Open call: selection of publisher for IEB's booth at Comic BCN

Open call for the selection of comic publishers from the Balearic Islands to participate in the 42nd edition of Comic Barcelona

1. Purpose of the call

The Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics creates an open call for the selection of publishing houses with headquarters in the Balearic Islands so that they can develop the activity of selling books at the booth of the Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics at Comic Barcelona, which is held from the 3rd to the 5th May 2024, at the fairgrounds of Fira Barcelona Montjuïc.

2. Description and objective of the project

The Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics (IEB) is an organism of the Government of the Balearic Islands dedicated to promoting the language and culture of the Balearic Islands. Through its area of culture, its strategic objectives are to consolidate the Balearic Islands as a structured cultural market, as well as to promote the external projection of music, performing arts, literature and the visual arts of the Balearic Islands.

In order to promote and give visibility to the creation of comics from the Balearic Islands, the IEB participates in Comic Barcelona with an institutional booth, which includes an editorial section dedicated to the sale of books and a space shared with the Comic and Novels Cluster Media with a program of professional activities for the promotion and dissemination of Balearic comics.

Likewise, the IEB participates in Comic Pro, the space for networking, thinking, action and opportunities for the sector that takes place within the framework of Comic Barcelona, with the objective of connecting the Spanish comic industry with renowned international publishers and agents , to introduce our talents and generate business opportunities for the participants.

3. Conditions of participation

To participate in this open call, the publishing houses must be specialized in comics or have a collection or publishing line dedicated to comics.

The distribution of the linear meters of the stand will depend on the final number of participating publishers.

Given that Comic Barcelona is a fair dedicated to comics, approximately 80% of the books on display must be comics, which can be supplemented with illustration books or other related languages.

Participating publishers must maintain attention to the public of their module during the days of the fair and comply with the opening and closing times of the fair. Opening hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Publishers will have to assume any other tasks related to the management and organisation of their participation and the related expenses.

Once the IEB announces the participating publishing houses, a working group will be created with the representatives of the publishing houses and the Comic and New Media Cluster to coordinate all the details that affect the participation in the shared stand of the IEB at the fair.

4. Hiring the booth

The IEB assumes the contracting and conditioning (furniture, shelves, etc.) of the booth, which will have 56 square meters, of which 48 square meters correspond to the editorial section and 8 square meters to the space dedicated to the programming of professional activities for the promotion and dissemination of Balearic comics.

5. Recipients

This call is aimed at comic publishers or publishing houses with a collection or editorial line specializing in comics, with headquarters in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands, regardless of whether they are legal or physical persons.

6. Selection criteria for publishers

Participating publishing houses will be selected according to the history and catalogue of the publishing house, with special attention to the interest and quality of the comic books published.

The selection of publishers corresponds to a commission made up of a representative of the Comic and New Media Cluster and two IEB technicians.

7. Submission of applications

Those interested in participating in this call will have to send an email message with the following information:

- contact details and responsible person;

- presentation of the publisher with its history and current catalogue; in his case, with presentation of the collection or line dedicated to comics.

Applications must be sent to the electronic address "opencall@iebalearics.org", indicating in the subject of the message "Registration of call: Comic Barcelona 2024".

8. Application submission deadline

The deadline for submitting applications is February 23, 2024, at 11:00 p.m.

Any request for participation sent after the deadline will not be taken into account.

9. Resolution

The selected publishers will receive a confirmation email from the IEB, to which they will have to respond by accepting participation in the fair.

Once this procedure is completed, the IEB will inform all applicants of the final result by email and will publish the result of the final selection on the website.