The Butter Fine Art Fair is taking place for the fourth time this week and is shining a spotlight on the work of Black artists from across the country in a celebratory setting with an unconventional economic model – 100% of the proceeds from art sales go directly to the artists.

More than 60 exhibitors will participate in an action-packed series of lectures, presentations, musical interludes and spoken word sets, creating a rich, lively atmosphere at the Stutz, a former factory building in downtown Indianapolis.

“When we thought about the first year, we thought maybe 1,000 people in Indianapolis would come to something like this,” says Malina Simone Bacon, co-founder of Butter. The art newspaper. “We got it up and running very quickly, found early support and over 3,400 people came. This year we expect over 12,000 people and hit the $1 million sales mark.”

Who will be exhibiting at this year’s Butter?

The international art fair circuit, with its big names and top prices, is not exactly a model of accessibility for emerging artists or aspiring collectors new to the art world. The major fairs cultivate an atmosphere of exclusivity where the world’s deepest-pocketed collectors can acquire the rarest works. Regional fairs are thriving in cities like Dallas, but Butter, with its homegrown commitment to equity, offers a different way of doing business that gives historically marginalized voices a voice.

Exhibitors at the 2024 fair include Cornelius Tulloch, an interdisciplinary architect and designer from Miami whose work is in the permanent collection at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Bahamian-American artist April Bey will show her mixed-media reflections on Afrofuturism, which have already been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno and the California African American Museum. In keeping with Butters’ promise to ensure that half of all artists included are from Indianapolis, one of this year’s participants is D. Del Reverda Jennings.a local self-taught artist whose work channels the diasporic “goddess personality” in unconventional materials.

When and why was the fair founded?

Butter was founded in 2020 in response to the Black Lives Matter protests that took place across the country during the Covid-19 pandemic. The concept for Butter comes from Malina Simone Bacon and her husband Alan Bacon. They are also the founders of Ganggangan Indiana-based creative advocacy agency.

“In the winter of 2020, a lot of black visual art was popping up here in Indianapolis, and there were murals all over the country — suddenly everyone was talking about black art, and the attention was overdue and haphazard,” says Alan Bacon. “One night, (Malina) went to an institution that was hosting a major contemporary exhibition for the first time, and then another one across town, and we thought — we can do better than that. What was missing was the context that made the work worthy of showing. The city needed a platform, and there was an opportunity to do something different in terms of narrative by showcasing artwork by black people.”

Why Indianapolis?

Indianapolis, a city best known for hosting the world’s biggest one-day race, the Indy 500, is not usually considered an art destination. Its flagship institution, the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) at Newfields, has taken a new direction since its former president and CEO, Charles L. Venable, resigned in 2021 amid allegations of racism, unfair ticket pricing and fostering a toxic work environment. In 2020, the founders of Ganggang decided not to continue with an exhibition they were to curate at the IMA. And in 2023, Malina Simone Bacon resigned from Newfields’ board of directors following the sudden resignation of CEO Colette Pierce Burnette. (Earlier this week, Newfields announced It had hired Field Museum CFO Le Monte G. Booker Sr. to replace Burnette.)

Despite this history, Newfields acquired works for the 2023 edition of Butter, as did the Central Indiana Community Foundation and the Indiana Memorial Union of Indiana University. Last year, Butter surpassed the $270,000 mark in art sales. The fair’s ethos is one of a grounded but persistent optimism – if you build it, someone will come.

“Everywhere people live there is a collector base,” says Alan Bacon. “But here there is no art market, no art sector yet. This is something we have had to develop along with the mindset and the careers of the artists. Last year we launched the ‘New Collector’s Club’, so this is the second year we have been massaging this market and creating intergenerational wealth.”

What else is on the agenda?

This year, Butter attendees can expect a musical program with 50 DJs, dance performances and an impressive food and drink offering. A new outdoor stage will feature live music from local artists such as Pork & Beans Brass Band, FOXD’LEGND and Brandon Lott. On August 30, the fair will unveil Grapevine, a curated selection of Black-owned retail brands and food trucks in Indianapolis. Conversation Cove, a space for artist conversations, will offer hourly interview sessions for interested attendees.

“We can think of collectors similarly to artists, on this scale from emerging to established artists,” says Malina Simone Bacon. “Last year there was a collector who had never bought an original work of art. He spent $16,000 on a piece. Collector education at Butter is intensified so that new art lovers understand what value is, what appreciation means – these buyers are proud to support certain artists, they are proud to have a piece in their home, and they are proud to have received a piece from Butter.”

The 2024 edition will also feature a children’s area in partnership with the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, complete with a Lego printing station, bumper cars and a ball pit. But Butters’ heart, the Bacons say, remains its holistic view of artistic expression and engagement with local communities.

“People are very interested in Butter because you can find up-and-coming artists here, but also right here. You can talk to them while you buy their work,” says Alan Bacon. And he adds, hinting at a possible future expansion of the fair: “You know, butter spreads.”

• Butter Art FairAugust 29th-1st September, The Stutz, 1060 North Capitol Avenue, Indianapolis