Fairs and Markets

The British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) Council is giving members who exhibited at the curtailed The Open Art Fair (TOAF) sums equivalent to 20% of their stand rental charges.

La Biennale Paris has proposed that potential exhibitors may spread payment of their participation fees out over four months after the event.

The UK art and antiques trade is hastening its efforts to provide a sense of business as usual during unusual times after the UK government requested all ‘non-essential’ firms to close their premises to the public.

Fair organisers were forced into making dramatic changes to their schedule as almost every event in the UK and Ireland was either cancelled or postponed last week, while many dealers were left facing the most challenging conditions for trading in living memory.

The Open Art Fair, the new incarnation of what was the annual BADA fair in Chelsea, opened in hugely difficult circumstances on Wednesday March 18.

The world's leading art and antiques fair shuts early but dealers report significant sales at testing time

With the coronavirus outbreak impacting the art and antiques trade, the number of fairs being cancelled or postponed is extensive.

The round of applause that broke out for fair organiser Matthew Adams at the Royal Horticultural Halls on Sunday, March 15 was loud and, exhibitors said, very well-earned.

The UK’s art and antiques trade is bracing itself for challenging times as the impact of coronavirus takes hold.

Salon du Dessin, Art & Antiques for Everyone and Chelsea shelved but TOAF to go ahead