Oulu Comics Center was opened in January 2014 at Oulu Cultural Centre Valve. It is the multipurpose comics center of northern Finland. The Oulu Comics Center was founded to increase awareness of comics and related art, as well as to promote comics and cartoonists. Oulu Comics Center organizes comics courses in cooperation with the national comics network. The Center has a good network of Finnish comics teachers, and it organizes courses and Pop Up events in various locations in northern Finland and abroad.
The center operates annual events such as the Oulu Comics Festival, Arctic Comics Seminar, and many more. Oulu Comics Centers gallery is located at the Cultural Centre Valve, where about 25 000 people visit each year. There is also a book store (Turun sarjakuvakauppa) and an expanding comic archive and a library. Oulu Comics Center currently employs three staff members, comic course teachers, and trainees. The organization’s activity is funded by City of Oulu (25 % of our funding), Finnish government (25 %), international financing (25 %), and by self-finance (25 %). Oulu Comics Center helps and guides in all issues concerning comics, whether they are about making, reading, or teaching comics. Oulu Comics Center is managed by Oulu Comics Association, founded in the year 1980.