The Society of Illustrators has announced its MoCCA Arts Festival Programming schedule for MoCCA Arts Festival 2025. Taking place March 15-16, the event will be held at the SVA Flatiron Gallery (133 West 21st Street), just steps from the Exhibitor Hall at the Metropolitan Pavilion. Admission to programming events is included with MoCCA Arts Festival admission.
Organized by MoCCA Programming Director Bill Kartalopoulos, this year’s programming focuses on artists and big ideas, with discussions about the current state of comics from industry experts all across the world. Some big conversation panels form the core of this year’s schedule: MoCCA poster artist Linnea Sterte and Aidan Koch will discuss comics and ecology; Michael DeForge and Anders Nilsen will consider fictional world-building as a lens on contemporary life; Brian Blomerth and María Medem will discuss how color and composition can elicit authentic human emotion; Chinese artist Badiucao and Cuban-American artist Edel Rodriguez will discuss comics, protest and exile; French-Canadian artist Boum and contemporary horror cartoonist Julia Gfrörer will delve into their drawings of the invisible.
Equally impressive are this year’s featured moderators, including British comics scholar Paul Gravett, Columbia University Curator for Comics and Cartoons Karen Green, environmental artist Matthew López-Jenson, Comics Beat Editor-in-Chief Heidi MacDonald, New York Times comics reviewer Sam Thielman, art director Alexandra Zsigmond, and others.
This year’s programming also includes thoughtful panel discussions on a variety of topics. “Comics and the Arts” will see Drawing Center Executive Director Laura Hoptman and New York Times art critic Jillian Steinhauer in dialogue with artists who work between the comics page and the gallery wall. Other panels will consider the contemporary comic strip and the city of New York as subject matter. In a very special panel called “Rivers of Ink,” artists Charles Burns, Jaime Hernandez, and Adrian Tomine will discuss their lifelong relationships with drawing. Hernandez will also appear in a special spotlight session conducted by Love and Rockets scholar Marc Sobel. Cartoonist/impresario R. Sikoryak returns with another edition of his “Carousel” series of comics readings, starring Caroline Cash, MoCCA badge artist Olivia Fields, Katie Skelly, and more.
Additionally, MoCCA has once again partnered with our programming sponsor, the SVA Department of Continuing Education, to offer two professional development panels to support aspiring and emerging artists. SVA Comics and Illustration BFA Chair Viktor Koen will lead a discussion on first steps after graduation. A second panel will address the specific mental health challenges artists face, including inconsistent employment, rejection, and the need to preserve a healthy relationship with one’s art.
Each programming event will last one hour, with a half-hour break between programming events. Admission to programming is included with MoCCA Arts Festival admission. All seating is available on a first come-first served basis. Tickets are available to purchase online as well as at the door.
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