NADA Miami Appears to Be Losing Exhibitors to Other Miami Fairs

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Every December, the art world descends on Miami for its annual ritual of sun-soaked schmoozing and a marathon week of art fairs. This year, however, amid market instability, one of Miami Art Week’s most stalwart fixtures is showing signs of strain. The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), whose Miami fair has since 2003 been celebrated as an indie tastemaker, is facing mounting unrest from its own exhibitors, according to more than half a dozen art world professionals with knowledge of the fair.

The dominant complaint about NADA is that it takes place not on Miami Beach, the nine-mile spit of land off the city’s coast, but eight miles inland at Ice Palace Film Studios. On a good day, the drive takes 20 minutes. On a more typical traffic-snarled day during Art Week, it’s a two-hour slog across either the MacArthur or Venetian causeways. That commute might not matter in a healthy market; in a softened one, it is an issue.

“The main thing is just the traffic,” said one owner of a medium-size downtown New York gallery. “The traffic on the causeway—it’s almost impossible to deal with. People literally give up halfway through. They’ll come halfway and then just turn around.”

Sources familiar with NADA’s application process told ARTnews that the Miami fair has received significantly fewer applications this year, with one estimating a drop of “30 to 50 percent” compared to previous editions.

In an email, NADA executive director Heather Hubbs acknowledged that applications are “slightly lower than last year” but said the 30 to 50 percent figure was “substantially off.”

Hubbs said the lower application figures “tracks with our colleagues across the board and also takes into account a healthy amount of NADA galleries which will be presenting at Art Basel Miami Beach this year for the first time, which is exciting.” She added that, as a nonprofit arts organization, NADA’s “main priority is to always make sure we are doing the best for our members and community.”

This year’s roster for Art Basel Miami Beach includes 11 galleries that showed at NADA Miami last year. Among them are Kate Werble, Margot Samel, The Pit, Nina Johnson, 56 Henry, Franz Kaka, and Carbon 12—all of which showed in at least the previous three editions of NADA Miami. (Last year, seven NADA exhibitors made the jump to Art Basel Miami Beach.)

While NADA–to–Art Basel is often seen as a natural progression—thanks to NADA’s reputation as a proving ground for up-and-coming galleries—less typical is a move to Untitled Art, the other main satellite fair during Miami Art Week. But this year some longtime exhibitors at NADA have been eyeing a move to Untitled, according to multiple dealers. Untitled, in turn, has been quietly approaching NADA participants with what one dealer called “aggressive offers” to make the switch.

Located in a sunbaked tent on the sand of South Beach, Untitled, which launched in 2012, has been known, in the words of one art professional, as a “less curated, maybe less sophisticated,” not to mention, a pricier fair at which to exhibit. (NADA, after all, is a nonprofit.) Among critics, it has often been dismissed as a more commercially minded fair—a place where the artworks lean toward trends and the curation lacks the rigor or edge of NADA.

“One of the reasons why NADA was preferable to Untitled in Miami was the perception,” another dealer of a medium-size New York gallery told ARTnews. “Whether it’s true or not, artists—and some of the more serious collectors—believed NADA was the more critical or rigorous sphere, while Untitled was more like a smorgasbord where the quality of what you’d see had more variation.” But ultimately, according to the dealer, galleries exhibit where their artists want them to.

Jeff Lawson, founder of Untitled Art, told ARTnews that he has been in talks with several galleries he characterized as disillusioned with NADA. Though he declined to share details while those conversations are ongoing, it is clear Lawson has been promoting the fair. He told ARTnews that Untitled is open to negotiating with galleries whose budgets are tighter than in years past.

“What it boils down to is we understand the situation that these galleries are in, and we’re doing anything that we can do to support them,” Lawson said.

Primarily, that means flexibility, according to Lawson. Booths at Untitled are usually offered in standard sizes—from 200 to 600 square feet, in even hundreds. This year, Lawson said he’s asking what an art dealer’s budget is and working the numbers—even if that means 80 square feet over here or 250 square feet over there.

What remains murky is who made the first move. Some professionals say the conversations were initiated by Untitled, others say past NADA exhibitors began reaching out in frustration. Some dealers have a history with both fairs and are returning to Untitled after a few years with NADA. Either way, the dynamic is clear: Lawson sees an opening and is not hesitating.

The dynamic between NADA and Untitled been a bit of a powder keg for years. Back in 2012, when Untitled first planted stakes in the Miami Beach sand and NADA was celebrating a decade in South Florida, NADA tried to forbid its exhibitors from defecting. The NADA fair, which was then held at the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach, had to withdraw the demand. But multiple sources told ARTnews that an unspoken agreement remains: A dealer shows with either NADA or with Untitled, but not both.

For some dealers, the decision is less calculus than simple math. “Just compare the numbers,” one art fair veteran told ARTnews, pointing to each fair’s visitor numbers. That long trip across the causeway could be to blame: Untitled has drawn around 55,000 visitors in recent years; NADA Miami, by comparison, gets around 15,000 to 20,000 visitors, according to a NADA spokesperson. “It’s like apples and oranges. From a business perspective, you’re just going to get more people to come through the booth,” the art fair veteran said. 

While NADA argues that talk of a shift to Untitled or other fairs is overblown, the perception of lagging interest persists. One dealer told ARTnews they were surprised to hear from colleagues who were rejected from the 2025 edition of NADA Miami, suggesting that the association may still be able to curate selectively—even amid shrinking demand.

Further muddying the waters are whispers that NADA has yet to lock down its Miami venue. Acceptance letters sent to dealers last week notably did not include an address. When asked, a NADA spokesperson said the venue is confirmed and that details are “being finalized.” Similarly, Juan Piedrahita, general manager for Ice Palace Film Studios, the fair’s venue for many years, told ARTnews that the NADA contract “is in the hands of our attorney” and some final details are being ironed out.

The rumblings about trouble at NADA Miami come at an inopportune time. Just days ago, Artnet News reported that NADA quietly canceled the 2025 edition of its Parisian initiative, The Salon by NADA and The Community—an experimental fair launched last October and timed to Art Basel Paris. Dealers were informed in April via a letter that framed the pause as a strategic regrouping.

“In light of the current global climate—particularly the rising costs associated with production, real estate, and logistics—we felt that the financial commitment required at this time would have been prohibitive,” the message read. Instead, the fair said it would return to Paris in 2026 with “renewed energy and commitment.”

For some dealers, it landed as a practical, if disappointing, adjustment. For others, it read as a quiet admission of strain—an organization trimming its ambitions in the face of tightening budgets, uncertain interest, and a shrinking sense of inevitability.

If Untitled, which is launching a new fair in Houston next month, can take a big enough bite out of NADA’s pie, its reputation might get a boost—and the bite might not have to be a substantial one to make a difference.

“Last time I did NADA, a few years ago, I didn’t think the quality was there,” a European dealer told ARTnews. “Honestly, the distance between Untitled and NADA is shrinking. It’s one of the reasons I’ve decided not to do that fair again.”