On Scheduling Conventions

Howdy! Indigo Kelleigh here, Founder and Director of the Stumptown Comics Fest.

As you might be aware, this weekend the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) announced a change in date for their 2012 Art Festival, and that the new date coincides with the 2012 Stumptown Comics Fest, April 28 and 29th. There has been some speculation that this move was done intentionally and with malice to in some way harm our show, but I believe that to not be the case.

I just wanted to state for the record, that I know the difficulties in arranging for a venue for an event of this size, and more often than not our own final dates are dictated by the venue's availability moreso than our desired schedule. I can't assign any malice to this announcement on the part of the MoCCA organizers, and I hope nobody else does, either.

I do believe that there's plenty of talent on both coasts, and further that this move will not harm either of the shows in the short term. For a show like Stumptown, which has only seen increased demand year after year, even last year in our move to a much larger exhibit space, I don't believe this unfortunate scheduling will impact the quality of our Comics Fest in the slightest.

It is going to be a challenge for small press exhibitors, and obviously many will need to choose at which of the two shows to exhibit. Having two shows on the same weekend obviously removes one of them from many exhibitor's schedules, and for those who rely on the convention circuit for income and promotional opportunities, this will clearly have an impact on their bottom line. To that end, we're looking forward to working with the organizers of the MoCCA Art Fest to find ways to minimize that impact.

The spring season has become crowded with conventions all over the continent, and I do look forward to continuing to communicate with the organizers of other conventions like MoCCA, TCAF, SPACE, SPX, Emerald City Comicon, STAPLE!, and APE to help ensure that scheduling conflicts like this don't arise to inconvenience the exhibitors, or attendees, in the future.

Our own registration process will be opening up to the public in one week, and exhibitors who pre-registered at our 2011 Comics Fest will be contacted shortly about their applications. Thanks!

-indy