In a city already saturated with art fairs, a new entrant is promising to do more than just add to the noise. Conductor, a forthcoming initiative backed by Powerhouse Arts, will debut in 2026 with a mission to center artists and galleries from the “Global Majority”—a term used to refer to communities from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, and Indigenous Nations worldwide.
The fair’s soft launch, a curated invitational preview, is set to take place from May 7–11, 2025, in Powerhouse Arts’ cavernous Gowanus space. Artists featured include Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (Indonesian-Thai diaspora), Khaled Jarrar (Palestine), Modupeola Fadugba (Nigeria), and the Brazilian collective MAHKU, among others. The full-scale fair will follow in 2026.
According to Adriana Farietta, Conductor’s curatorial director, the fair responds to what she sees as structural limits in traditional fairs—where entry often hinges on steep fees and slim odds. “So many of these large fairs have a limited, very competitive section for younger galleries to participate,” she said. “Conductor seeks to reduce these pressures by focusing squarely on young galleries and individual artists representing the Global Majority.”
The goal, she says, is not just representation but redistribution—lowering barriers to entry for galleries that have historically been locked out of New York’s blue-chip circuit.
Eric Shiner, president of Powerhouse Arts, says the model is also pragmatic. By inviting artists to fabricate work onsite—across mediums like ceramics, sculpture, and printmaking—CONDUCTOR sidesteps the considerable shipping and customs costs that often prevent international artists from showing work in the U.S. “This radically lowers costs,” said Shiner, “and yields artists new bodies of work or editioned series to introduce at approachable price points to a broad audience.”
That logistical flexibility has already paid off. For the 2025 preview, Phingbodhipakkiya’s large-scale installation is being fabricated in collaboration with Powerhouse’s public art team, and Jarrar’s work was created through the organization’s Artist Subsidy Program.
Despite the local roots, Shiner sees the fair remaining a Powerhouse project long-term. “By the nature of this model, and this value offering, we see Conductor remaining a PHA-exclusive fair,” he said.
Powerhouse Arts has already tested the waters as a fair venue: the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair debuted there in March, drawing over 600 people to its opening and bringing together 41 print-focused galleries, 28 self-representing artists, and seven academic print departments.
While the language surrounding Conductor leans heavily on uplift and ambition, the underlying strategy is a familiar and often successful one: start small, control the venue, and build an alternative platform in a space already overrun by expensive booths and legacy exhibitors. Whether Conductor becomes a breakout event or another niche affair will depend less on the talking points and more on whether New York’s collectors actually show up.
