Sierre Festival to End

Word ripping up the European comics news sources yesterday and today is that the Festival interanatonal de la bande dessinee de Sierre, in Switzerland, will end after its 21st edition, which I think was in June. I'm not exactly an expert on European comics festivals, but various articles state that Sierre attracts approximately 40,000 people a year. At least one piece of random commentary I encountered and quickly lost claims that Sierre is the second most important European festival after Angouleme.

What I find compelling about the story is that the main issue seems to be the withdrawl of public support for the festival, as the festival itself was otherwise healthy. I've always heard that a city's financial support for America comic book conventions -- returned to it by the publicity and massive influx of convention-goers -- has always been crucial to the survival of said shows, particularly when it's building in size perhaps past its ability to budget correctly for itself. I would imagine that's even more true in Europe.
 
posted 8:09 am PST | Permalink
 

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