Stripdagen Haarlem

Comic Strip Days Haarlem
Stripdagen Haarlem is a biennial comic festival in the center of Haarlem that has existed since 1992. The festival consists of numerous (free) exhibitions, fairs, lectures, concerts, film screenings, award ceremonies, musical performances and children's activities.

Comic Strip Days Haarlem have been organized every even year since 1992 by the Dutch Image Story Foundation. The board of the foundation appoints an artistic and business director every two years to take care of the programming. The first edition was organized by Joost Swarte, the 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 editions were organized by Joost Pollmann, then Tonio van Vugt took over.

The comic festival is attended by approximately 30,000 to 35,000 people every edition. Compared to the many other festivals and events in Haarlem, it attracts a relatively large number of visitors from all over the Netherlands and a considerable group of artists, publishers and visitors come from abroad.

Festival themes
Each edition of Comic Strip Days Haarlem has its own special main theme (s), offering a stage for visual stories from an underexposed comic scene or country.

The main themes of the previous editions:
2002 Comics under Stroom, Verboven Beelden and Ecole Pigalle

2004 "Where Happened"

2006 Scandinavia

2008 Wheels & Wallonia (and Brussels)

2010 Eastern Europe

2012 Arabian Cartoon & Comic Atlas

2014 The First World War & The New Guard (emerging Dutch drawing talent)

2016 Underground in pictures (as an ode to the late king of the underground comic Peter Pontiac) & The painter signed

2018 The Makeable Human - 200 years of Frankenstein

Corporate identity draftsman
Every year the organization invites a corporate identity designer. This is always a (well-known) draftsman who is allowed to design the house style of the edition. In recent years these were:

1992 Ever Meulen

1994 Martin Lodewijk

1996 René Windig & Eddy de Jong

1998 Hein de Kort

2000 Joost Swarte

2002 Erik Kriek

2004 Barbara Stok

2006 Lamelos

2008 Roel Smit

2010 Joost Veerkamp

2012 Peter van Dongen

2014 Typex

2016 Hanco Kolk

2018 Hans Klaver (pseudonym: "Schwantz")

Comic beer
Every festival edition a special beer is brewed in collaboration with beer brewery Jopen, with a label designed by the house style designer. In recent years, these have been the following beers:

1998 Hein de Kort with an Amber beer

2000 Joost Swarte with a heavy brown beer

2002 Mark Retera with the Dirk Jan Tripel

2004 Barbara Stok with a white beer with white chocolate

2006 draftsman collective Lamelos with a blond 7% beer

2008 Roel Smit with his beer with hot peppers called Rock 'n Roel beer

2010 Joost Veerkamp with Zwaarwerkbier and dark beer so heavy that it was almost no longer allowed to be called beer

2014 Typex with its ode to outgoing artistic director and friend Joost Pollmann het Polleke Bolleke - a solid 10% triple

2016 Hanco Kolk named its beer Tania - a heavy wheat beer with hibiscus flowers added in the kettle

2018 Hans Klaver with Victorie, "a tropical Gose with passion fruit and coconut"

Scholarships
An important place in the programming of the Comic Strip Days Haarlem is occupied by the fairs. These are organized in close collaboration with Het Stripschap. Some of the fairs take place in De Philharmonie in Haarlem and the outdoor fair spreads along the Grote Kerk towards the Grote Markt.

Target audiences
The Stripdagen Haarlem attracts the following target groups:

Comic lovers

Collectors

Professionals (comic strip makers, illustrators, screenwriters, designers)

Commercial industry representatives (publishers, distributors, comic shop owners)

Day trippers

Youthful comic readers (ages 8-20)

Students from creative courses (design, art academies, illustration, etc.)

Foreign visitors (especially Belgium)

The hard core of the Stripdagen Haarlem visitors consists of highly educated men between 20 and 45 years old. [source?]

Creative Marketplace Haarlem 2008-2012
In 2008 the Dutch Image Foundation organized the Creative Marketplace Haarlem for the first time. In 2012 the third and last edition of this event took place on June 1. The Creative Marketplace brought the supporters of draughtsmen into contact with creative companies and marketing and communication experts who regularly commission creative work. The Creative Marketplace stimulated and showcased creative entrepreneurship. Much of the artistic work that was shown during Stripdagen Haarlem was partly due to the 'bread work' that draughtsmen do on behalf of the business community and governments. The Dutch Image Story Foundation is very aware of the importance of a thriving cultural sector as a stimulus for society and the economy.With the Creative Marketplace, SBN hoped to contribute to creative entrepreneurship and cross-fertilization between culture and economy.

2012 edition
During the edition of this event on 2 and 3 June 2012, the cartoon of the Arab region (from Morocco to Qatar) was highlighted to the public in numerous exhibitions. Extensive attention was also paid to the regional distribution of comic strip makers and comic strip initiatives throughout the Netherlands. As a sub-theme an exhibition was organized in the context of Haarlem Pink City 2012. This year's house style draftsman was Peter van Dongen. Especially this edition was that no traditional Strip beer was brewed, but a strip coffee was launched.

Edition 2016
For the first time since its inception, the festival was extended from 2 to 10 festival days, from Friday 3 to Sunday 12 June 2016. It was also the first edition led by new artistic director Tonio van Vugt. The fairs that can be found every edition on the Grote Markt in Haarlem were only present the first weekend, June 4 & 5. The special guests of this edition were: Jean-Claude Mézières, Derf, Mike Diana, Pablo Auladell, Edmond Baudoin, Sutu and Zapiro.