The issues were debated by 40 representatives from New York City’s top show management companies and exhibition equipment suppliers, many of them from the antiques business, when they met at Madison Square Garden on October 4 to discuss the future of special events in the city in the wake of September 11.
As the city’s armories and pier space remain commandeered for military use, the lack of exhibition space was top of the agenda. The forum was hosted by Stella Show Management, producers of some of the city’s largest antiques and collectables shows. The firm is one of many that have been adversely affected by the absence of exhibition space in New York since the terrorist attacks. Also attending from the antiques community were representatives from Sanford Smith & Associates, who have three events in New York armories planned for late October and November, the Armory Art Show and the Art Dealers Association of America.
The tone of the morning was one of unusual solidarity and strength between organisers as they searched for solutions that will bring business back to the city. “We must continue to share information and help each other to help New York gain back its event business,” said Stella’s Joan Tramontano.
Irene Stella gave a statement urging for answers to questions regarding the current lack of exhibition space. “We want to heed our mayor’s plea to conduct business as usual, to put people back to work and to bring spenders to our city,” she said. “Our industry is crying out an answer to the plea. Our answer is: ‘We can do that, we can and do and will bring visitors to New York in great numbers. But to do so we need exhibit space’.”
While mindful of the job that needs to be done and assistance needed for the victims of the disaster, Stella prepared questions to be submitted to the mayor and the agencies of the city. They included:
• Trade and consumer shows are booked years in advance. Can we count on assistance in restoring exhibit space in New York or must we move to other cities?
• How long will the worthy and necessary emergency services be working out of the enormous space at the piers. Could services move to office space instead of exhibit space?
• The unavailability of the New York armories, although smaller than the piers, is having a large, significant impact on our industry. Can the city appoint an advocate to speed construction permits so that they may convert raw space to exhibit space quickly?
Sanford Smith & Associates prepared some hard economic data regarding the impact of art, antique, design, book and craft shows on New York City and State, estimating revenue of more than $100m for the economy from advertising in local newspapers to the hotel rooms for 3900 visiting exhibitors.
There was hope that the issue could be addressed quickly but in truth the New Year was at the forefront of discussion. “The city is just now beginning to understand the full spillover effect caused by the events of September 11,” commented Elise Kroll, head of ENK, a company that produce regular trade shows. “The city is not ignoring the needs of groups such as ours, but they are overwhelmed. Currently we are looking at January, February or March before these needs are addressed.”
“Most fall events have been lost,” said Stella. “The next big season is January when five or six antiques events are held in one month. The city, its workers, businesses and many charities will suffer a great loss is assistance is not forthcoming to restore exhibit space by then.”
New York fair organisers expect major disruptions until 2002
FAIRS organisers in New York plan to approach the city authorities with a view to getting events back on track as soon as possible. But they fear that with the continuing problems facing the city, it will be January at the earliest before suitable space can be found to resume anything close to a normal service.
