Kevin O’Keefe and Briana Dolan outside the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy, Utah, where they will hold the first Salt Lake Art Show, May 14-17, 2026. Image by Steve Coray.

From more than 30 years of launching exhibitions, including the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Kevin O’Keefe has learned one thing above all: face-to-face connections matter. “It became clear that getting in front of the right person shortens the time to a decision and dramatically increases business,” he says. “As marketing changed and access to decision makers became much more difficult—calling was impossible, voice mail blocked you, emails were never opened or spammed out, social was too scattered and indirect—if you did not meet the person randomly in a supermarket for instance, an exhibition was the only way.”

That’s why when he and his daughter, Briana Dolan, both moved to Reno, Nevada in the wake of the pandemic, they founded the Reno Tahoe International Art Show to showcase the local creative community.

Now they want to do the same for Utah.

During the early months of COVID-19, Dolan, who was then working for a high-end hospitality design firm in Manhattan, relocated with her husband to Reno, Nevada. “What I knew was that he grew up there and it was close to Lake Tahoe,” she says. “What I didn’t know was the breadth of creatives living—and moving—there, and the enthusiasm for the arts.”

As New York shut down, her parents followed them west, “technically to see the grandchildren,” she jokes, but the move would quickly turn into something larger. Together, the family discovered a surprisingly deep reservoir of regional talent, and as the world reopened, a sharp increase in cultural demand—particularly from affluent newcomers who had settled around the lake during the shutdown.

Their first experiment was modest—a pop-up gallery featuring only regional artists. “”As hobby artists ourselves, it was both fulfilling and exciting to see the space so immediately appreciated by all,” Dolan says. “A lot of art sold.” But the experience also revealed something essential: Reno’s creative community was thriving, but disjointed. “We saw the RTIA Show as a way to present all the arts together, effectively creating a much stronger presentation that both celebrated and elevated the arts of the area.”

The 2024 Reno Tahoe International Art Show. Image courtesy of Peak Art Fairs.

They went into the experiment a bit blind.  “There really was no current information at all,” O’Keefe notes. “We could see the population was massively increasing, but there was little hard data to source. So, we launched and hoped for the best.”

Rather than copy and paste the standard art-fair template, they say they wanted to create something fun, welcoming, and unmistakably regional. The response exceeded expectations. The fair grew into a diverse, inclusive event drawing audiences from more than 20 states and multiple countries. It doubled in size each year, while the team refined it annually through exhibitor feedback. “We were passionate about creating an event that could, over time, change the way Reno is viewed,” Dolan says. “We often referenced SXSW in Austin or Art Week in Miami—events that reshaped their home cities.”

As the fair matured, the pair started looking toward the next logical step. Salt Lake City stood out immediately: a market six times larger than Reno, visibly arts-focused, and culturally rich.

This time, O’Keefe was not working in the dark. “The data was a couple of years old, but it was easy to track a current population of three million residents, with thousands more arriving every month,” he says. “The average age is 34, and they earn over $100,000 annually on average—greater than almost any major city in the nation. More than 60,000 residents are multimillionaires with a strong majority owning multiple homes. Best of all, the entire population is concentrated within an area that allows for an easy drive to the show.”

“It is high time for the Utah art market to carve out a larger spot in the regional and national stage by hosting a serious regional show like this,” says Esther Hi’ilani Candari, a Utah County artist and founder of Provo’s Compass Gallery. The gallery will be exhibiting with SLAS in the spring. “My hope for it is that it not only brings out of state collectors in to see a concentrated example of the caliber of work Utah has to offer but that it is also a wake up call for local collectors to take the top notch local market more seriously.”

O’Keefe and Dolan say while Reno is developing, Salt Lake has arrived. “Almost 5,000 accomplished and talented artists, 40 galleries, four significant museums and four Universities. In addition, galleries in Utah prefer to represent Utah artists—some artists are in more than one regional gallery—unheard of anywhere else in the world.”

Additional advantages include non-union convention centers and an airport that makes Salt Lake a simple destination for national and international buyers.

Their enthusiasm is shared locally. In early November, fresh off the fourth iteration of RTIA in September, the pair met with partners across the state, including Peter Hay, visual arts coordinator for the Utah Division of Arts & Museums (UA&M). “I’m excited about a new economic opportunity for visual artists and galleries in Utah,” Hay says. “Events like this can draw new art patrons to the region to see—and hopefully purchase—work by Utah artists.”

To support that opportunity, UA&M launched a pilot scholarship program to help Utah artists cover the cost of exhibiting. Ten scholarships were offered on a first-come basis, and all were claimed within weeks. “Artists are regularly asking me what other avenues they have for showing and selling their work. I imagine there will be some hesitation to take part this first year, but I can see this growing into the future.”

“Like the RTIA Show in Reno, the Salt Lake Art Show will be designed around the regional community first,” Dolan says. “Essential to the welcoming environment we are striving to create is a sense of community ownership and pride.” They’ve already committed complimentary exhibition space to the University of Utah, Utah Valley University, Brigham Young University, the Salt Lake Arts Council, and the Springville Museum of Art. Invitations have gone out to local dance and film schools, Oaxaca Utah, and the 801 Salon to participate in programming that includes panel discussions, keynote speakers, short films, dance, theater, music, and cultural performances.

They are also collaborating with Utah artist Caro Nilsson to create a dedicated graphic identity for the inaugural show. Her artwork will appear online, in the printed Buyer’s Guide, on complimentary and for-purchase merchandise, and in a featured booth within the Utah Treasures segment.

Salt Lake Art Show 2026 Preliminary Floor Plan

The Salt Lake Art Show will be at the Mountain America Exposition Center in Sandy May 14-17, 2026, and will be built around six segments:

• Galleries

• Studios and Collectives

• First Nations Indigenous Peoples

• Bespoke Furniture

• Sculpture Walk

• Utah Treasures (Utah artists only)

Exhibitors will apply through one of the six segment-specific applications and may choose space-only installations or booths ranging from 8′ × 10′ to 20′ × 30′. Pricing will be based on linear feet of wall space and includes truss lighting, floor labeling, and placement in the Buyer’s Guide. The fair takes no commission on sales. Marketing—both regional and national—will build throughout the year and intensify when ticket sales open in February. Tiered pricing will start at $15 online, rising to $30 at the door.

Their vision for the inaugural year includes:

• 50 galleries

• 40 studios

• 50 Utah independents

• 40 Indigenous artists

• 40 sculptors

• 40 bespoke designers

• plus museum exhibitions, university showcases, Western fine art, Ageless Masterworks (6th century BCE to Impressionists), religious art, performances, and talks.

That would bring roughly 260 exhibitors and performers before an expected audience of 6,000 regional, national, and international collectors, designers, and art enthusiasts.

“There will most certainly be a learning curve with the inaugural fair in Salt Lake,” O’Keefe acknowledges, “but we’re ready and willing to make adjustments as suggestions are made.”

Hay shares the same long view: “If successful, this could benefit so many artists and markets across the state. In other cities, the fair becomes a catalyst—galleries plan openings, pop-ups appear, museums coordinate exhibitions. If an art audience is being drawn here, I imagine Utah artists and galleries will make the most of it.”

The foundation, they believe, is already in place: abundant talent, a supportive audience, and national attention drawn to an affluent, arts-oriented region.

“The vision is to create, over time, the largest and most significant annual fine art show in the nation,” O’Keefe says. “It may take a few shows to get there, but the foundation is here.”

Interested exhibitors can apply for the Salt Lake Art show at saltlakeartshow.com.

Shawn Rossiter

The founder of Artists of Utah and editor of its online magazine, 15 Bytes, Shawn Rossiter has undergraduate degrees in English, French and Italian Literature and studied Comparative Literature in graduate school before pursuing a career in art.