Short Run Comix Festival
Our next festival will take place on Saturday, November 2nd at Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center. 11 am – 6 pm. FREE admission.
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Short Run Satellite Events (Thursday – Sunday)
Fill in your weekend surrounding the fest with these more intimate events! Listen to artist’s read from their work, participate in a workshop, view art from a dozen of the exhibitors and special guests, and come party with us! Full schedule below, with reminders to occur on Instagram starting Oct. 1.
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Katie Kelso Travel Grant Recipients 2024
We’re thrilled to be able to help these 5 exhibitors with travel costs to come to Seattle on Nov. 2nd.
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Exhibitor List 2024
Thank you to everyone who applied! Click to see our exhibitor list! Special guests in bold.
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2024 Special Guests
Mini-Comics Apprenticeships
Five paid apprenticeships are available, beginning in August and running through October (nine Saturday afternoon sessions, exact dates listed in the application). Students will learn about the history of the comics medium, practice drawing and writing through prompts and exercises, spend time on comics fundamentals, and then produce their own mini-comic. Students will have work time in the studio, but will also need to do some work at home. Students will display & sell their comics together at the festival taking place on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, at Seattle Center.
UPDATE: The application period is now closed, and all applicants have been notified.
This program is generously supported by foundry10
Fest poster and Save the Date
We’re thrilled to premiere our 2024 fest poster designed by Joakim Drescher.
Trailer Blaze 2024
Our 8th Trailer Blaze comics residency concluded on April 19th. We had an incredible week on the coast! We drew in our trailers and rooms and at picnic tables in the sun, spent many hours in the sauna, took long walks on the beach (and one plunge! A wave took Madeline’s glasses!), were visited often by Mr. Big (the tiniest dog) and Meatball (the campus cat). Alex harvested velella velella from the beach and roasted them with salt as an appetizer. We had delectable group dinners on the top floor and balcony, and Julia built a fire for us in the outdoor fireplace. There were side trips to the Antique Mall and Cape Disappointment, but for the most part, work happened: comic pages of many sizes on many kinds of paper, ideas organized on Post-It notes, outlines typed up, and breakthroughs were made. Read more…
SHOW UP artist talks
Save the date for these upcoming artist talks! Free, limited seating. Read more…
Short Run Festival Weekend Photos
Festival Photos by Chris Hong, @cx.photo.resu
Check out all our albums here!
Dash Grant Recipient 2023: Molly Colleen O’Connell
Molly Colleen O’Connell from Berwyn, IL is our Dash Grant recipient this year, for her mini-comic “Pebbles #2” which will premiere at Short Run on Nov. 4th!
Pebbles 2: the next chapter in the story of an ornithophile who tries new meds. “It’s Total Recall meets Heathers” – Conor Stechschulte Read more…
Katie Kelso Travel Grant Recipients 2023
We congratulate this year’s recipients of a Katie Kelso Travel Grant!
Health & Safety Information
[Updated for 2024] If you haven’t been to a previous Short Run festival, you should know that we are unlike a mainstream “comic-con” in many ways. We are a free, one day festival that takes place in a large, 12,000 sq. ft. space on the ground floor, with tall front windows and a high ceiling. There are no smaller break-out rooms. There will be a few hands-on activities like zine-making or screen printing, but the main focus will be on the exhibiting artists showcasing their work at tables on the festival floor. Approximately 250 artists will be there, and we expect attendance to be about 4,500 people spread out over 7 hours. Read more…
Info for Exhibitors
[UPDATED for 2024!] Here are details about travel, lodging, WiFi, food, etc.! We are looking forward to seeing you and providing you with a great festival experience! Read more…
Fest Photos 2022
Find all fest photos on our Flickr page! Also check out this fest report by our photographer Chris Anthony Diaz, for The Comics Journal. Read more…
Trailer Blaze 2023
Another wonderful week at The Sou’Wester Lodge for our 7th annual Trailer Blaze Comics Residency, with 13 artists from all over – Seattle, Philadelphia, Hiroshima, Norfolk, Portland, Omaha, Haida Gwaii, Osoyoos! Read more…
DASH GRANT recipient 2022 – Julia Wald
Local artist and illustrator Julia Wald is this year’s DASH GRANT recipient! We were really excited about her story synapsis and hyper-color drawing style of her upcoming comic, Uncle Scam’s Army Navy Surplus, an autobiography of their first job out of school in Buffalo, working at an army navy surplus store where they sold military gear to doomsday preppers, zombie cosplayers, and neo Nazis. This first part of a much longer story will premiere at Short Run on Nov. 5th. Read more…
Katie Kelso Travel Grant Recipients 2022
Saoirse Alesandro (CA), golden collier (IL), Anna Tararova/Empress Editions (PA), Dustin Garcia (CA)
Each of these incredible artists & festival exhibitors will receive $400 towards their travel to Seattle for Short Run on Nov. 5th! Read more…
Trailer Blaze 2022
Trailer Blaze 2022 really, truly happened after a 2 year postponement, and it made the experience even more special.
This year we welcomed new residents Veronika Muchitsch (UK), Melanie Stevens (OR), Krusty Wheatfield (CA), Lenora Yerkes (DC), Janna Morton (MD), Rachel Scheer (Seattle); invited artists Lydia Fu (IL), Katie Fricas (NY); alumni, local mentors Mita Mahato, E.T. Russian, Lauren Armstrong, Megan Kelso, and Kelly Froh. Read more…
SHOW UP – monthly artist talks
We want artists to get to know each other better, through their work and processes, and to invest in each other more fully as a year round community. Artists will stand up and stand by their work, and present it to other people, instead of working mostly in isolation with no feedback or support. What does being part of a community mean? That we all live in a geographical area, or that we are invested in the progress and success of our peers? Let’s inspire each other!