Toles, Telnaes, Luckovich, Others to Speak At Pre-AAEC Confab Event

By: Dave Astor A "Cartoonapalooza" featuring widely syndicated creators will kick off the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' (AAEC) 50th-anniversary convention July 4-7 in Washington, D.C.

The July 3 event -- which was announced today -- will include a cocktail reception and 10 panelists discussing politics, the election, the Bush administration, and more.

Scheduled speakers include AAEC President Rob Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and United Media, AAEC Vice President Ted Rall of Universal Press Syndicate, Tom Toles of The Washington Post and Universal, and Mike Luckovich of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Creators Syndicate.

Also: Ann Telnaes of CartoonArts International/New York Times Syndicate, Mike Peters of The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News and King Features Syndicate, Jack Ohman of The Oregonian in Portland and Tribune Media Services, "Tom the Dancing Bug" cartoonist Ruben Bolling of Universal, self-syndicated "The K Chronicles" and "(th)ink" cartoonist Keith Knight, and political animator Mark Fiore.

The evening event , which is open to the public, will raise money for the AAEC's nonprofit "Cartoons for the Classroom" Newspapers in Education program that provides lesson plans for teachers. "Cartoonapalooza" door prizes will include signed original cartoons and books.

As previously reported, the July 4-7 convention will include speakers such as King columnist Helen Thomas. Also scheduled to speak are Creators columnist Mark Shields, Featurewell.com founder/"Killed Cartoons" author David Wallis, Washington Post investigative reporter Dana Priest, blogger Duncan "Atrios" Black, "Daily Show" writer Kevin Bleyer, Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, and others.

The convention will also feature panels with titles such as "Blog or Die!," a cartoon exhibit called "Bush Leaguers," a fundraising dinner for Cartoonists Rights Network International (see the June 14 E&P Online story here ), and the release of the AAEC's 50th-anniversary "Golden Notebook" publication.

A feature on the AAEC's history will appear in E&P's July print magazine.