The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) is proud to announce it has formalised its role as the UK Development Agency for Comics.

The new Agency for Comics will be based in Barrow-in-Furness, where the Government and private sector is investing in a bold programme of cultural renewal.

The announcement was made at a reception held in the UK’s House of Commons yesterday, Wednesday 30th April, hosted by Tim Farron MP, to celebrate UK comics.

Politicians from across each of the UK’s main political parties - including Creative Industries Minister Sir Chris Bryant MP - joined UK comic creators, industry leaders and senior figures from the wider creative sector to celebrate the UK’s comic heritage and look to its future.

 LICAF has been building programmes to show the social and cultural power of comics in a variety of settings since 2014. This includes its “Comic Potential” project, research over the last four years into the impact of comics on literacy and enjoyment of reading in primary and SEND schools. This in turn has led to a new project to create blueprints for comics in the classroom to embed in teacher training courses.

LICAF has also developed and delivered touring exhibitions for libraries aiming to tap into the interests and enthusiasm of young people (so far reaching 16 libraries across the North of England).

Earlier this year, LICAF piloted a comics course in HMP Haverigg, creating a comics anthology by prisoners and gathering feedback showing the unique potential of comics to promote creativity and enrichment in prisons. The project aims to develop skills for release, that is now being developed further, working towards a roll out across the UK prisons estate. 

initiatives to support comic creator development include British Comics Now, international exchanges and visits, training and mentoring to work in schools and a variety of contexts, and an International Rights Market to promote British comic publishers and creators to international buyers, the latter part of LICAF’s annual Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere, returning to Cumbria in September. 

“We have ambitious plans to build on our past work,” commented Festival Director Julie Tait. “We’re grateful to all the comic creators, local, national and international partners who have helped bring us to this point in our own development as an organisation, and the recognition for our work that support has brought.

“Our work over the past decade has complemented that of other organisations and groups, here in the UK and beyond, confirming the value of comics in education and as an invaluable aid to literacy, alongside their entertainment and clear commercial value.”

“"For many years LICAF has been at the forefront of bringing the art of comics to life for people across British society,” says Mark Fuller, Chief Executive of Comic Book UK, the newly-established organisation which represents the interests of all parts of the UK comic industry. “They are now set to have an even greater impact as the UK's development agency for comics. Comic Book UK is proud to count them as a partner in our mission to make the UK the best place in the world to create, publish and sell comics and graphic novels." 

• For more on the Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s Comic Development Work please visit Comics Can Change the World at comicscanchangetheworld.com | Follow Comics4Change on BlueSky

This year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere will take place over the weekend of the 26th – 28th September 2025