Who: Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) as a part of the Civility Week Initiative led by the Diversity Council
What: FIT will host the inaugural Diversity Comic Con to give both students and the public an opportunity to be exposed to careers that are truly multidisciplinary, while providing a venue to showcase their work to publishers, professionals, and the public. While the medium of comic books has been around for almost a century, the visibility and participation of minorities have been sorely lacking. Times are changing, and the causes and visibility of multicultural arts and stories are more crucial than ever. More and more, the lines between print and screen media are blurring and merging as stories that were once the domain of comic books become the movies and television shows of today. Comic books are the beginning of visual storytelling.
The DCC program will be comprised of a keynote speaker, panel discussions, workshops, portfolio reviews, and a cosplay pageant contest where participants will have the opportunity to show off their self-made costumes.
Featured speakers include:
- Vivek J. Tiwary (Keynote Speaker) - Award-winning Broadway producer and author of the New York Times best-selling graphic novel The Fifth Beatle, which won the 2014 Eisner Award for Comics.
- Trevor Von Eeden-The youngest and first black artist hired by DC Comics in the late '70s. Eeden is famous for drawing Batman and Green Arrow and is the author of The Real Johnsonabout the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson.
- Heather Antos- Worked as an editor at Marvel (primarily on the Star Wars and Deadpool lines) and is one of the creators of breakout character Gwenpool.
- Dan Napolitano- Founder of Drawn to Diversity at Alfred University, which trains artist teams for nationwide outreach efforts as part of Art Force 5, a superhero-inspired community service effort that promotes using art and creativity to counteract violence and incivility.
Where: The Reeves Great Hall at FIT
West 28th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
When: Thursday, October 10th
10:00am – 6:00pm ET