Yorkshire Comic Art Festival Founder, Lisa Wood, is honoured to be recognised with Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award.
We at Thought Bubble are delighted to share that the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award has been presented to our founder and director, Lisa Wood (aka artist Tula Lotay) for the outreach, charity and community work.
Comic-Con International’s Humanitarian Award is presented in the name of famed animator Bob Clampett, designer of popular cartoon characters Porky Pig and Tweety Bird, and director of 84 Warner Brothers classic cartoons. After his death in 1984, the humanitarian award was created to honour those people in comics and the popular arts who have worked to help others.
The recipients are chosen by the San Diego Comic-Con committee and the awards will be presented by Bob’s daughter, Ruth Clampett, during the Eisner Awards ceremony on Friday 19th July 2019 at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel, San Diego, California. Lisa is thrilled to be among notable past recipients such as Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller.
Lisa founded Thought Bubble Festival in 2007 with an aim to celebrate comics and comic creators, and to encourage the next generation of artists and writers. Its her dedication which has enabled Thought Bubble to grow an extensive and varied outreach programme, which has been up and running since the festival began in 2007. Some of the projects and activities include:
The Rainbow Age - An LGBTQ* book group at Leeds Library with a huge and ever-increasing collection of books donated by Leeds-founded comic book store, Travelling Man.
Bub’s Lounge - In 2014 Thought Bubble partnered with Specialist Autism Services to make the convention a welcoming, safe space for all. This includes Bub’s Lounge: a quiet space for people needing time away from the busy exhibition halls.
Young People's Comic Awards - An award that recognises the year’s best new comics and books for young readers.
Thought Bubble Anthology (distributed internationally by Image Comics) - An annual collection of comic art with all profits donated to Barnardo’s Children’s Charity..
Free Workshops - Given at schools and libraries across Yorkshire focusing on comics as a way to improve children's reading and writing skills, and a way to understand themselves, explore feelings and build self-confidence.
Book Crossing - Thought Bubble donates thousands of comics are donated to Yorkshire libraries by Diamond Comics for children to take home for free.
Projects with Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Bradford and Leeds to help ‘find voices’ and tell stories, enabling participants to share their experiences.
Education Programme - In 2019 Thought Bubble will be holding workshops and panel talks during the convention weekend that focus on increasing confidence in participants art and give tools to those looking to forge a career as an illustrator or in other avenues within the comic book world, with talks from experts in the field to encourage the next generation of creators.
Free Convention Tickets - Free convention tickets are gifted to disadvantaged groups and schools to give them the chance to experience the festival; encourage their creativity and have a fun weekend.
Charity Convention Space - The festival offers free convention space to charities and non-profit organisations to help promote their work. This includes mental health organisations, positive sexuality groups and disability support.
Lisa said, “It’s such an honour to be awarded the Bob Clampett Award by Comic-Con International. Although given in my name, this award is really for everyone who works tirelessly to make Thought Bubble what it is; a lot of whom are volunteers, who work so hard for the love of the medium of comics. I feel I’m accepting this award on behalf of them. For Clark, Martha, Bis, Amy, Steve, Pete, Nabil, Mikey, Chloe and Billie, and the hundreds of volunteers, exhibitors and guests who’ve supported us over the years and helped make the show what it is. We are so excited to continue our outreach programme and make it bigger and better than ever.”
Thought Bubble is the largest festival of its kind in the UK - a week-long celebration of comic art in all its forms, from independent artists to superheroes and everything in between. From humble beginnings, Thought Bubble now attracts thousands of visitors and guests from around the world. This year sees an exciting move from Leeds to Harrogate Convention Centre - a huge space that will allow the festival to grow bigger than ever before, in the heart of a historic spa town.