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Ask And I Shall Receive

Not on the MoCCA website, near as I can tell, but sent to me presumably because I’m on their press list: a comment on the 2012 MoCCA/Stumptown situation. Since it’s in the form of a letter to a non-specific recipient, I’m reproducing it here.

Dear Friends in Comics,

Next year our 2012 MoCCA Fest will fall on April 28-29, which of course also falls on the same weekend as Stumptown Comics Fest. For the last decade, both festivals have provided the opportunity to annually spotlight independent talent and alternative press exhibitors, with increasing success.

As many who have organized events can attest, it can be a difficult thing to get a venue in New York, or anywhere else, for that matter. I speak from personal experience, having coordinated the MoCCA Fest for the last two years from a volunteer capacity before signing on to the museum full-time. Ultimately, we needed to shift from our original tentative dates for MoCCA Fest 2012 to make it most attainable for our exhibitors and attendees. Was the change in dates unexpected? Definitely. Was it deliberately planned that way? Definitely not. Please keep in mind that even towards the very end of our negotiations, we still felt we would be able to keep our initial planned dates.

It is not, not would it ever be our intention to create a conflict of show dates, which benefits no one. Going forward, it is MoCCA’s intention to work directly with Stumptown to jointly address any questions that may arise from the overlap. You may be surprised with the solutions two coasts can come up with.

We do apologize if this puts a wrench into anyone’s plans to tour, exhibit, or attend both conventions– and we will work to address anyone’s concerns. To echo Indigo Kelleigh, unfortunate scheduling will not impact the quality of our Fest; you will still be able to expect great exhibitors, programming and attendance all weekend.

We look forward to seeing another banner year for both the MoCCA Fest and Stumptown Comic Fest next year, and thank you all for your support!

It’s signed by Jack Walsh, Museum Manager, which makes it about as official as you could hope. Would have been nice to see it a few days ago, but props to MoCCA for acknowledging the awkwardness of the situation. Here’s hoping that 2013 works out more smoothly.

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