Verge Art Miami Beach Applications.htm

"In the major markets of Miami and New York, contemporary art is performing impressively well," said co-founder Michael Workman. After a clear upsurge in sales figures from last year, Miami Beach retains its position as the most successful art fair destination in the United States. Following its groundbreaking Verge Art Brooklyn in March, Verge proudly returns to Miami Beach for a third annual satellite Art Miami Beach, 1-4 December. "As Verge continues to grow and evolve with the market, it's clear from bold experiments such as Art Brooklyn--organized in a mere six weeks from start to finish--that Verge leads the cutting-edge," said Workman. Significant sales, solid foot traffic throughout the weekend, an avalanche of press coverage ranging from aphoristic to outright exultant, alongside a clear enthusiasm for the freshness of the art on display, helped set a new standard of excellence for innovation and inventiveness in the art fair business. Verge's staff of young artists also worked tirelessly to launch fresh community-driven projects such as Brooklyn Art Now and the "Tomorrow Stars" artist's Open Call exhibition alongside a section of international gallery exhibitiors. In addition, space was provided free-of-charge for art organizers and commentators to engage their chosen publics alongside special exhibtions by dozens of resident galleries. Simply overwhelmed by the response, Verge organizers enthusiastically look forward to continuing to grow and even more effectively support the work of artists and important galleries from around the world, humbly beginning with the third annual Miami Beach exposition. Come drink a lemonade with us!

Verge will seek to expand upon its enterprising market efforts and further cultivate the fair's position as a uniquely compelling place for new art. First introduced at Art Brooklyn, the much-loved "Tomorrow Stars" juried Open Call will be continued in Miami Beach, alongside last year's "Drawing Show" section, reformatted as a juried exhibition as well, this year giving individual artists two powerful new juried exhibition options for reaching tomorrow's informed collectors. Minneapolis-based artist and gallerist Peter Van Brabson has been retained as Director of Exhibitor Services for the next two editions of Verge in the first step of a targeted staff expansion.

Quality will remain the first priority, with a list of Official Selection works chosen from participating gallery exhibitors at this year's Verge. This not only fosters an enviroinment for artwork of solid market pedigree, but also of critically refined distinctions from that seen at more conventional fairs. Award categories will be determined by the jury. Both the list of jury members and categories will be announced later this autumn. Galleries will be assigned jury review on a first-come-first-served basis.

Artistic applications are now being accepted for the Art Miami Beach open call juried exhibtions. Art Miami Beach is looking for the best in not-yet-seen before new work; to prevent lobbying, finalists selected by a blind panel of distinguished jurors will be given space to exhibit one work from their application at Art Miami Beach. Works selected by the panel will be exhibited at Art Miami Beach in an astutely written-on survey section. This open call is available to all artists practicing in every media, in and outside of the Miami area. Apply online by clicking here

Verge has had great success with past media sponsorship outreach, including Art In America, Mutualart.com, ArtFacts and numerous others, and will aggressively pursue these sponsorships and others on behalf of Art Miami Beach. Additionally, a targeted advertising strategy will be organized and executed focusing on relevant art publications and outreach organizations, including popular art announcement services such as Re-title, Flux, VANlist, and others, with opt-in subscription totals well into the millions. Art Miami Beach and its partners will also pursue an integrated outreach strategy through proprietary subscription lists, social media, web and print advertising and available public displays.

Verge is an international platform for the most exciting and interesting in new and emerging art. Verge exists to establish boundaries of the extraordinary as a counter to the natural compulsion towards stagnation in the way art is evaluated and delivered to the public. Staying true to this necessary state for the advancement of art requires a sustained focus on the best new ideas and practices of those marginal or newly emerging to international art audiences. The satisfaction of this fixed requirement for a healthy and competitive artistic culture is at the core of Verge as an international exposition of the highest quality artistic production and the galleries, museums and audiences who sustain it.