A lot of information on small press, indie. CAF evets have piled up in my inbox. Here’s some of the news:
• The newly revamped APE (Alternative Press Expo) in San Jose has put out a call for programming—
The Alternative Press Expo (APE), taking place in San Jose’s Convention Center on October 3 and 4, is now open to proposals for programming. APE is seeking comic book-related panel discussions, artist spotlights, and mini-workshops. Please send your proposals with descriptions and list of panelists to [email protected]
• The first TopatoCon, showcasing webcomics and its fans, has moved to a new venue. The original site, the Clarion Hotel, was deemed simply too small for the event, and it’s moved to Eastworks in Easthampton, site of the first WebComic Weekend which inspired TopatoCon. This year’s event will be held September 26th and 27th. More info:
We’ll have much more space for everything we want to do, AND we can sell more tickets!
Speaking of tickets: those will be on sale soon! We’re still working with the venue to make sure we get as many people in there as we can without overcrowding the place. You’ll hear from us as soon as tickets are available for purchase.
In the meantime, we’ve put up an initial list of exhibitors. We’ll be adding more names as we move people from the waitlist, so this is by no means definitive. But we think you’ll agree it’s a good start. We’ve also added our Code of Conduct, a statement we hope will make everyone feel safe and welcome at our show.
Thanks for your interest in TopatoCon 2015! If you have any questions or concerns, go ahead and email us or send us a tweet.
In addition, volunteer applications are now available for the event.
• CXC (Crossroads Columbus) the first year show being held October 1-3 this year, has announced future dates:
“We know this is an atypical strategy to announce dates this early,” declared Jeff Smith, CXC’s President & Artistic Director. “But with more than a dozen community partnerships including the Thurber House, Columbus Museum of Art and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, we need to work as far ahead as possible.”
The dates selected by the festival’s executive committee and approved by its board are: 2016: October 13 to October 16
2017: September 28 to October 1
2018: September 27 to September 30
2019: September 26 to September 29
”We have a lot of Ohio State Buckeye games, and general conventions competing for hotel rooms here,” said Festival Director Tom Spurgeon, “not to mention that the comics scene has a crowded Fall schedule, so we wanted folks to know where we landed for the next couple of years.”
CXC has also announced a second round of guests following the initial slate of Kate Beaton, Jerry Beck, Bill Griffith, Françoise Mouly, Jeff Smith, Art Spiegelman and Craig Thompson. The new guests are equally stellar:
Lalo Alcaraz* (La Cucaracha) Derf Backderf (Trashed, My Friend Dahmer) Grace Ellis (Lumberjanes) Jaime Hernandez* (Love and Rockets) Dylan Horrocks** (The Magic Pen, Hicksville) Jeff Lemire (Descender, Hawkeye, The Essex County Trilogy) Rafael Rosado (Dragons Beware! Giants Beware!) Katie Skelly (Operation Margarine, Nurse Nurse)
CXC’s stated mission is “to celebrate the diversity of the cartoon arts including animation, editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books and graphic novels, and to highlight the city of Columbus and its comics community to the world, working to secure the brightest possible future for the next generation of comics-makers.”
Exhibitor applications for the 2015 show are now closed.
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Do you run a small press show? Do you have some news that needs to be run? Hit us up!
