TCAF 2026 Wrap-Up Report

aedwright
Jul 12
6 min read

Updated: Jul 13

Hello from the Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)!

The dust has settled on TCAF 2026 and the team is (mostly) rested and recovered. Thank you all so much for joining us for our second time in our new location at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

I’m Amie Wright (she/her), TCAF’s Executive Director since January 2025. For those of you who joined us for the first time this June, a little background on TCAF and who we are:

TCAF is one of the largest independent comic arts festivals in the world.

TCAF is unique in our commitment to accessibility. Unlike other large comic arts festivals in North America, we’ve remained completely free to the public since our launch in 2003, and our programmers seek to spotlight emerging talent alongside established creators.

This year, we're trying something a little different. Attendees see the festival from the outside, but what most attendees — and even exhibitors — don't see is the effort that goes into the festival leading up to the weekend. This wrap-up is a light, informal, and hopefully interesting way to get a behind-the-scenes look. It helps us celebrate our successes and look ahead to improvements for future festivals.

TCAF 2026 HIGHLIGHTS

Our largest # of exhibitors (475+) and attendees (32,000+) EVER!
Our largest # of international guests since 2019 including
- Our largest ever cohort of Japanese artists including poster artist Battan (with great thanks to MINT Manga International Network Team)
- Our first Featured Guest from India - revisit the work of Bakarmax and our first dedicated program on Indian comics - revisit Indian Comics 101 with Jatin Varma & Sumit Kumar
- Our largest cohort of Brazilian artists included Featured Guests Hugo Canuto (Australian-Brazilian) and Mari Costa, and TCAF exhibitor CahLac (Camila Abdanur)
- Our largest cohort of Filipino Komiks Creators - revisit our General Programming panel on Filipino Komiks Creators
- Our first publisher / featured guests from Singapore - revisit Difference Engine and the work of Featured Guest Shreya Davies
- Overall representation with artists and publishers from 15+ Countries including: Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the USA
Our first French language panel at TCAF - revisit BD Québécoise d'Aujourd'hui as part of our General Programming
Our first fully bilingual exhibit at TCAF, Confluence Quebec Comic Arts exhibit - with great thanks to our friends and festival at the Montreal Comic Arts Festival (MCAF) for making Confluence happen at TCAF
Dedicated focus on Toronto area artists including poster artist Chris W. Kim and Concrete & Ink: Mythologizing the City as part of General Programming
A return to TCAF digital programming with our interview Featured Guest Mohammad Saba'aneh & Street Noise
Renewed partnership with the Hand Eye Society - reestablishing the long tradition of comics x games programming hosted at TCAFs in the past. Plus, did you know that Toronto Games Week 2026 followed TCAF or that TGW poster artist for 2026 was TCAF Featured Guest Michael Deforge? Or, that June is video game month in Toronto?
Continuing partnership with Retreat neurodiverse break room
Continuing partnership with the Graphic Medicine International Collective (GMIC) including welcoming for the first time to TCAF as exhibitors the student organizers of MedComic Con at the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine - revisit our programs to spotlight Graphic Medicine here as part of General Programming and Libraries and Education Day (LED)
Continuing partnership with Canada Comics Open Library (CCOL) who hosted an ongoing zine jam all weekend long including a special tribute to Marjane Satrapi

TCAF 2026 BY THE NUMBERS

Approximately 32,000 attendees… that’s up by more than 4,000 from last year!
475+ exhibitors and community partners tabling - revisit our Exhibitors HERE
40+ publishers - revisit our Publishers and Exhibitors HERE
40+ Kids and YA comics creators - revisit TCAF for Kids HERE
More than 70+ sessions (and hours!) of free to attend TCAF programming between
- Word Balloon Academy (our free professional development programming for comics creatives including grant sessions) on Friday June 5th - revisit WBA programming HERE
- Libraries & Education Day (our free professional development programming for teachers and library workers) on Friday June 5th - revisit LED programming HERE
- General Programming June 6th & 7th during the festival weekend - revisit our General Programming HERE
- Academic Conference June 4th & 5th hosted by the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics in partnership with TCAF - revisit Academic Conference programming HERE
4 Exhibitions / Interactive Work Stations (running all weekend)
- Canada Comics Open Library (CCOL) - hands-on zine-making all-ages station - revisit CCOL HERE
- Confluence Québec Comic Arts exhibit - revisit Confluence HERE (en français ici)
- Hand Eye Society Nonprofit for Independent Games - hands-on all-ages comics x video game installation - revisit Hand Eye Society HERE
- MINT (Manga International Network Team) exhibit - revisit the MINT exhibit HERE
150+ all star festival volunteers including 6 Team Leaders and 1 amazing Volunteer Coordinator (thank you to our Volunteer Team!)

40+ publishers - revisit our Publishers and Exhibitors HERE
475+ exhibitors and community partners tabling - revisit our Exhibitors HERE

TCAF 2026 - Your donations at work!

Thank you to everyone who has supported our fundraising events in 2025 and 2026 through our winter auction, pay what you can special events, or who has donated to support TCAF.

In 2026, your donations helped us:

Waive table fees for 40+ artists at TCAF 2026 through our Access TCAF program
Provide travel support for 40+ artists at TCAF 2026
Invest in more wayfinding signage and accessibility measures at our new location
Increase our overall volunteer presence through enhanced staff and volunteer training and creation of lead volunteer positions
Offer exhibitors roving refreshments to stay hydrated and fed all festival long!

*Huge thanks to our festival super friends at MICE and MCAF for the festival inspo for roving refreshments!*

REMINDERS :

Looking forward to future festivals, if you have any kind words (what went well!) or constructive feedback (room for improvement / growth) for the TCAF team, please fill out our survey. The survey will be open until Sunday July 19th at 11:59pm ET.
Contribute to our Marjane Satrapi inspired CCOL x Graphic Resistance Zine Jam. The zine jam will be open until Sunday July 19th at 11:59pm ET
If you’re able please donate to Support TCAF!

Support TCAF!

TCAF will return in June 2027!

TCAF will be returning to the Mattamy Athletic Centre in June 2027 with exact dates to be announced soon!

Our Exhibitor Applications will open in Fall 2026.

IN CONCLUSION

What the numbers and highlights above don’t fully capture is the persistence, collaboration, and community that a festival such as TCAF showcases. Making art in 2026 is a dangerous, courageous and needed act. Art brings us closer to each other and to ourselves. Over the past festival year TCAF has stood up for comics, helped advocate for arts funding across Canada, and grown our comic arts community. Thank you for believing in and supporting our festival since 2003 and here’s to the next chapter and the next festival!

In solidarity and in comics,

Amie Wright, Executive Director

On behalf of…

Mandy Folsom, Festival Administrator

Jalen Innis, Festival Producer, Logistics & Production

MJ Lyons, Festival Producer, Programming & Partnerships / Word Balloon Academy Lead Programmer

Kate Fane, Manager of Marketing & Communications

Aaron King, Digital Experience Manager

Ho Che Anderson, General Programming Artistic Coordinator

Claire McDonald, Volunteer Coordinator & Publisher Relations

Allie Landy, Libraries & Education Day Coordinator

Matthew Noe, Libraries & Education Day Coordinator