Poised to be the next Art Basel is Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week (SFAW), the Valley’s first international art fair. From March 20-23, 2025, this confluence of culture will bring artwork from over 120 galleries under one 120,000-square-foot roof at WestWorld of Scottsdale, home to some of the state’s hottest events including the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction and Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.

Additional programming will include daily fashion shows, cultural performances, sculptural installations, offsite VIP events and collaborations with renowned art institutions, artists and collectors alike.

Supporting the Arts

The man behind the idea, Trey Brennen, owner of Old Town’s T.H. Brennen Fine Art, first conceptualized SFAW after attending an art fair in The Hamptons last summer.

“Scottsdale has exploded in popularity over the past few years,” says Brennen. “It’s the wealth of the West in many ways, especially during the heart of spring training, when our inaugural event will take place in 2025.”

As one of the country’s most affluent cities and top art destinations, Scottsdale was a natural choice for both Brennen and other SFAW co-owners, which include a Rolodex of key players in Scottsdale’s arts and entertainment scene.

Among the event’s backers? Jason Rose, president of Scottsdale-based Rose + Allyn Public Relations and owner of Bentley Scottsdale Polo Championships and Quixote Productions; Cities West Media, publisher of PHOENIX magazine and Phoenix Home & Garden; award-winning interior designer Anita Lang; architect Mark Candelaria, owner of Candelaria Design; Emilie Dietrich, CEO of RAYMAR Fine Art Panels; and Danny Sharaby, founder of Tickets Unlimited and member of the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

“As soon as we heard the concept behind Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week we didn’t want to just help—we wanted to invest,” Brett Wilson, president of Cities West Media, says while reflecting on his decision to support SFAW. “This is an incredible and very wealthy market that has been waiting for something like this. After all, we have the biggest golf tournament, car auction, Arabian Horse Show and the best spring training in America. Why not a new art event with the same ambition?”

Spearheading the four-day long event is Logan Browning, SFAW’s chief creative consultant and notable art advisor and curator, who previously worked at Hindman Auctions as the senior director of trusts, estates and private clients, and SFAW’s development director and industry titan Michael Plummer, who is also the founder/principal of Artvest and founder/co-owner of uber-successful New York art fair TEFAF New York, now in its ninth year.

Plummer recently sat down with us to discuss the business of art.

Artful Insights from Michael Plummer

What impact do you think SFAW will have on the state?

When an art fair is successful in a city, it helps the local art scene in two ways. For local galleries—say, in this case, those that promote the work of contemporary Indigenous artists—having galleries that work on the international stage can boost the prestige of the program they already have. In other instances, if locals buy from a dealer or gallery with a gallery in a larger city, sometimes it will entice them to open up a local shop in a smaller city such as Scottsdale.

What does it take to execute an event of such a large scale?

Attention to detail. Having co-owned and started three fairs in the last 10 years, Spring Masters New York, TEFAF New York Fall, and TEFAF New York Spring, I have learned that for a fair to be successful, a fair producer needs to plan for both the exhibitor and visitor experience as they often have very different needs and expectations. And as the fair producer makes a huge investment in the first year’s event, they want as many of both to return as possible. When exhibitors and visitors feel that fair management anticipates their needs and expectations, they tend to return. Though it’s a very different business model, it has the same underlying principle of a mix of great hospitality, entertainment and imagination. For an example of this, just look at any Disney theme park.

Can you tell us more about your role with SFAW?

My role is evolving quickly, but primarily it is to guide the fair towards the right mix of exhibitor and visitor experience that creates the most successful art fair event possible—one that is both exciting and relevant in the region to both residents and tourists. Rather than being just one more contemporary art fair in the U.S., we feel it’s important to make this a fair of art and design and to encourage both contemporary and historical art. It’s a great opportunity to introduce the local market to new combinations and styles of art and design.

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Tell us more about Artvest.

I founded Artvest in 2009 with a colleague from Christie’s where we had been engaged in starting an art fund just before Artvest. Aside from starting the three art fairs, I’ve had many great clients and projects at Artvest. The most notable of which that I can talk about is my work for the Detroit Institute of Arts during the city’s bankruptcy trial as we worked to save its world-class art collection from the city’s creditors. Fortunately, our side prevailed in the end, and that amazing museum and its irreplaceable art collection were saved.

For those interested in pursuing art investing, what’s your #1 piece of business advice?

Don’t make quick judgments about the art world. It is a complicated place to do business, with business practices that are older than the age of our country. It is a relationship-driven business. If you do your homework and find dealers and galleries you trust, you can buy wisely.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Stay tuned—I expect SFAW to be a great event and hopefully, much like TEFAF New York is to New York City, it will be a capstone to the annual event calendar in Scottsdale.

Tickets for the event will be available at scottsdaleartweek.com starting Sept. 24.