TCAF has a new home!
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), one of North America’s foremost comics events, has just announced dates for 2025 – June 7-8 – and a new venue, Toronto Metropolitan University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre (50 Carlton St). The move away from the much loved Toronto Reference Library was necessitated when the library announced a two year closure for renovations.
The Mattamy Athletic Center was formerly Maple Leaf Gardens, and yes, it is considered one of the “cathedrals of hockey” – the Leafs played there from 1931 to 1999 and won 11 Stanley Cups on its rink.
While moving from a library to a hockey rink may seem a strange move for a show that celebrates international comics arts and creators, the new venue is larger and will at last allow for bigger and more complicated exhibits. There will be 25% more total tables, publishers can have more than three tables, and more space for signing lines, as well as more time for set-up.
In a statement, organizers looked back and forward:
In 2024, TCAF welcomed over 28,000 attendees and 350 artists from all around the world. If you weren’t there, it was a great time. However, due to planned renovations at the Toronto Reference Library over the next two years, TCAF needs to find new space for 2025 and beyond. We’re incredibly excited about finding a new home at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, but we also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge TPL. We are incredibly thankful to the Toronto Public Library for its invaluable support over the last 15 years and we look forward to future partnership opportunities with the Toronto Public Library in 2025 and beyond.
Toronto Metropolitan University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre was once known as Maple Leaf Gardens and the athletic centre is a Canadian National Historic Site. The building is famous not only for hosting sporting events, but also hundreds of concerts and political rallies. Our festival will activate the new ice rink (built above the old one), basketball court, and rink concourse to host approximately 280 tables of cartoonists, collectives, and publishers. Hosting TCAF at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre keeps the festival in the heart of downtown Toronto and closer to our hotel partners.
Reading between the lines there, it sounds like TCAF might not return to the library when it reopens. As loved as the setting was, it was quirky: the show took place alongside regular library patrons going about their business, set up was difficult, and tables were small. All that said, these issues never seemed to hurt enthusiasm for the event or the comics shown there. But, change is a thing that happens.
Another change: The Libraries and Education Day will return in ‘25. This event and other programming for educators, students, scholars, librarians, and comics professionals will be held Friday June 6 at a nearby location, as will other offsite events and workshops.
More details: exhibitor applications and programming submission will soon open.
In keeping with the show’s traditions of inclusion, TCAF remains committed to the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
We encourage applications from members of groups that have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, including but not limited to, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour), persons with disabilities, and those who identify as women and/or 2SLGBTQ+.
We are also pleased to announce that we have streamlined entry into our Access TCAF Program. This program forgives table fees from creators who self-identify as belonging to the groups mentioned above.
All of the above has happened under the guidance new TCAF showrunner Amie Wright. While I have no idea what the locals will think of the new venue (I’m sure they have many opinions about Maple Leaf Gardens), as a visitor this all sounds promising. The Mattamy Athletic Centre is located in Toronto’s downtown, about a mile far from the old setting, if you want to visit an old favorite creperie. It is close to the HQ hotel that I stayed at last time I went (2023) – quite honestly the trek from the hotel to the library was a bit onerous, especially if you were carrying a stack of new graphic novels, which you often do. As a potential visitor, the new set-up looks good, especially with all the added space.
TCAF is absolutely one of the best shows in North America for graphic novel publishers. Over the years it has established a culture that celebrates cartoonists from around the world, education, and comics as the vibrant art form that it can be. Here’s hoping for many more years of all this.
