Throughout the year The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) delivers a wide range of projects using comics to achieve positive change.

Under the title Comics Can Change the World, LICAF is delivering projects in our local community, across our region and country and with partners internationally.

We continue to explore how comics can galvanise efforts to address the climate emergency, how they can play a significant role in education – from primary schools to higher education – and much more.

COMIC POTENTIAL

Comic Potential is a project made possible through grant aid from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, via their Art-based Learning Fund.

It aims to explore how comics can support two primary and two special schools in Cumbria, to increase the enjoyment of reading in class, develop skills to support storytelling, writing and drawing; and increase confidence and well-being through techniques for self-expression for pupils.

• Copies of our reports, the result of research supported by Northwest schools, Comic Art Europe, the Paul Hamlyn and others, can be found here

ULTIMATELY THE PROJECT AIMS TO SUPPORT LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR PUPILS

The project will also help teachers understand of how comics can support reading; develop a range of comic-based techniques to support pupils’ learning across the curriculum; and offer access to a range of online teaching resources and guides to support future teaching.

Schools will receive a selection of comics to populate their school libraries and professional comic artists including Marc Jackson, Mollie Ray and Jim Medway will deliver in-class workshops in all the schools.

Pupils will also receive weekly copies of The Phoenix Comic, delivered to their home so they can continue to explore comics with their family.

The project will be monitored and evaluated by researchers at the University of Manchester to assess the impact of the two-year project on pupils and identify the unique positive properties of comics in the classroom.

The project builds upon a previous LICAF led project at Abraham Moss Primary School in Crumpsall, Manchester, funded by Comic Art Europe.

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

Cambridge Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness
Sandgate Special School, Kendal
George Haswell School, Special Academy, Barrow-in-Furness
Vickerstown Primary School, Barrow-in-Furness

COMICS IN THE CLASSROOM

The following films are Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s ‘Comics in the Classroom’ series, part of our ongoing Comic Potential project. The Comics in the Classroom films offer teachers some super straightforward tips and techniques on how comics can be used in the classroom across all age ranges – not just for teaching English, but across the curriculum. Produced and directed by Matt Burke, the films hope to inspire teachers to use comics in the classroom. The films are presented by Little LICAF co-producers Hester Harrington and Sim Leech, who have a wealth of experience using comics in the classroom and come from a teaching background.

• Check out the Lakes International Comic Art Festival on YouTube