Hey folks…

As ELCAF’s 10th year draws to a close, we wanted to send out a little update. As much as we love this community, and would like nothing more than to return to a physical festival celebrating all the amazing work you lovely people do – with the future of festivals, travel and social spaces all slightly up in the air, it’s a good time to take a little break for now.

ELCAF is now officially on pause as we work out what the future holds.

Please continue to share your projects with us and we’ll support by sharing on our channels in the meantime, so stay in touch! We will be checking emails and our instagram messages intermittently.

Wishing you all a safe and peaceful festive period and 2022 –

Much love, the ELCAF team xx

Image credit: Margaux Bigou for the ELCAF Haul 2021

Our 2021 ELCAF Springboard meetings are now live – book online HERE!

Sign up quick as these spots are first come first served!

These FREE one-to-one portfolio reviews provide the chance for emerging creatives to meet industry experts, discuss work and ask questions to gain insight into the professional creative industries.

See our image list to the right of the amazing experts who’ve kindly donated their time for a set number of 15 minute online slots, which will be split over the 6th & 7th July 2021.

All of the experts participating in the Springboards are contributing their time pro-bono so please only sign-up if you are committed to joining the session.

If you have any questions or cannot attend your session, please e-mail [email protected] with as much notice as possible.

Pre-orders for the limited edition run of the 2021 ELCAF Haul (£10 plus shipping) are now CLOSED!

Each ELCAF Haul brings together work from 29 specially selected artists, illustrators and collectives. You’ll receive the following: 5 posters, 5 zines, 10 postcards, 2 workshop sheets, 2 pin badges and a set of stickers.

This is a LIMITED EDITION RUN – the pre-orders are integral to us determining the size of our one time print run and how many we should order.  The closing date to order a copy was the 1st June 2021.

See more details about the ELCAF Haul and the work included in the post below!

We’re so proud to champion this incredibly talented set of artists from all over the world. Some are ELCAF staples you may recognise, and some are completely new voices that were discovered during February’s open call. The range of work within the Haul really encapsulates for us the diverse and innovative voices seen at ELCAF every year, and we hope it captures just some of that spirit of the festival that we’ve missed so very much recently.

Why are we charging for the ELCAF Haul and where is the money going?

The haul costs £10, a subsided price only made possible through our grant from Arts Council England, which is where 100% of our funding has come from this year. Subsiding printing costs with this money to create an accessible price point felt very important to us, and if the Haul breaks even, it is something we hope to be able to explore again in the future.

If we sell enough copies of the ELCAF Haul to make a profit, any additional money made will go back into the festival and the artists – whether that’s through facilitating further paid commissions in the future, or going towards funding the next in-person installment of the festival. Every penny we earn goes back into supporting future ELCAF events and creating other paid opportunities for artists.

We’re also really proud to be supporting small local businesses via the printing of the Haul, so shout out to South London’s PageMasters, Gemini etc for their help!

The creation of the ELCAF Haul has been a real labour of love from both the artists and all three of us here on the ELCAF team over the course of this year. We really hope you all love it as much as we do x

PLEASE NOTE! Our open call is now closed. Thank you for sending in a proposal – we’ll be in touch soon!

ELCAF IS 10!

2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the East London Comics & Arts Festival next year and we want to celebrate this! As you know, this past year brought huge changes to all of our lives, and as such, in 2020, we had to rethink the festival’s format for the safety of the community. Once again, we’ll be changing the way we work for 2021.

We’d like to use the funding we have from Arts Council England to support and commission a number of artists to produce new work. 

As such, we are creating a celebratory, 10 year anniversary, limited edition physical pack inspired by the ELCAF Haul (#elcafhaul) – containing printed zines, comics, posters and other goodies created by YOU!

Your work and proposal will be carefully reviewed by the ELCAF team and if selected, you’ll be provided with the following artist fee/budget to create something new: 

• Stickers / Pins: £50
• Postcard: £100
• Poster: £300
• Workshop: £300
• Comic / Zine: £800

…and you will also receive a free ELCAF Haul pack!

We will collate, design and print the 10 Year ELCAF Haul in Spring ready for limited edition release in Summer 2021 –  it will be available to buy for £10 through the ELCAF website and social media channels as well as at ELCAF’s smaller events later in the year!

Your work will hopefully be seen by many in the community and further afield! We will also promote all the work of the artists from the pack on our social media channels and through our small online programme over the next few months. 

The timeline for submissions is as follows:

17 Feb – Open Call 

08 Mar – Submissions Deadline

24 Mar – We’ll be in touch!

12 Apr – Final Artwork Deadline

* Please note : Anyone successful in applying for a comic / zine – please ignore the final artwork deadline above. You will be contacted directly by the ELCAF team to discuss and agree a realistic deadline.

For any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Thanks so much and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Much love – The ELCAF Team