Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week founder Trey Brennen shares details on the upcoming event for art collectors and enthusiasts.

Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week

Dates March 20-23
Location WestWorld of Scottsdale, 16601 N. Pima Road
Website scottsdaleartweek.com
Instagram @scottsdaleartweek

Scottsdale has long had a vibrant art scene populated with galleries, museums and celebrated contemporary and Western artists. This spring, the world is invited to be a part of the city’s unique cultural aesthetic with the first annual Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week. The four-day event between March 20-23 will be held at WestWorld of Scottsdale and locations throughout the Scottsdale/Phoenix area, and feature more than 100 gallerists representing contemporary artists from around the globe. We sat down with founder Trey Brennen, owner of T.H. Brennen Fine Art in Old Town Scottsdale, to get the details about this exciting new venture.

What sparked the idea for this art showcase?

As a gallery owner, I try to expose my artists to as many prospective collectors as possible. I was an exhibitor at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair in New York in 2023, and I saw how a fair creates that exposure on a large scale. If 3,000 people come to my gallery in a year, a fair will bring in 15,000 or 20,000 people over a few days.

How did you put the team together to make this happen?

I needed to find people who would believe in the idea and who could furnish it with power. I made a cold call to Jason Rose, an entrepreneur and the owner of the Scottsdale Polo Championships. He saw the value and believed in the concept from the start, and he had Ferrari in the mix within the first two months. We also brought on Michael Plummer, the co-founder of The European Fine Art Foundation (TFAF) New York, which is the most elevated art fair in the country, and Benjamin Genocchio, the former director of the Armory Show in New York City and a former New York Times art critic. A new, upstart fair needs street cred to draw the biggest galleries, and Ben has that.

What can attendees expect?

We’ll have 120 galleries, each representing about half a dozen artists. We’re attracting galleries from Istanbul, Japan, Mexico, Europe, Latin America and all over the United States, including several that feature Indigenous art and owners. We’re also planning several events, such as fashion shows and cultural programming, that will take place both at WestWorld and offsite, including events at Taliesin West and Desert Botanical Garden. The event will kick off with a gala.

How will this compare to other significant art fairs, like TEFAF New York or Miami’s Art Basel?

It’s important to us to be unique, drawing on the experience of art fairs like TEFAF but not simply following their model. We want to create an event that’s unique to our market and that stimulates our cultural community. When we started, we were thinking of it as something for Scottsdale, but it has grown, and we’re building one of the biggest cultural events in the Southwest. We want to be a destination in the spring the way Miami is in the first week of December.

Why do you think Scottsdale is the right place?

Maybe I’m an idealist, but I’m very bullish about Arizona. Everything I value—my wife, my kids, my businesses, my successes—is because of my city and my state. I think this is one of the best markets. Scottsdale and the greater Phoenix area are home to contemporary and Western art galleries, auction houses, internationally renowned artists, collectors and a fantastic network of museums and cultural institutions. Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week will attract patrons internationally to the heart of Arizona at the height of tourist season.