The ninth edition will take place at Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park in Warwickshire and runs from October 15-18 next year. It was previously hosted by Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, in the spring (except for last year’s event which ran in February).
Earlier this year it was announced that works on the stately home’s Orangery, continuing indefinitely, meant that the fair needed a new home. Dealer and CADA chairman Alex Puddy says the gallery emerged as the “stand-out place” when it searched for an alternative, offering the chance to showcase dealers’ stock within the halls of a museum.
“We are absolutely very positive about it,” he adds. “Out of a change of circumstance you get your head around a problem and look at what options are available. We’re moving our centre of gravity to a different region. We’re hoping we’ll be able to tap into a different market too.”
To facilitate the change of scene, CADA has brought on board Ingrid Nilson of Antiques Dealers Fairs Limited. She comes to the fair independent of the other organisation, though she says: “There is an overlap with people I’m used to working with – that part is more or less business as usual.”
She is involved in various practical arrangements, including working out how to stage the fair within the halls of an art gallery, where the only similar event is a table-top textiles fair (November 16-17).
“Right now, we’re working on making local contacts and wrapping our heads round the venue can provide,” Nilson says. “Being an art gallery there are certain rules we have to follow, such as keeping stand walls a certain distance from the exhibits.
“There are things we have to be very mindful of, but it creates wonderful opportunities for marketing and should be a bonus for the art gallery.”
Though no details have been released yet, the fair could overlap with two exhibitions at the gallery.
Compton Verney director Julie Finch says she is “delighted” to welcome CADA, adding that “visitors and exhibitors will be surrounded by the sumptuous art we have in our collections. It is a spectacular setting both inside and out.”
