Curation Policy
Last updated: 6/8/2026
This is a general curation policy for all market events held by Small Press Scotland CIC. Event-specific information will be marked clearly.
What are we looking for?
Sequential Scotland
Sequential Scotland is looking to curate exhibitors featuring original, sequential storytelling material such as graphic novels, comics, zines, illustration projects, and TTRPG projects that use sequential storytelling. We want to see your own original works that utilise the interplay between text and image to tell a narrative. This definition is flexible on purpose so that we can judge each application on a case-by-case basis, and hopefully show the true breadth of this artform.
We won't accept creators who only have merchandise (ie. prints, keychains, stickers, apparel), prose books with spot illustrations, art books that do not tell a narrative, or TTRPG instruction manuals that have no identifiable narrative. Don't worry however if some of your work falls into these categories - it is as long as the majority of the work you are bringing to the show meets the sequential criteria.
Prioritisation
Conventions and fairs are often inaccessible to marginalised creators for a variety of reasons. Because of this, we will be prioritising applications from:
- Black creators or creators of colour.
- Disabled creators.
- Queer creators.
- Creators whose work speaks on an experience that is not often represented.
- Creators residing in Scotland outside of Edinburgh or Glasgow.
For those who have exhibited with us before, we’d love to have you back! Please note, we will be prioritising returning applications showcasing new projects, or work that is further developed than from the last time you were with us. This is because we want to give new applicants a fair opportunity to show their work.
Suitability
Sequential Scotland
Still wondering if Sequential Scotland is the right show for you? If any of the statements below apply to you, there might be other spaces in Scotland that would be better suited to your work and your needs:
- You are representing an established, large publisher of any kind. Instead, consider the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
- Your work is primarily text (prose, poetry, etc) with no visual or interactive component. Instead, consider CYMERA Festival.
- Your work is not wholly original (ie. fanworks). Instead, consider Anime, Comic or Fan Conventions, such as DeeCon.
- The majority of your practice is dedicated to producing prints, t-shirts, badges, stickers, or other forms of merchandise. Instead, consider Sunnycon.
Displaying sensitive work
We advise the following practices be taken regarding sensitive works:
- NSFW or 18+ material cannot be on direct display at our market events. However, it can be kept behind an exhibitor's table or out of reach of younger attendees with only non-explicit content on display. Games with these themes should be played with caution.
- Trigger warnings should be implemented when appropriate, such as displayed by exhibitors or introduced by players at the start of games.
If your portfolio contains sensitive work, please give us a heads up in your application.
Banned content
We take a strict stance on the following content:
- Works that promote discrimination (including but not limited to sexuality, race, gender, religion or age) are banned from this event.
- Works featuring AI generated content (e.g. art, words, etc) are banned from this event.
- This policy will be enacted at our discretion. If we see AI-generated content posted on your social media or on your websites, then we can't be sure the work you will be bringing to this event won't have AI-generated content in it.
Exhibitors intentionally trying to bring this content to our market events will be banned and asked to leave.
Public Liability Insurance
If accepted to the festival, all exhibitors will be required to have public liability insurance coverage for the duration of the event. If you're not sure what that is, here's a handy overview from Heather Parry & Maria Stoian’s free book, The Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide:
"Public Liability covers you in the event that your work causes damage to a third party or their property. This could be someone hurting themselves in one of your jewellery-making classes, tripping over a wire at your home photography studio, or your Allen and Heath causing damage to a venue's sound system at a gig."
If you don’t currently have public liability insurance, there are many different ways you can obtain it, such as through one-off coverage payments to an insurance company, or as part of your monthly dues to an artists' union, like the Scottish Artist's Union, Artists Now, or the Society of Authors.
It is up to you to research which method best suits your needs.
Waiting lists
If your application is suitable for the event you have applied to but you were not successful, you may be added to waiting list. If a table space frees up, we will offer replacements to the most suitable exhibitor in this waiting list. Like the rest of the show, these offers are curated, and not affected by an application's submission date.
We are unable to accept applications after the end of the application period, and will not add anyone to our waitlist who did not apply as normal.
Sharing tables
We only allow tables to be shared if you submitted a joint application, OR both applicants requested a half table and asked to be placed next to each other.
We do not allow for exhibitors to share with vendors who were not vetted and accepted through our application process. If an unvetted exhibitor tries to exhibit at the show, they will be asked to leave.
We will only allow accepted exhibitors to share with a waitlisted exhibitor if we are informed in advance. If a waitlisted exhibitor tries to exhibit at the show without prior approval, they will be asked to leave.
Why?
- We cannot be sure that unvetted exhibitors are selling work in theme with the show and that their work abides by our curation guidelines.
- We would not have unvetted exhibitors' contact information in case of emergency.
- Some venues require exhibitors' contact details to be provided in advance of the show, as this is required by local law.
Cancellations
We will do our best to accommodate cancellation requests. Please reply to your confirmation email to cancel your table.
Your confirmation email will have details about how much you will be refunded. In general, this will be around the following dates, but your confirmation email takes precedence over any of of these dates:
- If you cancel your table at least a month in advance of the event date, you will receive a full refund.
- If you cancel your table at least 2 weeks in advance of the event date, you will receive a 50% refund.
- If you cancel your table later than 2 weeks in advance of the event date, you will not receive a refund.
We do not allow for table swapping (i.e. allowing another exhibitor to take your table). If an unvetted exhibitor tries to exhibit at the show, they will be asked to leave.
If you have any questions, please contact us at hello@smallpress.scot.
