Incubator's Mobile Cartoon Museum Launches at PIE 2025!

The Incubator Productions Mobile Cartoon Museum Hits the Road!

The Incubator Productions Mobile Cartoon Museum (MCM) has officially hit the road, and our first stop at the Pittsburgh Indie Expo (PIE) on March 30, 2025 was a huge success! With nearly 400 attendees, countless conversations, and fun for all who came by, we couldn’t have asked for a better launch.

What an appropriate space! The MCM was hosted on the sixth floor of the Heinz History Center, where the museum keeps their own archives and special collections.

What Makes a Museum?

Well, for starters, the MCM wouldn't have been so successful if it wasn't for our awesome team of volunteers. The night before the expo, our team made their way down to the Heinz History Center to get the space set up so the morning would go off without a hitch!

A few of our volunteers exploring the archives!

Getting the space set up for the event!

We had volunteers on a variety of different teams: our archives team acted as docents for the MCM, our publishing team manned the Incubator table at the main expo space, and our admin team handled purchases and attendance tracking. Since several of our volunteers are animation students themselves, one of our expo table offerings was cartoon mini-portraits, drawn by our team! Our volunteers also had the opportunity to explore the expo and make connections of their own in the comics world.

The Incubator Productions table at PIE was a great place for networking!

Our admin team handed out every brochure--talk about customer engagement!

Our volunteers got to use table time to get familiar with quick commissions and self-promo!

While a couple of things went not as according to plan, we did our best to adapt to our small space and managed to do a whole lot with just a little.

Our Debut Exhibit: A Slice of Pittsburgh

The MCM's foundation for PIE consisted of a gallery space for Pittsburgh comic artists to showcase their work. We had 11 comics professionals showcase their work in our exhibit space, spanning from line art outlines to first drafts of panels to finalized digital pieces. Some folks even contributed volumes of their comics alongside their work so visitors could see the art in action!

A snapshot of A Slice of Pittsburgh (with some classic Felix the Cat too!)

Attendees browse A Slice of Pittsburgh.

We also allowed contributors the opportunity to sell their pieces, and a couple did end up selling! Others were absorbed into the MCM collection, and we are so grateful for the contributions. We hope to have this Pittsburgh-centered collection be one of our main MCM exhibits in rotation!

Archival Fun for All Ages!

The MCM's general collection was just as popular as A Slice of Pittsburgh. While still a little small at about 60 entries, attendees were able to browse eclectic and rare comic volumes, animation cels and cartoon art, and informational art book about specific shows, movies, and animators!

Our archive was a major hit with young attendees, especially ones who are just getting into comics!

We hope to get the general collection up to 100 entries by our next exhibit. If you're interested in contributing to our collection development, read on to the end of this blog post to see how you can get involved!

Workshops!

Our workshops were a major highlight, with a lot of families in particular carving time out during their day at PIE to attend our workshops. PIE did a great job promoting for us, and we got to make some great connections with attendees.

You Can Toon! brought together young aspiring cartoonists spanning from kindergarten all the way up to high school, who created their own characters and stories. We did some collaborative exercises, built the bones for our own four-panel comics, and learned about the importance of working with a team!

Kiddos hard at work during You Can Toon!

Showing off their final products!

Materials & Techniques attracted teens and adults who explored traditional inking and coloring methods, leading to conversations about personal projects. This crew included folks who were a little more well-versed in the medium, which allowed for a lot of really detailed creations to come about.

Materials & Techniques in action!

Zine-Making had the highest attendance of the day, with over 20 attendees. We started with a brief history of shadow libraries and self-publication, delved into perzines and fanzines, and then had an immersive experience where folks started their own zines and shared with the larger group. Attendees connected with each other on social media, swapped zines, and even brainstormed expanding their creations into mini-comics!

A resounding turnout for Zine-Making!

All in all, the education aspect of our programming by far had the most engagement! In the future, we hope to really enrich that educational model that comes with running a museum.

A Multimodal Comics Model

The day was chock-full of different modes of creativity and comics exploration. One such avenue was an animation reel made by the Fabulous Fleischer Toons specifically for the MCM! A variety of animations ran throughout the day and made a great backdrop to all the other creative endeavors that were going on in our space.

Many of our littlest visitors were absolutely enamored with our cartoon reel!

We also offered some self-guided art activities that engaged kids and adults Kids made their own comics, One enthusiastic young artist proudly presented his political satire comic, calling it his “debut” work.

People were in the zone! There wasn't a single moment all day where there wasn't someone using the art supplies.

Folks of all ages had a great time using the self-guided space.

Any art that was left behind by our participants was saved--maybe it will become an archive on its own someday!

Community, Collections, and More!

We had a lot of folks express donating their comics, cartoon memorabilia, and other interesting items to the MCM in the future. We’re now exploring the idea of a public acquisitions form, so stay tuned for updates on how you can contribute to the collection. Archives by nature are living catalogs, so we're always looking for more ways to grow!

The before shot: an empty room with so much potential!

After: a bustling space for all comic lovers!

Support the Mobile Cartoon Museum!

The MCM is a passion project powered by Incubator Productions, and we rely on donations and partnerships to keep it rolling. If you’d like to support us, consider:

• Donating comics, animation cels, or memorabilia

• Sponsoring a future event

• Booking the MCM for your space

• Making a monetary donation

Want to get involved? Contact us at info@incubatorproductions.com with your questions, concepts, and more!

Here's to many more opportunities to grow--your MCM director thanks you!

Thank you to everyone who made the MCM launch unforgettable, and to the team at PIE for allowing us to debut. Comics are a collaborative effort and events like these take a village. We can’t wait for more adventures to come—see you at our next stop!