The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) exists to promote the breadth and diversity of comics and what is considered comics as a legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. We seek to promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as broad an audience as possible for them.

The first TCAF was held on the weekend of March 29th, 2003. It was the natural progression of years of disparate book signings, author appearances, and miscellaneous events put together by a group of volunteers interested in promoting the literary and artistic merits of comic books and graphic novels. Approximately 600 members of the public attended the first festival, with 25 staff and approximately 70 creators in attendance.

Attendance and excitement grew during subsequent events held every two years. TCAF 2005 was held the weekend of May 28-29 and saw approximately 6,000 attendees visit the large tents set up on Honest Ed’s department store grounds. TCAF 2007 moved back indoors to the Victoria College building at the University of Toronto and featured about 6,000 attendees over the August 18-19 weekend. TCAF 2009 was held in conjunction with Toronto Public Library in their massive flagship location, Toronto Reference Library. 10,500 people visited the festival on the weekend of May 9th and 10th, engaging over 300 exhibitors consisting of authors, artists, and publishers, from six different countries, including France, Germany, Japan, and England. Since 2010 TCAF has been held at Toronto Reference Library, with attendances increasing annually – we welcomed 12,500 attendees in 2010, 15,000 in 2011, 18,000 in 2012 & 2013, 22,000 in 2014, 24,000 in 2015, and 25,000+ in 2016 and beyond, across all Festival events.

While a Festival the scope and size of TCAF was a natural progression of locally organized events, often in coordination with Toronto comic emporium The Beguiling, it also grew from equal parts agitation and inspiration caused by other large-scale events dealing with the comic book medium. While most shows of this nature are pop-culture events and tend to be insular in nature, we wanted to do something that dealt more specifically with the art form of comics itself, with an emphasis on genre appreciation and open interaction between creators and their community.