Our Role Connecting the international art community has been Art Basel's goal since its beginning. Now, over forty years later, it ranks as the premier show of its kind, presenting 20th and 21st century art with a strong curatorial perspective. Its tradition of excellence across a wide range of genres offers visitors the most vital art that the world's best galleries can offer. In both Basel and Miami Beach now, and in Hong Kong moving forward, the week of the Art Basel show teems with parallel exhibitions and cultural events, creating an exciting environment that deepens and strengthens the relationship between gallerists, artists, curators and collectors. The Impact of Art Fairs The dynamic relationships between art galleries, their artists, private collectors and public institutions play an essential role in today's artworld. Galleries support emerging artists by funding their production, introducing them to the artworld, and helping to shape and develop their careers. Well-established artists are generally represented by gallerists who over time have built an extensive international audience for the artist, both through shows in their own spaces and by promoting their work worldwide. Similarly, galleries active in historical material can help to increase or revive interest in an artist long after their death. Especially during the last decade, art fairs have become a key venue in this international promotion of artists, and in the general expansion of the artworld. In the long-established art-market centers of Europe and North America, both new and existing fairs have grown ever-more international, allowing visitors to gain a global overview of the countless contemporary art scenes. Meanwhile, the emergence of new fairs in other parts of the world, such as Asia and Latin America, has catalyzed and channeled a surging interest in the visual arts. These insights and inspirations come not only from viewing the gallery stands, but also from visitors participating in the intellectual and cultural programming that has arisen around these events. Today, fairs function as the primary global promotional platform for galleries, allowing them access to a massive number of collectors and curators, people who come to fairs not only to discover new artists and new galleries, but also to deepen their engagement with those that they already know. Thus, a successful fair is one that not only generates sales for exhibitors, but also spurs new collectors and curators to follow the activities of their favorite artists all over the globe – and drives them to see shows in the year-round spaces of the galleries that have supported those artists so strongly.