Edinburgh Zine Festival
‘To The Front Policy’ 2024

This is called the ‘To The Front’ policy in reference to the calls Riot Grrl bands would make for girls to the front at gigs. It’s both about asking people to put themselves forward, and asking others to make space!

We have it because we acknowledge the ways that zine fairs and DIY cultures can and do replicate the same systemic and structural inequalities in the rest of Scotland/the UK/the world, and we recognise the importance of bringing marginalised voices to the front.

What does it mean in practice?

If we are oversubscribed, we will make decisions on tabling based on these priorities. We’re making decisions as a group after the applications have closed.

Our priorities:

When offering tables for Edinburgh Zine Festival, we will be prioritising zinesters often underrepresented at zine fairs, DIY cultural events, or in mainstream arts and culture, including:

  • LGBTQ+ Zine Makers, particularly Trans, Two-Spirit and Non-Binary Zine Makers

  • Disabled Zine Makers

  • Black Zine Makers

  • Asian Zine Makers

  • Zine Makers of Colour & Global Majority Zine Makers

  • Working Class Zine Makers

  • Zine Makers who are unpaid carers or are solo parents.

If you feel that any of the above applies to you, there will be a check box on the submissions form which you can check.

Other things we consider.

There are several other factors in our decision making process that do not fall under ‘To The Front’ but that we want to be as transparent about as possible.

These include:

Prioritising Zines over other forms of self-publishing/other creative work.

This means we would expect zines to be the majority of what you sell at Edinburgh Zine Festival, and we want this reflected in your application! In previous years we described how most work sold should be £5 and under, or otherwise reflect being not for profit. We appreciate that the cost of living crisis is not evenly distributed and that this may mean needing to charge more for zines. However, we want to ensure that there are zines at the festival at a range of price points, including at the lower end, so it is an affordable event for attendees.

Prioritising Zine Makers based in Scotland (especially in areas outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow where there aren’t currently zine fairs or fests).

This means that we might consider where you are based and, for example, if you are zine maker based in London (where there are lots of zine fairs already) we might prioritise an application from Aberdeen over yours.

First Time Tablers

We will be reserving some tables for first-time tablers. We will also have a communal table so if you only have one or two zines to sell, we may offer you some space on there.

Ensuring a Variety and Diversity of Zines

As a team we sometimes make decisions based on ensuring that there are a variety and diversity of zines - in some senses curating the zine fest so visitors can enjoy the wide range of zines out there.

A note on Covid-19 and facemasks

It would be hypocritical to both prioritise disabled zine makers and zine makers who are unpaid carers without also taking the risks of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic seriously. As at previous zine fests, we will expect people who table with us, organisers and attendees to wear masks at the zine fest if they are able to. This is not something we can legally enforce but if we feel that people aren't working together to make EZF2024 as safe as possible for everyone, this may affect whether we feel confident to organise future zine fests. If you aren’t interested in protecting our vulnerable tablers, organisers, attendees, or in making our community safer, then we aren’t interested in having you at EZF.