#!&% CARTOONS!! A Festival Celebrating the Political Cartoon

To celebrate this enduring craft, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is hosting

#!&% CARTOONS!! A Festival Celebrating the Political Cartoon
September 14-15 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

#!&%!! "Stop them damn pictures!!” raged the infuriated politician, “I don't care what the paper writes about me. My constituents can't read. But, damn it, they can see the pictures!" In that case it was Boss Tweed famously raging about the devastating lampoons launched by Thomas Nast-- a cartoon attack that would eventually bring down Tweed and end his corrupt reign over New York City.

Today them #!&% pictures zip across the new digital landscape -- needling, infuriating, engaging and entertaining people on the web, in emails, on smart phones and iPads. From traditional newsprint to the blogosphere, Facebook and the Twitterverse, political cartooning is alive and well.

From the beginning of our country’s history up to today, cartoons have played an important role in U.S. political life. Paul Revere and Ben Franklin roused the rabble with cartoons, leading a revolution. Since then, political cartoons have called us to defend the nation from foreign foes and defend our freedoms from domestic forces. They make us stop and think -- and maybe stop and laugh.

As journalism figures out how to survive the shift to the light speed and micro-news cycles of the digital age, one small corner is adapting and even flourishing. Political cartoons, though as old as newspapering itself, are perfect for to the hyper speeds and truncated attention spans of today’s media consumers.

To celebrate this enduring craft, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is hosting #!&% CARTOONS!! A Festival Celebrating the Political Cartoon.

Featuring the nation’s best cartoonists and caricaturists, #!&% CARTOONS!!, in partnership with George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, will take over Jack Morton Auditorium on the GWU campus for two days of presentations, drawing and other 'toon foolery.

The AAEC is a multipartisan bunch, representing the full gamut of political views from every corner of the nation. The convention usually includes a sizable contingent of cartoonists from around the globe as well.

Cartoonists who will be attending:

Pulitzer winners:

• Tom Toles, Washington  Post
• Ann Telnaes, Washington Post
• Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News
• Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
• Mark Fiore, MarkFiore.com
• Steve Breen, San Diego Union
• Matt Davies, Remapping Debate.org
• Nick Anderson, Louisville Courier-Journal
• David Horsey, Hearst Newspapers
• Jim Morin, Miami Herald
• Ben Sargent, Austin American-Statesman
• Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
• Tony Auth, NewsWorks.org
• Joel Pett, Lexington KY Herald-Leader
• Clay Bennet, Chattanooga Free Press
• Matt Wuerker, POLITICO

And a bunch of others including:

• KAL, The Economist
• John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune
• Nate Beeler, The Columbus Post-Dispatch
• Brian McFadden, The New York Times
• Steve Brodner
• Bob Staake, The New Yorker
• Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune
• Chip Bok, Bokbluster.com
• Bruce Plante, Tulsa World
• Ted Rall, The Los Angeles Times
• Daryl Cagle, Cagle.com
• Jen Sorenson, Daily Kos
• Matt Bors, Daily Kos
• Jeff Danziger, NYT Syndicate
• Stephanie McMillan
• Steve Kelley, Times-Picayune

…and many more.