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NADA Fair Bigger, Art Info, December 31, 2005

NADA Fair Bigger

by Sarah Douglas

NEW YORK - This December, during the annual Art Basel Miami Beach fair, visitors to the steadily growing fair of the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) will find it bigger than last year, with 70 to 75 galleries, up from last year's 62. NADA was formed in 2002 to promote more communication and collaboration between young galleries.

A more significant change, however, is in the fair's application procedure.

Although the list of participating galleries will not be released until August, Sheri Pasquarella, a co-founder of the NADA group in 2002, told Artinfo.com that, whereas in past years NADA member galleries were admitted without application, this year both members and non-members alike had to apply.

For its third edition, the fair returns to last year's venue, Miami's Ice Palace Film Studios, however, this time around, rather than occupying two thirds of the space NADA will take it over entirely, adding galleries and increasing booth size. Also in the planning for this year's fair are the introduction of a publications section and, Pasquarella says, "possibly a bookstore."

Last year, says Pasquarella, the fair received 250 applications for the 30 spots made available for non-NADA members. This year, she says, 350 applications came in for all 70 spots. She acknowledges that the group's decision has been a controversial one among galleries that are NADA members.

When first suggested, she says, it caused "a big ruckus" but passed a vote by the advisory board and founding members. She clarifies that the group looks at three criteria for entrance to the fair — quality of programming, community commitment and embodying the spirit of the NADA group.

The change will possibly allow more non-member galleries to benefit from the collective spirit of the NADA fair, with its emphasis on increased communication and sharing of resources between dealers. She says that galleries look to participate in the fair for different reasons.

"Some are here because it's the best setting for their artists, others see it as a stepping stone to Art Basel. We are open to both ideas." Asked how she expects the ratio of NADA members to non-NADA members will turn out, she says she hopes it will be 50/50, even under the new application procedures.

Since it began two years ago the fair has been a resounding success. At its first edition, with 42 dealers in a warehouse space near the convention center that houses Art Basel, collectors lined up outside before the fair opened, and by all accounts spent hundreds of thousands of dollars once through the doors. The second edition last year was, if possible, even more of a mob scene.