Programs & Events
Please join us online and in person throughout September 2023 as we host the second annual Collectively, a month-long celebration of artists, writers, and creatives from historically marginalized communities!
Hello Barkada is proud to be community-made, and strives to provide free access to its content and programming as much as possible. When free access isn't possible, our goal is to keep entry fees as low as possible.
If you've enjoyed our programs, please consider leaving a $4 tip via our crowd fund in support of our ongoing programs and future educational panels.
We're also open to sponsorships! Funds earned via sponsorships help us provide more freelance opportunities to artists and writers. Please email contact[at]hellobarkada.org for more information.
Bay area cartoonist and multidisciplinary artist Lawrence Lindell joins us to talk about reconnecting with their zine fest community, his upcoming graphic novel Blackward published by Drawn & Quarterly, and what it means and takes to create communities of care.
Allowed is Hello Barkada's livestream interview series in which artists and writers share aloud the influences and intentions behind their work. Be sure to follow @HelloBarkada on Instagram and turn on "Goes Live" notification to join each IG Live once they begin. To watch past episodes of Allowed featuring Trinidad Escobar, Steenz, Jamila Rowser & Robyn Smith, Nicky Rodriguez, Karen Alleluia, Rina Ayuyang, and Amanda Meadows, Kiara Valdez, and Jamila Rowser, visit Hello Barkada's IG Reels.
WATCH THE PLAYBACK ON INSTAGRAM
Follow @JonitaLDavis and @HelloBarkada on Instagram! In episode 3, special guest Lacey Vorrasi-Banis joined Jonita Davis and Christine Pasalo Norland to discuss the coverage of Disney's Turning Red, how the CinemaBlend review of the movie exposes systemic problems in mainstream entertainment journalism, and how talent and PR teams can help reset the film-review landscape to include more reviewers from historically marginalized communities.
The Call Out is based on Davis' Medium Essay, "Why I Am Calling Out All Colonizer Criticism and What That Means for You."
Jade Seaberry of DiverseToons hosts Hello Barkada Founder Christine Pasalo Norland for a Instagram Live series about bringing panels to pop culture conventions, including WonderCon Anaheim and Comic-Con International.
SUN, OCT 15, 2023 • 12:00–6:00 P.M. • BREAD & SALT
Hello Barkada is excited to return to this free-to-attend community event hosted in Barrio Logan, during Filipino American History Month! 20% of funds raised from Hello Barkada sales will be donated to the Southern California American Indian Resource Center (SCAIR) in acknowledgement of living, working, and operating on unceded Kumeyaay lands, and the remainder will go towards our budget to commission artists and writers in 2024.
San Diego Zine Fest takes place on Saturday and Sunday, October 14–15, from 12:00–6:00 p.m. Hello Barkada will only table on Sunday, October 15. Check back in October for details about our product list for this event!
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 • CHULA VISTA CITY HALL
Save the date and times! Hello Barkada will have a booth in the Arts & Crafts Market at this inaugural, free-to-attend community event presented by the City of Chula Vista. 20% of funds raised from Hello Barkada sales will be donated to the Maui Aloha campaign operated by the Hawai'i People's Fund to help their efforts in supporting those disproportionately impacted by the Lahaina fires, including low-income families, houseless communities, service workers, people with disabilities and people who are incarcerated, Indigenous communities, immigrant communities that include Filipinx/a/o and Latiné/x/a/o communities, and communities of color. The remainder will enable Hello Barkada to commission cartoonists for the 2024 Comics Series.
Chula Vista Art Fest will conclude with a free outdoor screening of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse on the City Hall Lawn beginning at 6:30 p.m.
SEPTEMBER 24, 2023 • HILL STREET COUNTRY CLUB
Hello Barkada had a great time tabling at the return of this free-to-attend community event presented by Hill Street Country Club's Papercuts Zine Club. 20% of funds raised from Hello Barkada sales will be donated to Nā ‘Aikāne o Maui Cultural Center's Lahaina Relief and Recovery fund, and the remainder will go towards Hello Barkada's budget to commission artists and writers in 2024.
SEPTEMBER 1– 30, 2023 • ONLINE AND IN PERSON
Hello Barkada presents the second annual Collectively, a month-long celebration of artists, writers, and creatives from historically marginalized communities that's hosted throughout September, Hello Barkada's anniversary month. Featuring a series of new content, including a new episode of Allowed with Lawrence Lindell on September 14 and a new edition of Hello Barkada Comics contributed by Christina Moreland, and a Hello Barkada pop-up shop on September 30 at the inaugural Chula Vista Art Fest.
JULY 2023
Oscar-winning story artist Pearl Low (Hair Love, Canvas, Craig of the Creek), illustrator and indie animator Christina Moreland (Afro Gurl), Emmy- and Peabody-winning animation director Elizabeth Ito (Adventure Time, City of Ghosts), Emmy-nominated animation veteran Natasha Kline (Primos, Big City Greens, South Park), award-winning and Eisner-nominated writer Jamila Rowser (writer, Wash Day Diaries), cartoonist and award-winning illustrator Nidhi Chanani (Super Boba Café), critically-acclaimed author and artist Victoria Ying (Hungry Ghost), writer and graphic novel editor Kiara Valdez (First Second), cartoonist and educator Marco Finnegan (artist, The Keeper), and Eisner-nominated comics editor Amanda Meadows (Oni Press/Lion Forge) joined Christine Pasalo Norland (founder, Hello Barkada) over two panels at Comic-Con International 2023 in San Diego, California.
MARCH 2023
Listen to the Hello Barkada Takes WonderCon 2023 playlist!
Hello Barkada hosted Amanda Meadows, Sandra Equihua, and Elizabeth Ito on From Burnout to Brainstorm on Saturday, March 25, in Room 300E, and Lea Anderson, Malissa White, Reyna Cervantes, Viktor Kerney, and John Jennings on Horror, Thriller, or Neither on Sunday, March 26, in Room 209 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The annual spring show and sibling event to Comic-Con International took place Friday, March 24, to Sunday, March 26.
VIRTUOUS CON: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2023
Listen to the Give Us the Punk Spotify playlist!
Comics creators Bianca Xunise, FeliceY, and Raeghan Buchanan discussed what it means to be punk in art and comics, who inspired the direction of their work, and which recent and upcoming projects they're excited about in comics, music, and beyond. Moderated by Christine Pasalo Norland. Inspired by comic artist Sharon Lee De La Cruz's panel "Punk Feminism" for the 2021 Latinx Comics Arts Festival.
Hello Barkada tabled for the first time EVER at the 10th annual San Diego Zine Fest! Thanks to everyone who visited and purchased an item during this debut tabling event, we've raised about 75% of the funds needed to commission a second cartoonist for the Hello Barkada Comics series in 2023, and 20% of the profits was donated to the Malki Museum.
We're excited to see the work of those who took a copy of What Barkada Means to Me, a pre-folded mini-zine given away for free with purchase and made up of blank inner pages that the maker is asked to fill with their ideas and thoughts of "chosen family", aka barkada. The art can be illustrated, collage, written—the medium and method is up to them! Once filled, makers are encouraged to share their completed zines with @HelloBarkada and #CollectivelyHB.
Special thanks to Social Dropouts for their support in the making of the buttons, and to Elements Dance Space for providing the paper for What Barkada Means to Me.
VIRTUAL & IN-PERSON
Hello Barkada presents the first annual Collectively, a month-long event made up of a series of programs and publications hosted throughout September 2022, Hello Barkada's anniversary month.
COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: SAN DIEGO 2022
Deb Aoki (The Mangasplaining Podcast), Jamila Rowser (Black Josei Press), Dr. Shamika A. Mitchell (WinC Magazine), Jessica Tseang (The Kaiju Podcast), and Laura Neuzeth (YouTube and TikTok manga vlogger) discussed the appeal and impact of josei manga, and the creators they're following from and beyond Japan for comics from the lens of, and for, women and femmes. Panel idea developed with Jamila Rowser. Moderated by Christine Pasalo Norland (founder and president, Hello Barkada).
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SEE THE PANEL RECORDING • Subscribe to Laura Neuzeth's YouTube Channel
COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: SAN DIEGO 2022
The pace and pay structure of publishing has it so that writers and cartoonists take on multiple comics and book projects with other work to earn a living wage. Writer Jamila Rowser (Wash Day Diaries, Ode to Keisha, Wash Day), cartoonist Amber Padilla (The Secret Garden on 81st Street), writer Regine Sawyer (WinC, Lockett Down Productions), and writer Amy Chu (Turning Red: The Graphic Novel, Poison Ivy, Red Sonja) discussed the mental, physical, and financial impact of these practices, and raise ideas for enabling storytellers to have a long career doing what they love and what fans love reading. Moderated by Christine Pasalo Norland (founder and president, Hello Barkada).
VIRTUOUS CON: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2022
Our first livestream program of Virtuous Con weekend focused on counterculture and featured Bianca Xunise ("Six Chix"), Steenz ("Heart of the City"), Lawrence Lindell (Couldn't Afford Therapy, So I Made This), Breena Nuñez (Fonny Phases), and Sharon Lee De La Cruz (I'm a Wild Seed). Inspired by De La Cruz's panel "Punk Feminism" for the 2021 Latinx Comic Arts Festival.
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WATCH A 15-MINUTE CLIP • Become a Virtuous Con Power Pass Patron to watch the full playback
VIRTUOUS CON: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2022
How do we reset and reclaim conversations around film? Independent film critics Jonita Davis (The Black CAPE Magazine), Starr Rocque (Bloggers Can't Be Trusted), and Jeandra Lebeauf (BadCulture TV) shared their insight and ideas in this discussion that called back to the work of bell hooks and Toni Morrison on cultural criticism. Moderated by Christine Pasalo Norland (founder and president, Hello Barkada).
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WATCH A 15-MINUTE CLIP • Become a Virtuous Con Power Pass Patron to watch the full playback
VIRTUOUS CON: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2022
In our final panel of the weekend, iconic cartoonist Barbara Brandon-Croft ("Where I'm Coming From") and comics curator Tara Nakashima Donahue (Medialia Gallery) shared the story behind their exhibit centering Brandon-Croft's work alongside the work of her late father Brumsic Brandon Jr., the cartoonist behind the comic strip "Luther." Moderated by Christine Pasalo Norland (founder and president, Hello Barkada).
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WATCH A 15-MINUTE CLIP • Become a Virtuous Con Power Pass Patron to watch the full playback
WOMEN IN COMICS COLLECTIVE INTERNATIONAL
Playback link in the article! Hello Barkada and Women in Comics Collective International (WinC) present "Celebrating Jackie Ormes," a free virtual panel that took place on Thursday, October 28, 2021 and features cartoonists Barbara Brandon-Croft, Bianca Xunise, and Steenz.