Xeric Foundation

Last updated
Xeric Foundation
Formation1992
Founder Peter Laird
Type 501(c)(3) Non-profit
PurposeComic book self-publishing grants; fostering environmentalism, literacy, and the arts
Headquarters Northampton, Massachusetts
Region served
North America
Leader Peter Laird

The Xeric Foundation is a private, non-profit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations. The Xeric Foundation was established by Peter Laird, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .

Contents

Mission and operation

Laird founded the Foundation after considerable thought, as "an appropriate way to give back something extra to the comics world," by providing grants for self-publishers. [1] Laird stated that the Xeric Foundation is "actually two foundations in one. One half of it is for charitable organizations, and the other half is for creators who want to self-publish their comics." [1] The latter half is what the foundation is best known for. [1]

Self-publishing grants

The Xeric Foundation supported work of an alternative or non-"mainstream" nature, reasoning that if a comic had strong commercial appeal, it would be picked up by one of the major publishers. The Foundation was an extremely valuable supporter of "art for art's sake" comics, and helped launch the careers of a number of "literary" cartoonists. [2]

The Foundation assisted comic book creators with some of the costs in self-publishing their work; it was not the Foundation's intention to fully support an artist/writer through the entire process of self-publishing, but rather to encourage creators to experience the learning process involved in working towards such a goal.

The creative side of the Foundation involved the usual application process, but in addition, the Foundation began with "an advisory committee made up of three ... people working in the industry" whose input is sought on how best to proceed with each application. [1] Submissions were evaluated prior to Laird's involvement, and then he made the ultimate decisions based on their recommendations. [1]

History

Laird founded the Xeric Foundation in 1992, [3] the name "originat[ing] out of a Scrabble game with [Laird's] brother Don," "Xeric" simply being "a word [he] like[d]," literally meaning "dry and desertlike" but which "has absolutely no direct connection with the foundation." [1]

The Foundation's first grant cycle was in September 1992, [4] with the first recipients being Robert Eaton, Michael Kasper, Jeff Nicholson, and Wayne Wise & Fred Wheaton.

In 1993 Laird discussed the Foundation's projected lifespan:

... knock on wood, God willing, and the creek don't rise, if we go on for another couple of decades, and I'm able to put more money into the basic funding of the Xeric Foundation, then the amount of money that can be given out can really be raised significantly. [1]

He hoped that ultimately the figure can be raised from "thousands of dollars" to "hundreds of thousands of dollars," to support an increasing number of large and small projects. [1]

In July 2011, the Foundation announced it would no longer award publishing grants, but would focus on charitable work like fostering environmentalism, literacy, and the arts. [2] Citing the changing nature of the comics industry, and specifically the ability of cartoonists to publish their work online, founder Laird announced the shift. One round of final grants was awarded in May 2012. [5]

Altogether, the Xeric Foundation has awarded in excess of $2,500,000 since its first grant cycle. [2]

Notable Xeric Award recipients

Notable past winners of the Xeric Grant include Megan Kelso (1993), David Lasky (1993), Jason Lutes (1993), Adrian Tomine (1993), Tom Hart (1994), Jessica Abel (1995), Bebe Williams (1995), James Sturm (1996), Ellen Forney (1997), Jim Ottaviani (1997), Gene Yang (1997), Dawn Brown (1998), Jason Little (1998), David Choe (1999), Nick Bertozzi (1999), Jason Shiga (1999), Farel Dalrymple (2000), Anders Nilsen (2000), Leland Purvis (2000), Jordan Crane (2001), Brian Ralph (2001), Hans Rickheit (2001), Donna Barr (2002), Derek Kirk Kim (2002), Sonny Liew (2002), Lauren Weinstein (2002), Josh Neufeld (2004), Karl Stevens (2004), Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey (2004), David Heatley (2005), Jeff Lemire (2005), Jesse Moynihan (2006), and Blaise Larmee (2009).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Cartoon Studies</span> Art school in Hartford, Vermont

The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is a two-year institution focusing on sequential art, specifically comics and graphic novels. It is located in the village of White River Junction, in the town of Hartford, Vermont. The Center offers a Master of Fine Arts degree, both one and two-year certificate programs, and summer programs. It is "the only college-level training program of its kind in the United States."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Eastman</span> American comic book artist and writer

Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American comic book writer and artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Laird</span> American comic book artist

Peter Alan Laird is an American comic book writer and artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with writer and artist Kevin Eastman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Abel</span> American cartoonist

Jessica Abel is an American comic book writer and artist, known as the creator of such works as Life Sucks, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, Soundtrack, La Perdida, Mirror, Window, Radio: An Illustrated Guide, and the omnibus series Artbabe.

Robert Kirby is an American cartoonist, known for his long-running syndicated comic Curbside – which ran in the gay and alternative presses from 1991 to 2008 – and other works focusing on queer characters and community, including Strange Looking Exile, Boy Trouble, THREE, and QU33R.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friends of Lulu</span> American organization that promoted the participation of women in the comic book industry

The Friends of Lulu (FoL) were a non-profit, national charitable organization located in the United States, designed to promote readership of comic books by women and the participation of women in the comic book industry. FoL operated from 1994 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hart (cartoonist)</span> American comics creator (born 1969)

Tom Hart is an American comics creator best known for his Hutch Owen series of comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Langridge</span> New Zealand comics writer, artist, and letterer

Roger Langridge is a New Zealand comics writer, artist and letterer, currently living in Britain.

Stephen Murphy is an American comic book writer and editor known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. With Michael Zulli, he was co-creator of the critically acclaimed 1980s independent comic The Puma Blues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comics in Australia</span>

Australian comics have been published since 1908 and Australian comics creators have gone to produce influential work in the global comics industry,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tundra Publishing</span> Defunct American comic book publishing company

Tundra Publishing was a Northampton, Massachusetts-based comic book publisher founded by Kevin Eastman in 1990. The company was founded to provide a venue for adventurous, creator-owned work by talented cartoonists and illustrators. Its publications were noted in the trade for their high production values, including glossy paper stock, full-color printing, and square binding. Tundra was one of the earlier creator-owned companies, before the formation of Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics' Legends imprint.

Neil Kleid is an American cartoonist who received a 2003 Xeric Award grant for his graphic novella Ninety Candles (2004). Raised in Oak Park, Michigan, he lives in New Jersey

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lasky</span> American alternative cartoonist

David Lasky is an alternative cartoonist based in Seattle, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Troy Little</span>

Troy Little is a Canadian cartoonist working in comic books and animation. He began self publishing with Chiaroscuro, a graphic novel that was developed between 2000 and 2005 under his Meanwhile Studios imprint. After winning two grants and being praised by Dave Sim, Chiaroscuro vol. 1 was released in 2007 by IDW Publishing.

Grey Legacy is a science fiction webcomic by Wayne Wise and Fred Wheaton that was originally published in print form. The comic is hosted on Drunk Duck. The comic was among the first ever to win a Xeric Award in 1992.

<i>Jacks Luck Runs Out</i>

Jack's Luck Runs Out is a full-color one-shot comic book created by Jason Little. The book features playing cards as characters, where the title character is a jack. In March 1998, Little received a grant to help publish the book from the Xeric Foundation. The book was published by Top Shelf Productions.

John Pham is a cartoonist, animator, comic creator, and art director based in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian comics</span> Comic originating in Canada

Canadian comics refers to comics and cartooning by citizens of Canada or permanent residents of Canada regardless of residence. Canada has two official languages, and distinct comics cultures have developed in English and French Canada. The English tends to follow American trends, and the French, Franco-Belgian ones, with little crossover between the two cultures. Canadian comics run the gamut of comics forms, including editorial cartooning, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, and webcomics, and are published in newspapers, magazines, books, and online. They have received attention in international comics communities and have received support from the federal and provincial governments, including grants from the Canada Council for the Arts. There are comics publishers throughout the country, as well as large small press, self-publishing, and minicomics communities.

Andrew Farago is the curator of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, author, chairman of the Northern California chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, and husband of webcomics author and illustrator Shaenon K. Garrity.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wiater, Stanley & Bissette, Stephen R. (ed.s) Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of the New Comics (Donald I. Fine, Inc. 1993) ISBN   1-55611-355-2.
  2. 1 2 3 Goellner, Caleb (July 18, 2011). "After 20 Years The Xeric Foundation Ends Cartooning Grants, Shifts Focus to Charity". Comics Alliance. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  3. ↑ "Newswatch: Laird Starts Artist-Aid Foundation," The Comics Journal #151 (July 1992), p. 21.
  4. ↑ Xeric Foundation website. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  5. ↑ Laird, Peter. "The Xeric Foundation's upcoming 20th anniversary will bring a changed focus in grant-giving," Xeric Foundation (July 14, 2011). Accessed July 19, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.