Hi everyone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday June 5th<\/sup> I met with Miles Baker, TCAF\u2019s Managing Director, and Peter Birkemoe, owner of The Beguiling and TCAF\u2019s Co-Founder and primary sponsor, to let them know I would not continue in my role as Artistic Director of TCAF for the rest of 2020 and beyond. I had hoped to relinquish all of my responsibilities to TCAF, and to do so for two reasons\u2014to address persistent health and wellness issues in my own life that I had neglected, and in the hopes that existing staff and potential staff and volunteers might be able to move up into the organization into leadership roles that I was abdicating. I\u2019d been doing so much for so long that I didn\u2019t feel I could let go of, until I realized that letting go completely was the best thing that I could do for both the festival and myself. I offered to do whatever was asked of me to ensure that the Festival could and would continue, in an advisory role. I wasn\u2019t going to announce this publicly until more work had been done, but given the criticism that both TCAF and myself have received today I wanted to provide this information that I feel is relevant to the discussion, about the steps that I personally, as well as the organization, are taking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nFestival continuing in my absence was not a given until just this year. I\ninvested 17 years of my life into building it, many staff and volunteers have\ndone the same for more than a decade now, and I didn\u2019t want that to be wasted. Succession\nplanning and continuity became key goals of the Festival through 2018 and 2019,\nlargely thanks to Miles trying to make it a priority, trying to build more\ngroup management and non-hierarchical structure within the organization, and to\ndo the hard work of putting together an active Board of Directors that could help\nmanage and create continuity year to year. These are things that have happened,\nand will continue to happen, to grow and improve the Festival, and I\u2019ve done my\nbest to support those necessary changes while trying to maintain a vision of\nthe festival that prioritizes creators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter and I\nco-founded TCAF to meet a need in Toronto, and in the larger comics industry.\nI\u2019m tremendously proud of everyone who has donated their time and energy into\nthe Festival succeeding as it has, and I sincerely apologize to those staff and\nvolunteers who haven\u2019t felt their contribution appropriately recognized, either\nby me specifically or by the organization as a whole. I hope that the work TCAF\ndoes continues, because comics needs as many possible outlets for creators to\npromote and sell their work, network, and build their artistic careers, and I\ntruly believe in the positive effect that TCAF has had on the medium and\nindustry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m truly fortunate to have people in my life who care for me and who reached out when they noticed I wasn\u2019t doing well this month, and I appreciate everyone who reached out to check on me. I completely resigned last Wednesday June 22nd<\/sup> to address my wellbeing more urgently, and I\u2019m grateful to Miles and the Board for stepping in to cover my responsibilities. I\u2019d like to thank the Board and the staff past and present for everything they\u2019ve invested in the Festival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I also want to acknowledge the criticism that the Festival and I specifically have received, particularly around issues of support, inclusion, and recognition of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people. I understand these criticisms and I believe they are necessary to address imbalances within the organization. I sincerely apologize for the role I played in devaluing the contributions of members of staff and volunteers. I believe in both statements that TCAF has made this week, and believe that TCAF will continue to improve and be a necessary part of comics. I\u2019m committed to these same principles of improvement for myself\u2014I want to be better and I want to step back completely and take the time to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In closing, if you helped make TCAF what it is along the way, in any capacity, I sincerely appreciate it, thank you. Working with an amazing crew to build TCAF was the hardest thing I\u2019ve done, but I\u2019m glad I got to do it. I hope to see it continue, to thrive, to meet the needs of an evolving comics industry, and I sincerely hope that the larger community will continue to offer their support and participation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Best,<\/p>\n\n\n\n