This post was originally published on artnews.com
The Spring Break Art Show has canceled its 2025 Los Angeles edition, originally scheduled for February 18–23, citing ecological concerns surrounding the wildfires that have devastated swaths of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The fair also said that market saturation had contributed to its decision.
According to Hyperallergic, Spring Break cofounders Ambre Kelly and Andrew Gori said they were concerned over the impact on air and water quality, as well as the moral implications of hosting an event so soon after the disaster. Collector hesitation, they said, was also a factor in the decision, along with logistical complications stemming from how many of LA’s private schools were taking a “winter break.”
Instead, Spring Break will host a virtual exhibition, with participants guaranteed a spot in the fair’s New York edition in May. A portion of online sales will be directed to wildfire relief efforts.
Kelly and Gori said that their unconventional financial structure—in which the fair takes a cut of sales rather than charging upfront fees—allowed them to make the decision without pushing financial burdens onto exhibitors. Unlike larger fairs that rely on immediate revenue from booth fees, they argued, Spring Break could afford to “taking more seriously some assessments of ecological and social hurdles newly cropping up in the arts week ahead.”
According to a poll conducted among exhibitors, 30 percent of participants—primarily ones from outside Los Angeles—expressed health-related worries or concerns about occupying temporary housing that might otherwise serve wildfire victims. While other fairs, including Frieze LA, Felix, and the Other Art Fair, opted to proceed as scheduled, Kelly and Gori felt their fair’s community-driven model made cancellation the more responsible choice.
Despite this the decision has drawn criticism from some exhibitors and art world professionals who argue that Spring Break’s presence would have been a meaningful show of support. One curator who was slated to present at Spring Break, and who went unnamed in the story, told Hyperallergic that the community was “disappointed” at losing the opportunity to exhibit in Los Angeles and connect with the community.
The Other Art Fair founder Nicole Garton also chimed in, bemoaning the fact the fair is one of the few platforms for artists without gallery representation. Garton said her fair is attempting to accommodate displaced exhibitors.
Frieze Los Angeles, the city’s most prominent art fair, announced earlier this month that they would move ahead with the fair as planned. In a letter sent to fair VIPs on January 17, the organizers said that this edition of the fair “serves as an opportunity to stand with the community in its time of need.”