NADA Miami Appears to Be Losing Exhibitors to Other Miami Fairs

Editor’s Note: This story first appeared in balance, Artnews Newsletters about the art market and other regions. Register here Accept it every Wednesday.

Every December, the art world drops due to its annual sun-soaked schmoozing and the annual rituals of the Marathon Week Art Fair. However, one of Miami Art Week’s most determined fixtures this year is showing signs of pressure. According to more than six art world professionals, the new Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) has been celebrated as an independent taster since 2003, and his exhibitors are facing increasing turmoil.

The main complaint about NADA is that it is not in Miami Beach, a nine-mile long land near the city’s coast, but in the Ice Palace Film Studios eight miles inland. On a great day, it takes 20 minutes to drive. During Art Week, it’s two hours of MacArthur or Venetian Causeway during a more typical traffic jam. In a healthy market, commuting may not matter. In a softening situation, it’s a problem.

“The main thing is transportation,” said one of the owners of the Central New York Gallery. “Traffic on the causeway – almost impossible to deal with. People literally give up half. They’ll go halfway and turn around.”

Sources of familiarity with the NADA application process Artnews The Miami Expo received much fewer applications this year, with one of the estimates down “30% to 50%” compared to previous versions.

NADA executive director Heather Hubbs acknowledged in an email that the application was “slightly lower than last year” but said the 30% to 50% figure was “bigly closed.”

Hubbs said the lower application numbers “a comprehensive track with our colleagues and also consider many healthy numbers of Nada galleries that will be exhibited in Basel Miami Beach for the first time this year, which is exciting.” She added that as a nonprofit arts organization, Nada’s “first priority is always to make sure we do the best for members and communities.”

This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach roster includes 11 galleries exhibited in Nada Miami last year. These include Kate Werble, Margot Samel, Pit, Nina Johnson, Nina Johnson, 56 Henry, Franz Kaka and Carbon Kaka and Carbon Kaka and Carbon 12 – all of this is shown in at least the first three versions of Nada Miami. (Last year, seven NADA exhibitors jumped to Basel Miami Beach.)

Although Nada-Art-Art Basel is often seen as a natural progression – thanks to Nada’s reputation as evidence of emerging galleries, it is typical of untitled art, another major satellite expo during Miami Art Week. However, according to multiple dealers, some long-time exhibitors at Nada have been paying attention to untitled moves this year. In turn, the untitled person has been quietly contacting Nada participants, which a dealer calls “aggressive quotes” to switch.

In a sun-drenched tent on the sandy beach of South Beach, launched in 2012, it was a “not so well-planned, perhaps less sophisticated” in the words of an art professional, let alone the fairness of the exhibition’s price. (Nada, after all, is a nonprofit.) It is often seen as a more commercially meaningful fairness among critics—where art tends to trend, while curation lacks the strictness or margins of NADA.

Another mid-sized New York gallery dealer told Artnews. “Whether it is true, the artists and some more serious collectors think that Nada is a more critical or strict sphere, while the untitled Nada is more like a smorgasbord, and there is more variation in the quality you see.” But ultimately, according to the dealer, the gallery exhibits where their artists want.

Jeff Lawson, founder of Untitled Art, told Artnews He has been in talks with several galleries where he was disillusioned by Nada. Although he refused to share details while having these conversations, it was clear that Lawson had been promoting the fair. He told Artnews This untitled person is willing to negotiate with a gallery that has a closer budget than in the past few years.

“It boils down to us understanding the situation these galleries are in, we are doing anything that can support them,” Lawson said.

According to Lawson, this mainly means flexibility. Untitled stalls are usually available in standard sizes, ranging from 200 to 600 square feet, or even hundreds of square feet. This year, Lawson said he was asking art dealers what their budget is and working on the numbers — even if that means 80 square feet here, or 250 square feet there.

Still blurry is who took the first step. Some professionals say the conversation was initiated by untitled, while others say that past Nada exhibitors began to lend a hand in frustration. Some dealers have history at the fair and have returned untitled after a few years with NADA. Either way, the dynamic is obvious: Lawson saw an opening without hesitation.

For years, the dynamic between NADA and untitled was powder keg. Back in 2012, when the first bet on Miami Beach beaches was unnamed and Nada celebrated a decade in South Florida, Nada tried to ban its exhibitors from defecting. The Nada Expo was then held at the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach, and demand had to be withdrawn. But multiple sources told Artnews A silent agreement remains: Dealer with NADA or untitled, but not both are displayed.

For some dealers, this decision is much less than simple math. “Just compare numbers,” an art fair veteran told Artnewspoint to the visitor number for each fair. The long journey on the causeway may be accusation: Untitled has attracted about 55,000 visitors in recent years; Miami, by comparison, Miami has attracted about 15,000 to 20,000 visitors, according to a NADA spokesperson. “It’s like apples and oranges. From a business standpoint, you’ll attract more people through the booths,” said the Art Fair veteran.

Though Nada believes that talking about the shift toward untitled or other fairs has been exaggerated, the perception of backward interest remains. A dealer told Artnews They were surprised to hear from colleagues who were rejected in Nada Miami in 2025, suggesting that the association may still be able to orchestrate selectively, even if demand is reduced.

Nada hasn’t locked in on its Miami venue whispers. The acceptance letter sent to the dealer last week does not include the address. When asked, a NADA spokesman said the venue had been confirmed and details were “completed”. Similarly, Juan Piedrahita, general manager of the Ice Palace Film Studios for many years, told the fair Artnews The NADA contract is “in the hands of our lawyers” and is eliminating some final details.

The noise about Nada Miami’s troubles is at an inappropriate time. A few days ago, Artnet News Nada reportedly quietly canceled the 2025 Paris Initiative, Salon and the Community, an experimental fair launched last October and kept the timing with Art Basel Paris. The dealer was told in April that the letter would pause to form a strategic restructuring.

“Given the current global climate – especially the rising costs associated with production, real estate and logistics, we believe the financial commitments required at the moment will be prohibitive,” the news read. Instead, the Expo said it will return to Paris with a “re-energy and commitment” in 2026.

It’s a practical (even a disappointing tweak) for some dealers. For others, it is considered a quiet acknowledgement of pressure – in the face of tightening budgets, uncertain interest and inevitable feeling, putting its ambitions.

If the untitled new fair in Houston next month can absorb a big enough bite from Nada’s pie, its reputation may be improved – the bite may not necessarily be a big one.

“I did Nada a few years ago and I didn’t think the quality was there,” a European dealer told Artnews. “Honestly, the distance between Untitled and NADA is shrinking. This is one of the reasons why I decided not to do this anymore.”