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…
Short Run Comix & Arts Festival
SAVE THE DATE: Our next festival will be on Saturday, November 4th, 2023. The window for exhibitor applications will open again on June 1st.
Add yourself to our mailing list for a reminder and updates on upcoming local programming.
Year In Review (so long 2022!)
It happened! We successfully held our 10th anniversary Short Run Comix & Arts Festival after a 2-year postponement! 200 exhibitor-artists (from all over the US, and 6 other countries) filled Fisher Pavilion, and over 4,000 people attended over 7 hours. Despite it being a very rainy weekend, Saturday was mostly sunny and clear, and at one point there was a rainbow! Exhibitors reported record sales, which meant Seattle came out to support these artists that have been so isolated without the festival circuit. THANK YOU SEATTLE!!!
Fest photos!
Full Festival Schedule (Wednesday, 11/2 – Sunday, 11/6)
Saturday, Nov. 5th, 2022 11 am – 6 pm
Short Run Comix & Arts Festival
Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center
2nd Ave. N & N. Thomas St.
FREE
Additional Programming
(Save the date! Some events required RSVP)
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…
Learn more about our Special Guests
Katie Kelso Travel Grant Recipients
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…
Exhibitor List
We’re excited to welcome exhibitors from 20 different states, and 6 countries. 40% of the exhibitors are from Washington State, and many are tabling with us for the first time. (Listed below alphabetical by first name/business name and their main websites are hyperlinked. Special Guests names in BOLD.) Read more…
Summer School
Learn something new or hone your skills, these classes are taught by local artists, located in Georgetown and Uptown (lower Queen Anne).
All supplies provided, small class sizes, well-ventilated spaces, indoor masking will be required.
Full descriptions are on Eventbrite registration page:
https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/short-run-summer-school-in-september-927239 Read more…
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…
Info for Exhibitors
[UPDATED for 2022!] 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…
Festival Venue Information
[UPDATED for 2022!] We are happy to return to our festival venue Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center. 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
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. 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.