NIAD Launches Art Fair Program, Expanding National Platform for Artists with Disabilities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Richmond, CA — November 5, 2025 — NIAD (Nurturing Independence through Artistic Development) today announced the launch of its first art fair program — a major step in expanding opportunities for artists with disabilities to engage directly with collectors, curators, and the contemporary art world.

While NIAD artists have previously exhibited at fairs through its artists who have gallery representation or via partnerships, this marks the first time the Richmond-based progressive art studio will present its own booth at major art fairs across the country.

NIAD will debut at the Open Invitational Art Fair in Miami, held December 1–6, 2025, coinciding with Miami Art Week, which includes Art Basel Miami Beach, NADA, Untitled, and Design Miami. The organization will then participate in the Open Invitational x Creativity Explored San Francisco, January 23–25, 2026, organized in partnership with NIAD’s San Francisco sister studio and supported by a Svane Family Foundation grant. The initiative will culminate at the Felix Art Fair in Los Angeles, February 25–March 1, 2026, one of the most influential fairs in the contemporary art calendar.

At Felix, NIAD will present a focused four-artist exhibition featuring works by Karen May and Sylvia Fragoso, both active NIAD studio artists, alongside alumni artists Donald Walker and Willie Harris. The presentation spans painting, works on paper, and ceramic sculptures, highlighting each artist’s distinct approach to form, color, and storytelling — from Karen May’s intricate mark-making to Sylvia Fragoso’s architectural abstractions. Fragoso, NIAD’s longest-practicing artist, began working in the studio in 1983.

“We’re thrilled to be participating in these art fairs, which provide powerful platforms for collectors, curators, and the art world to experience the work of artists with disabilities,” said Lucy Zimmerman, NIAD’s Exhibitions & Partnerships Director. “These presentations underscore NIAD’s belief that disabled artists are vital contributors to contemporary culture — shaping new narratives, aesthetics, ways of seeing and being together in the world.”

This initiative reflects NIAD’s ongoing commitment to increasing visibility for artists with disabilities, building institutional partnerships, and strengthening representation within national and international art dialogues.

For inquiries on the art fairs, please email gallery@niadart.org.

Featured art, from upper left: Karen May, Untitled, 2017. Mixed media, approx. 10.5 x 10.5 in.  Willie Harris, Untitled, n.d., Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 in. Donald Walker, Untitled, n.d., Acrylic on canvas, 64 x 84 in. Sylvia Fragoso, Untitled, 2016, Glazed ceramic, 12.25 x 12.5 x 7 in.

About NIAD Art Center

NIAD is one of the three original progressive art studios founded in the Bay Area by Florence and Elias Katz; this model has now been replicated across the country and around the world. They opened NIAD Art Center (originally “National Institute of Art and Disabilities”) in 1982 with the belief that creativity was inherent in every person, and the ability to express that creativity was powerful and transformational.

NIAD has since expanded into both in-person and virtual studio programs supporting more than 75 artists who exhibit their work at galleries, museums, non-profits, and fairs worldwide. Working alongside artist facilitators and support staff, NIAD artists sustain vital art practices and take an active role in the development of their careers as professional artists—careers that can span decades.

NIAD artists enjoy representation by established contemporary art galleries such as Adams and Ollman (Portland), Hoffman Donahue (New York and Los Angeles), and SHRINE (New York), and have participated. in exhibitions at galleries such as JTT (New York); Part 2 Gallery (Oakland); White Columns (New York); Off Paradise (New York); Guerrero Gallery (Los Angeles); Massimo de Carlo (Hong Kong). Works by NIAD artists are held in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; RISD. Museum; MAD Musée in Belgium; and the Oakland Museum of California. Visit: https://niadart.org/