Lightbox Expo Will Launch Next Year In Pasadena
Schoolism founder Bobby Chiu and Emerald City Comic Con creator Jim Demonakos have announced a partnership to create LightBox Expo (LBX), a community-focused event centered around the visual arts.
The three-day event will launch its first edition on September 6-8, 2019 at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California. The event will be open to everyone on Saturday and Sunday, with Friday reserved for professionals and professional development courses.
According to its organizers, LBX is “conceived as a way to bring together the best artists in animation, illustration, live action and gaming industries under one roof for the ultimate celebration of art” as well as “a place where we can come together once a year to hang out, share our art with the public, meet other artists, further our skills, and educate those coming up in our respective industries.”
Chiu and Demonakos have announced that next year’s inaugural event will feature the participation of over 250 artists. The announced guests so far include a veritable who’s who of artists working in the entertainment industry, among them:
Mike Mignola, Iain McCaig, Helen Mingjue Chen, Crash McCreery, Stephen Silver, Victoria Ying, Bobby Chiu, Loish, Justin Goby Fields, Stephan Martiniere, Thomas Fluharty, Ryan Meinerding, John Park, Robert Kondo, Nathan Fowkes, Carter Goodrich, Ryan Lang, David Levy, Ashley Swidowski, Tiffannie Mang, Jorge Gutierrez, Stan Prokopenko, Jaw Cooper, Humberto Ramos, Griselda Sastrawinata Lemay, Eliza Ivanova, Normand Lemay, Wouter Tulp,Pernille Ørum, Megan Brain, Andrea Blasich, Armand Baltazar, Daniel Arriaga, Chris Sanders, Aaron Blaise, Luis Gadea, Louie del Carmen, Mark Andrews, Natalie Nourigat, Ted Mathot, Shannon Tindle, Paul Lasaine, Kei Acedera, Terryl Whitlatch, James Paick, Wesley Burt, Marcelo Vignali, Iris Compiet, Claire Wendling, Craig Mullins, Ben Mauro, Lorne Lanning, Dice Tsutsumi ,Phillip Boutte Jr., Christopher Lautrette, Karla Ortiz
If all of this sounds just a bit similar to Burbank’s popular CTN Animation Expo, that’s not accidental. Chiu recently denounced the event publicly, describing it as “toxic” and accusing its organizers of bullying and abusing artists. He also hinted that he would be launching his own event, stating last August, “With all that’s happened lately, I can promise you this: I’m going to do something about this so stay tuned.”
The LBX organizers are taking measures to ensure that artists who attend and exhibit will have an enjoyable experience. On their website, they write, “To ensure that the artists that attend will be respected and treated fairly as we create a wonderful new experience for the art community, we have put together the LBX Advisory Council, made up of some of the best artists and studio representatives in the business.”
For further details, including information on exhibiting and attending, visit lightboxexpo.com.
