What Lyon Bd Festival does

Lyon BD Festival is a French non-profit cultural organization (Association loi 1901, founded 2005) that produces an annual international comics festival in Lyon alongside year-round programming in support of the bande dessinée sector. The 21st edition runs June 12–14, 2026, themed around the Mediterranean and featuring 70+ invited authors and illustrators. Core products include the annual festival (free public access), the Prix Lyon BD (annual adult comics prize), the inaugural Prix Lyon BD Jeunesse (youth prize selected by ~1,000 children), the Collège Graphique permanent venue (opened January 2023), year-round artist residencies, the annual professional day (Journée professionnelle) drawing 500+ industry attendees, and the Mois de la BD metropolitan-wide extension. Supporting offerings include the Atelier Mauvaise Pente shared workspace, the L'Épicerie Séquentielle self-publishing collective, and licensing of travelling exhibitions and live spectacles to external institutions.

The organization is volunteer-led with a 1–10 person core team, led by legal representative Alain Huchard and Director of Publication Philippe Brocard. Its revenue model is hybrid: primarily public institutional funding from Ville de Lyon, Métropole de Lyon, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the French Ministry of Culture, and the Centre National du Livre, supplemented by private copy-levy funds (Sofia/Orange), public donations via HelloAsso, membership/adhesion programs, ticketed workshops and performances (5–30€ per ticket), and licensing/cession rights for exhibitions and spectacles. Go-to-market is event-driven (annual festival anchored at Hôtel de Ville) layered with community-led engagement (volunteer recruitment, partnerships with libraries, schools, museums, and publishers including Sarbacane, Albin Michel, Delcourt, Bamboo, and others). The organization is a founding member of Club 99 (national BD festival federation) and operates within the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (Lyon, Literature). No proprietary technology platform is described.

Name

Lyon Bd Festival

Legal name

Lyon BD Organisation

Website

https://lyonbd.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lyon BD Festival is a French non-profit that runs an annual international comics festival in Lyon and year-round programming — including residencies, awards, and travelling exhibitions — serving authors, publishers, youth readers, and the general public across the Lyon metropolitan area.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Festival

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Local Community & Multi-Category Fairs (MPAGAFAO)

Keywords

• Comics festival
• Graphic arts event
• Exhibition curation
• Festival management
• Cultural programming

Headquarters

HQ city

Lyon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Public institutional funding: Primary funding comes from institutional partners including Ville de Lyon, Métropole de Lyon, Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and the French Ministry of Culture, supplemented by the CNL (Centre National du Livre), Sofia/Orange (private copy levy), and copie privée funds.
2. Donations and membership: The festival actively solicits donations from the public to maintain its free and open-access model. Membership/adhesion programs are available for supporters.
3. Exhibition and spectacle itinerance/cessions: Lyon BD produces and rents out travelling exhibitions and live spectacles (spectacles) to other institutions, libraries, schools, and museums. Rights of cession are sold for these productions.
4. Ticketed workshops and paid activities: While the core festival is free and open to all, some workshops, drawing workshops, concerts, and performances carry paid admission (e.g., 7€ for Max et Lili workshop, 5€ for Anatole Latuile musical reading, 25–30€ for Les Wampas concert). Ticket sales provide supplementary revenue.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Lyon BD Festival is a non-profit cultural association that produces an annual bande dessinée (French comics) festival in Lyon, France, including public exhibitions, a dedicated exhibition venue (Collège Graphique), a prizes/awards program, a professional day for comics industry participants, and traveling exhibitions. The association supplements the festival with ticketed workshops and operates with French public institutional funding alongside donations and membership income.

Product overview

Lyon Bd Festival is a comprehensive comic book festival organization offering a portfolio of products centered around promoting and supporting the 9th art. The core offering is the annual Lyon BD Festival (held June 12-14, 2026 for its 21st edition celebrating 20 years), complemented by year-round activities including the Collège Graphique permanent venue, artist residencies (Résidences de création), the Prix Lyon BD adult prize and Prix Lyon BD Jeunesse youth prize, international projects, professional days with Job Meetings, and the month-long Le Mois de la BD extension. Supporting sub-products include L'Épicerie Séquentielle collective publishing, Atelier Mauvaise Pente workspace, and rentable traveling exhibitions and performances.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Lyon BD Festival (annual festival) Annual multi-day bande dessinée (French comics) festival in Lyon featuring exhibitions, author appearances, public programming, and free general access for the public. Designed for comics readers, families, and cultural visitors in the Lyon metropolitan area and beyond.
• Collège Graphique (exhibition venue) Dedicated physical exhibition space operated by the association to host curated bande dessinée exhibitions, providing a year-round venue tied to the annual festival and serving comics readers and cultural visitors in Lyon.
• Lyon BD Festival Prizes / Awards program Awards program presented during the annual festival recognizing comics works and authors, contributing to visibility and prestige for participating publishers and creators within the French BD ecosystem.
• Professional Day (Journée professionnelle) Industry-only programming day held alongside the annual festival, providing networking, professional meetings, and business-oriented events for comics publishers, authors, illustrators, and other industry stakeholders.
• Traveling exhibitions Curated bande dessinée exhibitions licensed to partner cultural institutions outside Lyon, extending the association's programming reach and generating licensing income.
• Ticketed workshops and masterclasses Fee-based workshops and masterclasses offered during the festival period, providing hands-on educational experiences for attendees interested in comics creation; revenue stream supplementing the free-access festival programming.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 500 professionals attend the annual professional day.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Ville de LyoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary institutional partner and founding supporter of the Lyon BD Festival. Provides core funding and organizational backing as the host city of Lyon. Lyon is also a UNESCO Creative City in Literature.
• Métropole de LyoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor regional institutional funder supporting the festival and the Mois de la BD extension across the metropolitan area.
• Région Auvergne-Rhône-AlpescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional council providing institutional funding and support for the festival and its international projects.
• Ministère de la Culture (France)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational government ministry providing cultural funding. Lyon BD participates in the Ministry's Protocol for Author Remuneration at signings (2022) and is a founding member of Club 99, the national BD festival federation.
• Institut FrançaismajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupports the international dimension of the festival, including Mediterranean programming for 2026 and artist exchange projects.
• Musée des Beaux-Arts de LyonmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey cultural partner hosting exhibitions and workshops during the festival, including the 'Gaëlle Alméras – Le Super Week-end des forêts' exhibition.
• Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon (BML)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the Prix Lyon BD Jeunesse and host of youth programming including the bibliobus reading corner.
• Opéra Underground (Opéra de Lyon)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPerformance venue hosting the 'Soli Deo Gloria' live drawing + piano performance and other BD-crossover events during the festival.
• Institut Cervantes (Lyon)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosting the 'Entrañas' exhibition by María Rosario Pérez Lobato as part of the festival's international programming.
• Goethe-Institut (Lyon)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGerman cultural institute partner, supporting Franco-German comics projects including 'Deutsche Comics' exhibition.
• Centre National du Livre (CNL)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational book centre providing funding support for literary and cultural programming related to books and publishing.
• Ficomic (Comic Barcelona)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCatalan comics festival organization and co-producer of international projects with Lyon BD, including artist residencies and joint exhibitions (e.g., the 'Entrañas' exhibition).
• Librairie La BD (Lyon)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorKey partner bookstore hosting author signings during the festival and participating in prize juries.
• Sarbacane (Éditions)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorIndependent publisher with its own dedicated signing booth at the festival and co-commissioner of exhibitions (e.g., 'Detroit Roma').
• Québec BD (Festival)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLongstanding collaboration since 2011 including cross-residencies, co-produced webseries ('La bande dessinée à voix haute'), joint exhibition and book edition projects ('Correspondances'), and the Montréal/Lyon collective.
• Foire du Livre de Francfort / Institut Français (France)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLyon BD produced 'Ping-Pong', a Franco-German co-creation BD project, for the French Guest of Honor appearance at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2017.
• Club 99 (Fédération nationale des festivals BD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLyon BD is a founding member of Club 99, the national federation of French BD festivals, which advocates for collective action serving authors and related arts.
• ARALL (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Livre et Lecture)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional book and reading agency co-organizing professional programming discussions at the annual professional day.
• ADAGP (Société des auteurs dans les arts graphiques et plastiques)minorOthersSociety managing copyright for visual artists, providing institutional support and recognition for graphic artists participating in the festival.
• SAIF (Société des Artistes Illustrateurs de France)minorOthersProfessional society representing illustrators' rights, partnered with the festival on author advocacy and remuneration initiatives.
• XPPenminorOthersDigital drawing tablet brand providing equipment sponsorship to the festival.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Salon du Livre et de la Presse Jeunesse (Montreuil): France's flagship youth literature fair, with strong BD/children's programming overlap; comparable consumer-facing public festival model with educational institutional backing.
• Festival BD Colères / SoBD (Paris): Paris-based independent BD festival focused on alternative and creator-owned comics. Directly comparable as a consumer BD festival in the same national market.
• Comic Barcelona (Ficomic): Catalan comics festival operator, listed as an explicit strategic co-production partner of Lyon BD (e.g., 'Entrañas' exhibition). Serves the same consumer/creator BD festival use case in a different region.
• Québec BD (Festival de la bande dessinée de Québec): Québécois BD festival with a longstanding collaboration since 2011 with Lyon BD (cross-residencies, co-produced projects like 'La bande dessinée à voix haute'). Direct peer in another French-speaking market.
• Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême: France's largest and most prestigious annual bande dessinée festival, held annually in Angoulême. Most directly comparable peer to Lyon BD: a consumer/public BD festival with professional programming, prizes, exhibitions, and institutional backing.
• Salon de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême (FIBD) / 9e Art +: Operator/branding arm of the Angoulême BD festival family; same direct peer category as above.
• Brussels Comic Strip Festival (Comics Station / BDFIL): Belgian/French-language regional BD festival in Brussels directly comparable in scope, language, and audience.

Others

• Maison de la BD (Blois / Cité de la BD): Year-round venue/museum dedicated to BD; analogous to Lyon BD's Collège Graphique as a permanent physical space focused on BD education and exhibitions.
• Foire du Livre de Francfort / Frankfurt Book Fair: Major global publishing trade fair; not a BD festival specifically but a recurring institutional co-producer of Franco-German BD projects with Lyon BD (e.g., 'Ping-Pong' for French Guest of Honor 2017). Adjacent ecosystem partner.

Regional players

• Fumetto International Comix-Festival (Lucerne): Swiss-German-language comics festival; comparable as a curated public BD festival with exhibitions and program ties (Stadtverwaltung Lucerne), but primarily in a separate linguistic region.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights8 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lyon-bd-festival

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Lyon Bd Festival