Comic book and illustration professionals look ahead to opening a museum in Greater Barcelona by 2013

Barcelona (CNA).- The Catalan Professional Illustrators Association (APIC) and the Comic Professionals Federation (FICOMIC) are demanding that a timeline be set in order to open the Comic Museum by the end of 2013. In a statement, the organisations ask those works already underway to be finished as soon as possible. They should be made a priority issue over the works that have not started yet. Both organisations consider that a delay in the building of the Comic Book and Illustration Museum would be “woeful” given that the first part of the works should have been finished by this March. Badalona City Hall leased the CACI industrial building, close to the seashore, and also invested 3 million euros in the reconstruction of the structure decks.

According to APIC and FICOMIC, the Museum was born with the aim of gaining new comic and illustration readers that would help “develop a cultural industry with a long tradition in Catalonia, but that would also make the market grow”. In this sense, they assure that 90% of all the comics sold in Spain come from Catalan publishing houses. 

The institutions also emphasised the benefits of comic-books in areas like teaching, as they “contribute to improving the reading comprehension of the students, and are also useful for reinforcing some subjects” Furthermore, so they claimed, both comic-books and illustrations are “artistic expressions with an active role in children and young people’s education”.