Marfa Invitational Foundation has announced its 2025 plans to expand its annual art fair and to inaugurate a new event in Santa Fe.
Founded in 2018 by artist and curator Michael Phelan and his wife Melissa Bent with the support of Kenneth Bauso, a former investment banker, the Marfa Invitational Foundation is a contemporary art nonprofit. Its annual art fair brings artists and galleries from across the world to Marfa.
James Barron Art booth with paintings by Vera Girivi, on view at the Marfa Invitational May 5 – 8, 2022.
In October 2024, the organization shared via its Instagram account that its 2025 annual art fair in Marfa had been extended to occur across two weeks in May. The announcement shared that the international edition of the fair would take place May 15-18 and Mi Locale, a fair dedicated to local artists and galleries, was scheduled for the following weekend May 22-25. Both events were noted as taking place at Saint George Hall. Mr. Phelan has not responded to Glasstire’s request for more information about the 2025 fair, and recently the social media post announcing the dates has been removed from the Marfa Invitational account.
Also in 2024, Marfa Invitational announced via social media that it is launching Tesuque Invitational, “a week-long celebration of contemporary art and culture.” The event will take place in Santa Fe and Tesuque, a small community six miles north of Santa Fe. Galleries, art institutions, artist studios, fashion boutiques, and culinary arts spaces will participate in the event, though details have not yet been released. The inaugural event is scheduled for October 21-26, 2025.
In 2023, the organization’s nonprofit status was revoked due to failure to submit 990 taxes and ultimately reinstated. That spring, with the announcement of the revoked nonprofit status, two board members stepped down from their positions and a former advisory committee member, Kathleen Irvin Loughlin, filed a charitable trust complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Office. No updates have been provided from the Attorney General’s Office regarding the status of the complaint filed against the organization.
Marfa Invitational’s website has not been updated to include information about its 2025 fair or the Tesuque Invitational. Stay up to date with the organization’s events and programming via its social media.
The original version of this article reported that Kathleen Irvin Loughlin was a Marfa Invitational board member.
