Hello from the founders of the Comics Advocacy Group! We are delighted to share the second installment in our series highlighting the thirty recipients of our inaugural CAG Mini Grant. You can find the first post here. Please look forward to the rest, and thank you again for your support!
A.B.O. Comix
A.B.O. Comix is a collective of creators and activists who work to amplify the voices of LGBTQ prisoners through art. By working closely with prison abolitionist and queer advocacy organizations, we aim to keep queer prisoners connected to outside community and help them in the fight toward liberation. The profits we generate go back to incarcerated artists, especially those with little to no resources.
For more information, and to follow A.B.O. Comix, visit www.abocomix.com.
Diana Schoenbrun
Diana Schoenbrun is a comic artist, illustrator, and professor from Brooklyn, NY. She frequently exhibits at Artmageddon and MoCCA Fest in NYC and is a two-time gold medal award winner of special format books from the Society of Illustrators. Her comic work spans stories about operas, mental health, parenting, travel, and personal stories.
For more information, and to follow Diana, visit https://www.dianaschoenbrun.net.
Erin Keepers & Fend Hamilton
Erin Keepers and Fend Hamilton have been making comics separately for 15 years and making comics together for four. Inspired by their experiences working at WonderPress–a digital print shop in Chattanooga, Tennessee–they began working on an edutaiment manga dedicated to teaching about the print process. Special thanks are due to their incredibly patient boss for all of his advice and support.
For more information, and to follow their work, visit https://fineokpress.com/.
Ezra David Mattes
Ezra David Mattes is a writer and graphic artist from Minneapolis. For his work on the self-published first chapter of his graphic memoir A Terrified Child Played by Jeremy Strong, Ezra is the recipient of a 2024 Creative Individuals Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board as well as the Athenaeum Comic Art 2023 Spring microgrant for early career cartoonists. Ezra lives with disabling chronic illness, and is known for making singularly surreal comics about obsession, identity, and how to remain in love with a world that might annihilate you.
For more information, and to follow Ezra, visit https://www.instagram.com/ezrazone/.
Haley Wood
Haley Wood is a fiber artist and illustrator living in Arlington, Massachusetts. She has shown her work at the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, the 2023 MassArt Auction, and the 2021 SPRING/BREAK Art Fair in Manhattan. Haley uses rug tufting as a mechanism for storytelling through graphic narratives.
For more information, and to follow Haley, visit https://haley-wood.com/woad.
More About the CAG Mini Grant
The CAG Mini Grant provides small, unrestricted funding to comic creators who reside within the United States and are in need of additional resources. As the cost of food and rent are growing prohibitive, many creators find themselves taking on additional work with time they do not have in order to make ends meet. Our goal in offering this $500 mutual aid grant is to give cartoonists some time and space to work on the projects most important to them.
This launch effort was made possible by many wonderful donors. If you would like to contribute to our future grants and other initiatives, please consider making a tax-deductible donation (or setting up a recurring donation) – or let us know if you’d be interested in sharing your expertise as an in-kind contribution!
If you would like to receive updates from the Comics Advocacy Group, please follow us on social media (twitter, bluesky) and we’ll let you know the moment we have our newsletter up and running. We are a young nonprofit, and your support makes all the difference. Thank you!!