September 30 – October 13 at
The Venue
In 2024, CAW is being hosted by Bundanon as part of their Artist in Residence program!
The Bundanon site is located on the traditional lands of the Dharawal and Dhurga people, and encompasses 1000 hectares of bush and parkland on the Shoalhaven River, NSW. Formerly the home of painter Arthur Boyd, it was gifted to the public in 1993 and now operates as an arts and cultural hub.
CAW will be accommodated at Bundanon’s Art Museum site (separate to the Artist in Residence complex) in the Boyd Education Centre (BEC). The centre comprises of four sleeping areas divided into 16 twin single rooms, shared bathroom facilities, forecourt, hall and kitchen. As well as the centre providing ample space for CAW’s scheduled activities, participants are also free to explore the surrounding areas.
See location on Google Maps | More on the BEC on architect’s site
Dates
Applications due: Friday March 1st
Applicants notified of outcome: Week beginning Monday April 15th
Artist fees due: Friday August 16th
Comic packages (your draft and any info you want to share about your project) due: September 1st. This will allow participants time to read one anothers’ projects ahead of workshops.
Attendees arrive: Monday September 30th
Workshops begin: Tuesday October 1st
Residency ends: Sunday October 13th
How to get there
Bundanon is two and a half hours’ drive from Sydney and Canberra, with potentials to carpool being arranged closer to the date.
Bundanon staff can also offer transfers from the closest train station of Bombaderry or bus terminal in Nowra (Stewart Place), depending on your arrival time.
Who can apply?
Comic artists based anywhere in the world, with ambitious projects in progress! These projects can take any form and be on any subject. However, it’s important that your project is reasonably far along, either in a detailed outline, full script or thumbnailed, in order for you to get the most out of your workshop.
In total there will be 14 workshoppers at CAW 2024, with seven places being reserved for new attendees. Remaining workshoppers will comprise of previous attendees with ongoing projects still in need of workshopping, including admissions wizard Can Yalcinkaya and directors Fionn and Meg. We’re super keen for new people and want to help foster the next generation of graphic storytellers through our workshopping process, as well as continuing to support those who have passed through CAW before.
In addition to workshoppers, we have invited award-winning international comic artists Sophie Yanow and Lee Lai to be our master artists, with fine folks such as CAW founders Pat Grant and Elizabeth Macfarlane also attending in a support capacity.
With all these cool people under one roof, it’s worth keeping in mind that the Comic Art Workshop residency entails living in close quarters with all attendees for two weeks, in a remote location. While there will be ample opportunity for solo downtime, if the idea of spending that much time with other humans stresses you out, this workshop might not be for you.
Does it cost money to attend CAW?
Yes it does. In the past, participants have paid between $300 – $600 to attend the workshop, which helps to cover things like the meals that will be provided, workshopping and master artists.
However, we don’t yet know how much the fee will be for the 2024 residency!
CAW is a volunteer-run organisation, with residencies relying on a combination of participant fees, government grants, donations from community members and our own fundraising. Until we know exactly how much money we have to work with, we don’t know how much participants will need to pay to attend.
That said, we are committed to keeping our community of creators diverse and don’t want the fee to be a barrier to entry, and offer scholarship positions. So, if you have a comic project that seems like a good fit for the workshop, please don’t let the fee stop you from applying!
How do I apply?
By sending a hand-written letter to Can Yalcinkaya, who has put his hand up for the difficult task of heading our selection committee for the second time. (Thanks Can! ♥)
Start with the words “Dear Can”, finish it, envelope it, stamp it, post it to:
Can Yalcinkaya Macquarie University College 8 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Ave Level 1 North Ryde, NSW 2109
Due date
Friday the 1st of March. If you get it postdated on Friday the 1st of March and Can receives it the following week – that’s totally cool.
A letter??
We think it’s a lot more pleasant to write a letter than a formal application process AND it’s also nicer for Can to receive. We don’t want you to send us a bio and a CV, we want to hear from you: the human!
Your letter should be a maximum of 2 x A4 pages. Can adores post but he will receive a lot of them, so try to keep it to that! (And if you absolutely, 100% need to bend the rules for some reason, please be sensible about it.)
What should I write?
In the letter you can tell him about these things:
1) Your project: What’s it about? Is it ambitious? Are you excited about it? What stage of it are you at? What are you proposing to bring to the workshop for the group to workshop (e.g. Detailed outline, full first draft of script, thumbnails etc)?
Note: Think carefully about your project. It will be one of the key considerations during the selection process. If you are selected and then wish to change your project, please get in touch with us. The selection committee may have to consider your application further and choose not to progress it.
2) Tell Can about your creative practice: genres, styles, media you work in, anything else that you feel might be relevant.
3) How will you support your fellow artists in CAW? How would you like them to support you? What are you hoping to get out of CAW?
4) To you, what are the most important aspects of giving and receiving feedback on creative work?
5) Could you send a sample of past work (published or unpublished)? Not your entire catalogue, just something that is representative of your work. You could post something (just one thing that you’re comfortable posting – maybe some photocopied pages), or handwrite out a link or send a fancy QR code if you’re feeling techy.
6) Don’t forget your phone number & your email address, and put a postal address on the back of your envelope!
7) Would you like to apply for one of the scholarship positions? Mention this in your letter, also tell us why you need it. We just need to ensure that we’re giving these positions to the right people, we promise that we won’t be talking about your financial situation with anyone else at all.
If you have any questions, feel free to hit us up via our contact page.
