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How BUTTER’s Founders Are Rethinking the Economics of the Art Fair

Conceived in the wake of the art world’s post-2020 racial equity reckoning, the fair exists at the intersection of social justice, cultural production and economic experimentation.

In a pay-to-play art-fair ecosystem largely designed to keep galleries coming back and collectors entertained, new fairs looking to gain a foothold can’t stray far from the traditional model. But the founders of BUTTER Fine Art Fair didn’t want to play the game as it’s usually played and, in fact, strayed so far from what’s typical that—on paper—it reads less like a fair than a social justice initiative. But BUTTER, which launched in 2021 in Indianapolis and expanded to Los Angeles for L.A. Art Week, is very much a fair, albeit an experimental one that’s exploring in real time what happens when the economic structure of an art fair is rebuilt around artists.

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Launched in 2021 in Indianapolis by the cultural development organization GANGGANG, which was co-founded by Malina Simone Jeffers and Alan Bacon, BUTTER was conceived in the aftermath of the racial equity reckoning that swept the cultural sector after 2020 and asks a blunt question most fairs avoid: if artists generate the value, why do they see so little of the revenue? The answer is structural rather than rhetorical. Instead of the familiar art-fair pipeline—galleries applying for booths, paying hefty fees and presenting a roster of artists—the fair has artists and collectives mounting exhibits directly. Chosen through a juried selection process, invited artists not only don’t pay booth rental fees; the fair also covers travel and accommodations. More importantly, the financial model removes many of the intermediaries that normally skim profits off the top. There are no commissions, so sales proceeds flow directly to artists in one of the few serious attempts in the U.S. arts ecosystem to redistribute economic power.

In its first five years, BUTTER has featured nearly 200 artists and welcomed more than 46,000 visitors, generating over $1 million in art sales, all directed to artists. Each edition typically presents 30 to 50 exhibitors spanning emerging names, mid-career artists and occasional established figures from across the United States and the broader African diaspora. The price points reflect the same diversity: works can start in the low hundreds and climb into the six-figure........

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