Short Run

Our Fest Returns – – – Health & Safety Information

Why Short Run Comix & Arts Festival is coming back

Our festival has been on hiatus through the last two years of the pandemic. Building a community of comix and small press artists and enthusiasts is core to our mission, and it’s been tough to do in the remote existence we’ve been living. The risks of COVID-19 weigh heavily on our minds, as does the isolation of so many in our community and the hardships of the pandemic on artists. We made the decision to hold the festival this fall as the past few years have offered little for artists in the way of book tours and ways to engage with a new audience. As an organization, it has been difficult to sustain the level of volunteer engagement needed without a festival to plan and execute. And finally, the continuation of Short Run (the organization, as a whole) depends on the festival this year, because financially, our infrastructure will not survive another postponement. Read more…

2022 Festival Poster (2 of 2)

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…

2022 Festival Poster (1 of 2)

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!

2021 Year In Review

*(L-R) Kelly Froh, Jessica Hoffman, Robyn Jordan, and Meredith Li-Vollmer at Decade book release party*

Hi Everybody –

Well, we’re still trying to hang on until we can all be together again in a large public space! We even set a date and rented a venue, but we will continue to wait to see how the world adapts, moves forward, or declines further (anything can happen). Read more…

Short Run Comix & Arts Festival Catalog

As consolation for another year passing without a festival, Short Run has published The Short Run Comix & Arts Festival Catalog, which features 40 new releases from WA State comic artists, authors, and zinesters, ads for small print and publishing businesses, plus DIY projects and local stores. This free, 16-page newsprint catalog, designed by Jacob Covey, will be mailed all across the US. You can request a free catalog clicking here. Read more…

Where to get our new book

Pick up a copy of our new book Decade: 10 Years of Short Run Comix & Arts Festival at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery, Elliott Bay Book Company, Push/Pull, Floating World Comics in Portland, Silver Sprocket in San Francisco, and Spit and a Half online distro.

What a great idea! The “Comics Festival” has become such a crucial and integral part of the comics community over the past couple decades, and while there are plenty of social media posts and con-reports that surface online, the experience is pretty ephemeral. Seattle’s Short Run Fest has solved that by producing this gorgeous, full color year by year look back at their festivals and events over the past ten years. – John Porcellino

If you cannot pick it up in person, it’s also on our Etsy page for $27 (US shipping included).

“Decade” in The Stranger

We loved talking with Jasmyne Keimig about our new book, our next project, and the festival’s future.

Decade is most accurately described as a sort of yearbook of the Seattle comics scene over the past several years as documented at the Short Run festival and at satellite events. The book plays with yearbook photo idea on the first and last pages, which are stacked with photo portraits of many artists over the years. When I first opened Decade I found myself searching for familiar faces, remembering what is was like to see these unmasked faces all together IRL.

Full interview here.

Books and Totes

Board Member McKenna Haley with our new book “Decade: 10 Years of Short Run Comix & Arts Festival” and with tote bag designed by Weng Pixin. Books and totes available on our etsy page.

Book Release Party & Art Show

Celebrate the release of Short Run’s “festival in a book” on Saturday, September 11 from 5-8 pm at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Georgetown. Made during the pandemic for a community missing connection, Decade chronicles 10 years of Short Run festivals, workshops, residencies, performances, parties, and people.

Short Run in The Comics Journal

Read Kelly Froh’s essay here.

The Short Run Festival takes place inside a huge hall with floor to ceiling windows, located in the middle of Seattle Center’s expansive campus of performing arts buildings, community gathering spaces and sports arenas. It’s where the Space Needle is. It’s where the monorail goes. In addition to our tried-and-true roster of supporters that we’ve built over the last decade, we have been able to count on tourists and locals alike, who just happen to be at Seattle Center, to find their way to the festival floor. Because of our size, we are filed in the “first to close, last to re-open” category of businesses. We are eager to return to festival planning, which we usually begin a year in advance, but our worry is that large, crowded, indoor events like Short Run won’t see the attendance we are used to anytime soon unless half of the population holding us back suddenly changes its collective mind and gets vaccinated.