You might know that we’re a publisher, but did you know that we’re a charity too? As a charity we look to fund and support artist initiatives in our city! Last year we spent over $40,000 paying artists for their time and work. Here are a few places that money went:
- The Bee Comic: With support from the Sunset Community Association, Cloudscape was able to complete an educational comic about bees, and how we can help them flourish in our communities. These comics were printed and handed out for free and various locations. A special exterior library was also built for the Cloudscape Comics Studio HQ to help distribute these comics to the public.
- Comics in Transit: Comics in Transit is a public art project that takes one-page comic stories written and drawn by BC artists, enlarges them, and installs them in bus shelters throughout Vancouver for people to read. These stories are usually focussed on issues of social importance, such as Indigenous human rights issues and the plight of Canadian refugees.
- The Library: The Cloudscape Reference Library, located within the Cloudscape Studio HQ, is a library full of comic books, how-to drawing books and reference material. The library is free to use for anyone who visits the Cloudscape Studio HQ.
- Public Events: As part of Cloudscapes fieldhouse residency, members of Cloudscape regularly partake in public festivals and host drawing events at the Cloudscape Studio HQ. Over the years, we’ve done public events with organizations such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, The Canadian Cancer Society, the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Public Library, the Immigration Services Society of BC, the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre, and various other community centres throughout BC.