Zenica School of Comics: Art and Education for Children ^{CEFR B2}

The Zenica School of Comics began during the 1992-95 war and has operated for more than thirty years in the central Bosnian city of Zenica. Founder Adnadin Jašarević, who also directs the Zenica City Museum, said the project aimed to give children a creative escape from hunger, fear and shelling. He added that students choose topics according to their interests and that he has kept working to preserve comics as a form of expression.

Since the start, roughly 200 young artists trained at the school and about 70 went on to prominence in the domestic and regional comics scene. Notable graduates include Kenan Halilović, Biljana Šafaražik and Zdravko Cvjetković, and a newer generation — Filip Andronik, Milorad Vicanović, Senad Mavrić and Enis Čišić — represents contemporary directions in Bosnian comics. The school produced several publications such as Horostop, ZE strip, EKO strip and SUV – Steps in Time, showing sustained activity and dedication to the culture.

Technology reshaped creation and distribution: smart tablets have made drawing faster for many artists, while tools that generate text and images raise ethical and aesthetic concerns. Cvjetković warned that mass access to such tools could trivialize art and blur the line between creativity and automation. At the same time, comics have become more expensive and rare on newsstands, and children turn to screens before print. Despite modest infrastructure and almost no institutional support, festivals, workshops and contests for children, social networks, web comics and cooperation with authors from Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia help the scene survive and slowly grow.