival Director Julie Tait. “We’re grateful to all the comic creators, local, national and international partners who have helped bring us to this point in our own development as an organisation, and the recognition for our work that support has brought.
“Our work over the past decade has complemented that of other organisations and groups, here in the UK and beyond, confirming the value of comics in education and as an invaluable aid to literacy, alongside their entertainment and clear commercial value.”
“”For many years LICAF has been at the forefront of bringing the art of comics to life for people across British society,” says Mark Fuller, Chief Executive of Comic Book UK, the newly-established organisation which represents the interests of all parts of the UK comic industry. “They are now set to have an even greater impact as the UK’s development agency for comics. Comic Book UK is proud to count them as a partner in our mission to make the UK the best place in the world to create, publish and sell comics and graphic novels.”
• For more on the Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s Comic Development Work please visit Comics Can Change the World at comicscanchangetheworld.com | Follow Comics4Change on BlueSky
This year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere will take place over the weekend of the 26th – 28th September 2025
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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This sounds positive! I recently read through the CCIC’s proposal for UK comics funding too, hoping these two groups don’t cancel out the other’s work but can co-exist for the good of the industry.
There are similar aims from both, approaching promotion of the medium in different ways. We all float up!