The non-profit New Art Dealers Alliance announced today that it’s pulling the plug on its annual spring fair in New York. The decision comes at a time when small and mid-size galleries face declining attendance and unprecedented financial pressures, often exacerbated by the high cost of participating in art fairs.

“It’s vital for us to think about the where, when, and how of fairs, in a moment so saturated with them,” said Elyse Derosia, the board president of NADA and do-founder of Bodega gallery, in a statement. The board voted in favor of canceling the fair after “extensive conversation with members.”

In lieu of a 2019 fair in New York, organizers said they will dedicate the resources to gallery programming. The aim is to increase the foot traffic and visibility of gallery exhibitions during March Arts Week, a shift back to artists and galleries that Derosia calls “both exciting and crucially timed.”

NADA New York. Photo by Eileen Kinsella

NADA’s fair in Miami will go on, with the next version opening in December at Ice Palace Studios. Miami’s PULSE art fair also abandoned its New York edition last year, while the Moving Image fair closed its doors in New York this spring.

The decision gives NADA “time to develop and deploy new initiatives that will best serve our members as their needs continue to shift and evolve,” says executive director Heather Hubbs in a statement. Producing “alternative models” for collectors and the public to engage with contemporary art has always been central to NADA’s mission, she said. Most recently, NADA opened its first offsite exhibition, titled “Close Quarters” on New York’s Governor’s Island.