International Comic Arts Forum

The International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF) is an academic conference and international comics convention. The mostly annual event has been described as one of the earliest academic initiatives in comics studies.

Presenters at ICAF over the years have included such notable academics as Donald Ault, Paul Gravett, Thierry Groensteen, M. Thomas Inge, Bill Kartalopoulos, Fedwa Malti-Douglas, and Douglas Wolk.

Structure
ICAF has been described as "primarily a scholarly conference where papers on various aspects of comics around the world are presented." In addition to academics, practicing cartoonists are invited to present and discuss their work. Generally, the conference takes place on a Thursday through Saturday, with specialized academic presentations held on Thursdays and Fridays, with Saturdays featuring more festival-style programming aimed at a broader audience.

Since 2005, each ICAF has seen the presentation of the John A. Lent Award in Comics Studies to "...a current student who has authored, or is in the process of authoring, a substantial research-based writing project about comics."

Origins: French embassy and Georgetown University
The International Comics and Animation Festival was founded in 1995 as a one-off event, conceived by Tristan Fonlladosa, a cultural attaché of the French Embassy, who proposed the idea to the Department of French at Georgetown University. Fonlladosa collaborated closely with Georgetown Professor Guy Spielmann, who played a pivotal role in organizing the conference by recruiting guests with academic backgrounds, thereby elevating the scholarly dimension of the event.

The second event in 1996 was another collaboration between Georgetown and the French embassy/Alliance Française. On a larger scale, this iteration of ICAF coincided with a traveling exhibition of European comics artists and the year's centennial celebration of American newspaper comic strips.

Affiliation with SPX
Fonlladosa left the U.S. after 1996, and Spielmann coordinated the 1997 show solo, while also organizing the creation of the ICAF Executive Committee to perpetuate the show.

From 1997 to 2000, as well as 2002 and 2004, ICAF was held in conjunction with the local area Small Press Expo (SPX). Typically, on Saturdays, ICAF programming centered on artist-centered activities, including discussions with and presentations by cartoonists from both Europe and America.

In 1998, the fourth iteration of the event, The Comics Journal devoted a section of an issue to coverage of the event.

From 1999 to 2002, the conference highlighted young alternative cartoonists, dubbed "New Voices."

Both ICAF and SPX were canceled in 2001 due to creators' travel difficulties related to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Library of Congress and name change
From 2005 to 2007, ICAF was co-sponsored by the Library of Congress. The 2005 event — the tenth iteration — included a symposium tribute to Will Eisner, who had died earlier in the year.

During those years, an annual tradition included showcasing original cartoon artwork in the Library's Prints and Photographs Reading Room, with short-term exhibitions curated by Sara Duke and Martha Kennedy. Additionally, during this period, ICAF collaborated with George Washington University at their Gelman Library, organizing numerous artist presentations and a panel addressing the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.

In 2006 the event changed its name to the International Comic Arts Forum.

New locations
After 2007, ICAF began being held in various locations outside of the Washington, D.C. area. In 2008 and 2009, the conference was held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There were no ICAF conferences held in 2010, 2012, 2015, 2018, or 2022.

In 2011, ICAF was held at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont; and in 2013, it was held at the University of Oregon, with programming taking place at the university's Portland location.

In 2014, ICAF moved to Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. The Comics Studies Society, the first U.S. association dedicated to supporting the study of graphic narrative and sequential art, was launched in 2014 at ICAF.

In 2016, ICAF was held at the University of South Carolina; in 2017 at the University of Washington, in Seattle; and in 2019 at St. Ambrose University, in Davenport, Iowa. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 ICAF conference was held online on various dates from October 22, 2020, to April 1, 2021. All programming was dedicated to the memory of former ICAF Ex-Com Chair Dr. Cécile Danehy.

In 2023, ICAF was held outside the U.S. for the first time, at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada.