The Art Show 2023 | Exhibitor Booth Reports
Photo by Jason Wyche, Courtesy of ADAA.
The Art Show 2023
To Benefit Henry Street Settlement
Organized by the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA)
NOVEMBER 2-5, 2023Introduction
The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) commissioned its first-ever Sustainability Roadmap in 2022—a comprehensive guide for The Art Show, which assesses aspects of the fair that might impact climate or general wellness. This initiative aims to chart a course toward analyzing the environmental significance of such events, and by identifying short, mid, and long term goals, to encourage greater sustainability practices going forward, not only for The Art Show, but for art fairs worldwide.
In 2022, The Art Show asked a pilot group of exhibitors to track their climate impact resulting from participation in the fair, using the Climate Impact Report (CIR) model developed by Artists Commit. These CIRs were tailored by LHL Consulting for exhibitors’ specific participation in our fair. In addition to promoting a practice of self-assessment and building climate-fluency, CIRs submitted for The Art Show will help design more environmentally responsible future fairs. For the 2023 fair, we invited all exhibitors to participate in the CIR process, with 33 galleries submitting reports.
ENGAGEMENT: DATA HIGHLIGHTS
Almost half of exhibiting galleries opted in to reporting in 2023, increasing the data pool by more than 5x since the 2022 pilot.
78 Galleries were in The Art Show 2023
33 Galleries submitted baseline Climate Impact Reports (42%)
12 Galleries reported Emission Data (36% of participating, 15% overall)
6 Galleries submitted a “full report” with extended data answers (16% of participating, 8% overall)
“Tracking our emissions and waste production at The Art Show helps us make thoughtful decisions in terms of this fair, other fairs we participate in and the daily operation of the gallery.”
Insights:
CIRs are actively introducing first time climate action and conversations to galleries and their stakeholders:
62% Galleries said completing this report was their very first climate action.
85% Galleries had never calculated carbon emissions before.
1 Only one gallery said they had an existing climate action policy.
Two-thirds of galleries don’t know whether their artists are taking climate action.
Increasing conversations between galleries and artists can directly lead to new opportunities to collaborate.
As one gallery noted, “The project had the gallery working with the artist as a collective to reduce emissions, it would not have been possible without the collaboration between gallery and artist.”
25% of galleries engaged stakeholders beyond staff in their Climate Impact Report, most often their vendors.
Talking to vendors, fabricators, artists, or clients can open up unexpected opportunities to improve impact and helps makes these expected and accepted priorities.
“This project motivated us to work with the exhibiting artist to find ways to reduce waste while also supporting the aesthetic of her sculptures.”
EMISSIONS: DATA HIGHLIGHTS
12 Galleries reported Emission Data (36% of reporting, 15% overall)
85% Reporting galleries do not currently track any emissions
1 Only 1 reporting gallery said they had done an annual emissions audit
62% Reporting galleries were confident their emissions calculation was at least somewhat accurate
Insights:
Galleries are using emission efficient travel methods - unless they need to fly.
Thanks to New York City’s public transit infrastructure, galleries are able to use low emission transport options to get to and from the fair once in the city. There’s an opportunity to reduce car travel and increase public transit/walking, and perhaps encourage galleries in the northeast corridor to opt for trains instead of flights.
Flights are one of the most carbon intensive decisions a gallery can make.
The average reported travel-related emissions from galleries with no flights was just a fraction of galleries that took flights. Flight choices matter too - an economy flight can have ¼ of the emission impact as a first class flight.
Galleries are shipping mainly by road, but are still using air instead of sea freight internationally, despite the high emissions.
Domestic road freight shuttles are particularly popular for art fairs, a convenient and carbon responsible option if planning ahead.
Freight choice is key to reducing emissions.
While sea freight isn’t an option for all types of artwork or routes, this gallery could have significantly reduced their emissions by opting for sea freight over air freight for their shipment from Dusseldorf.
“I think that the climate action report made us more aware of our impact than usual, and staff did their best to limit unnecessary travel to and from the fair by train/car.”
WASTE: DATA HIGHLIGHTS
30 Galleries provided information about waste types and reduction efforts. (90% of reporting, 39% overall)
9 Galleries provided a waste report summary, and 1 gallery provided a detailed material afterlife summary (27% of reporting, 12% overall)
1 Gallery provided estimated weights for paper, construction materials, and plastic waste. (3% of reporting, 1% overall)
Insights:
Galleries generally try to reduce waste.
63% of reporting galleries said they prioritized reducing waste to landfill for their booth.
While a quarter of galleries neither agreed nor disagreed, four galleries indicated this was not a priority for their 2023 booth.
Planning ahead and reusing material are the most common waste reduction strategies.
Six galleries also indicated they actively made booth build or artwork selection decisions based on the potential waste impact.
Other actions reported included initiatives to reduce or reuse packaging material, reducing on site paper use, opting not to use fabric covered walls, ceilings, or special flooring, and regularly reusing furniture and pedestals owned by the gallery for the booth.
Most galleries reuse existing material for their booth presentations.
While one-third of galleries sourced new material for their fair booth presentation, we heard that many galleries reuse material, including several galleries with fair kits used for every fair.
Single use packaging is the most common waste type reported.
However, this is also one of the areas that many galleries indicated reduction methods around. For example one gallery said: “We reuse as much material as possible - plastic sheeting, corrugated cardboard, bubble wrap, and commercial bins. These materials usually get used multiple times before the plastic is thrown away and the cardboard is recycled.”
“Although we are often thoughtful about waste, this project definitely made the subject top of mind while at the art fair.”
WORKERS & COMMUNITY: DATA HIGHLIGHTS
6 Galleries completed an extended report which included additional questions about worker and community engagement.
Insights: Workers
Galleries that responded were generally comfortable talking about worker support with their team.
Asking your team what they need in order to feel supported to integrate climate action into their role is one of the top recommendations for increasing climate action.
The most common worker support initiative in place at galleries that responded was health insurance.
Workers need basic working conditions in place in order to have the capacity to show up as creative climate contributors on projects.
For their fair booths specifically, we asked galleries about ways they supported their team to take climate action.
This is a particularly limited data set, and we commend the galleries that opted in to the full report!
“I think it makes the staff feel good to be part of something like this. It’s encouraging and shows them that it’s possible to be mindful of the environment in the art business.”
“This report was a great way to stay on top of this and keep each other accountable.”
INSIGHTS: Community
Galleries are already involved in art world networks and initiatives.
This isn’t a surprise, since exhibiting galleries are ADAA members! However, the finding highlights the opportunity available for expanding climate action through existing participation in art world initiatives.
Few galleries reported community engagement efforts specifically for their fair booth.
While this also isn’t a surprise, it highlights a possible opportunity. Two galleries did report that they collaborated on joint action, and one gallery incorporated climate impact messaging.
“This is a very important topic that we should keep discussing and growing and reflecting on and how this fits into our larger world.”
Exhibitor Booth Climate Impact Reports
In addition to the overall data highlights and insights pulled from all of the reports, five of the 33 participating galleries agreed for their reports to be shared in full. Explore these below.
Credits
This report was prepared by Laura Lupton of LHL Consulting, in dialogue with Maureen Bray of ADAA. We had conversations with the global design and architecture firm Gensler, who created the Sustainability Roadmap for ADAA. ADAA's thought partners in the Sustainability Roadmap Initiative are Henry Street Settlement, Sanford L. Smith + Associates, and AXA XL, a division of AXA.
A special thank you to all of the participating galleries, and especially to the five galleries that agreed to share their reports as case studies.
Questions about the process can be directed to LHL Consulting at support@climateconsulting.art
