MoCCA Festival is a pretty well established show, so this year’s event seemed to go smoothly overall. There was some question among exhibitors about whether attendance was down or not however, as we wrote in a report for Publishers Weekly:
While comics shows have generally weathered the economy’s ups and downs quite well, there was some question among exhibitors whether raising the festival’s ticket prices may have lowered attendance. Prices were $15 for the day and $24 for the weekend (up from $12 and $20 in 2011.) However online pre-sales—$12 for the day $18 for both— were the same as last year, according to the museum director Ellen Abramowitz, who noted that on Sunday “the fee for children and with their parents or care givers was discounted in order to make the festival affordable for a family to attend.”
However, Abramowitz has reported that attendance was actually up by 1000 people. “We suspect it was the same amount or more people than last year, especially with the kids programming on Sunday morning,” she wrote before the final numbers were in. “We had more exhibitors and most of them advertise to bring in attendance. We had a larger amount number of press requests. Many journalist wrote per-festival articles. In addition, we had a larger amount of international attendees and exhibitors. “
Then why has everyone I’ve talked to who were there say there were noticeably less people?
Maybe they ONLY went to panels?
I volunteered last year, tabled the year before and volunteered the year before that. This was the most sparsely attended I’ve ever seen, although I only went Saturday. There were more folks tabling, though, that is definitely true.
maybe there were fewer people buying.
Maybe there were a bunch of people there who thought there were going to an invisibility cloak convention.
$15 to get in was a kick to the balls. I was constantly overhearing exhibitors complain about the overpriced tables too. C’mon MoCCA, give us a break.
Kids under 12 should be free for SURE.
What do the various independent shows charge for a table?
MoCCA: $210-$290 for half, $330-$460 for full 6’x2.5’ table
(Sold out, so the market abides.)
CAKE charges $50 (curated) for a 36×30″ table. (What would be a “half” table)
SPX sold out, so whatever they charge is not too expensive. ($300 in 2011) (170 tables)
Admission: $10/day, $15/weekend
APE? TCAF? Stumptown?
Wizard World, artist alley:
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/wizardworld/artist.pdf
Austin, Ohio, N’Orleans, Toronto $300
Philadephia $350
Chicago $400
(New York not yet announced.)
NYCC Artist Alley:
$500 for a full, $300 for a half table
(Registration closes June 14th)
The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival:
$250 full, $100 half. Admission is free.
(Deadline for curated invitation: June 15th)
TCAF and BCaGF are curated shows with free admission.
Wow… MoCCA charges almost as much as NYCC.
Yes, MoCCA Fest is a fundraiser.
Yes, MoCCA needs to find other sources of funding.
Does the festival need a bigger venue? Perhaps the Kingsbridge Armory? (The Park Avenue Armory is also nice, but about the same space as the 69th.)
“Many journalist wrote per-festival articles”.
Please fix this sentence or put a (sic) on it.