African diasporic art show aims ambitiously to widen circle of private collectors beyond community

June 24, 2026

Keonna Thomas (aka KTV Creations) is HFAS Virtual Arts District's ambassador and HFAS Summer Festival artist seen here in front of HFAS18 NiLu shop. Image credit: Sekou Luke

By Luxury Marketer Intelligence

The world’s largest African diasporic art show will host its latest edition virtually and in the tony New York adjacent Hamptons resort of Water Mills to entice not just African collectors but those outside of the community into the fold.

The Harlem Fine Arts Show’s Harlem Fine Arts Show Summer Festival takes place July 17-19 in collaboration with the Creole Food Festival to benefit Alzheimer’s Association. The weekend programming includes 50 curated immersive art galleries and artist engagement activities, 15 celebrity-chef culinary experiences, live jazz and performances by renowned musicians, classic and luxury-automobile displays, real estate and lifestyle showcases, and health and wellness activations.

“Historically, our primary support has come from dedicated private collectors within our own communities,” said Dion E. Clarke, founder/CEO of the Harlem Fine Arts Show, New York. “Today, that base is expanding rapidly. We are seeing a major influx of corporate collectors, tech entrepreneurs, next-gen wealth inheritors and international museums.”

The Harlem Fine Arts Show is the largest traveling African diasporic art show in the United States. Since its inception in 2009, HFAS has had more than 100,000 visitors, traveled to 10-plus cities and showcased more than 100 artists and galleries.

Harlem Fine Arts Show founder/CEO Dion E. Clarke. Image credit: Sekou Luke

In this interview, show founder Mr. Clarke outlines the upcoming festival, the reason for the show, the state of the African diasporic art market, private collectors and growing that market beyond the community, and where he sees growth prospects for African artists’ art.

How is this year’s Harlem Fine Arts Show different from years past?

This year, we are moving under the banner of "Art for Innovation."

In the past, art fairs were treated as static, indoor metropolitan galleries. At the Harlem Fine Arts Show, we are disrupting that boundary.

To keep culture alive, we must innovate how it is accessed. Our communities need consistent, high-quality cultural nutrition to thrive, not just occasional programming.

We are expanding our footprint into dynamic, regional resort models like the Harlem Fine Arts Show Summer Festival (HFAS SF) at Duck Walk Vineyards in the Hamptons.

By blending premium cultural assets with high design in traditionally homogenous leisure spaces, we are changing the geography of consumption.

Furthermore, we are pioneering a white-label digital ecosystem, a Virtual Art District that allows collectors to engage with our artists year-round, democratizing access through technology.

What media will this year’s event showcase and from what geographies?

We are showcasing a radically diverse range of fine art, extending far beyond traditional paintings and sculptures to embrace photography, installations, and digital, film and video art. This aligns precisely with the latest global indicators.

According to the 2026 Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report, paintings remain the largest segment of high-net-worth individual (HNWI) spending at 27 percent, but there is a major shift toward diversification.

In fact, 51 percent of HNWIs surveyed purchased digital art in the last year. We are bringing those forward-thinking mediums directly to our audience.

Geographically, our footprint is expansive anchored in the rich history of the African Diaspora, we are featuring creators from across the United States, the Caribbean, South America and the African continent.

HFAS18 Featured Artist Basil Watson sculpture. Image credit: Sekou Luke

Why the collaboration with the Creole Food Festival and the Alzheimer’s Association?

Innovation doesn’t happen in a silo. It happens at the intersection of industries. I have always believed in radical collaboration.

Partnering with the Creole Food Festival allows us to create a multi-sensory experience where culinary arts and visual arts feed off each other, celebrating overlapping diasporic narratives.

Our alliance with the Alzheimer’s Association grounds our cultural footprint in social impact. Art Is Memory has a profound, scientifically proven capacity to stimulate cognitive memory and provide therapeutic comfort.

By bringing health awareness and wellness panels into a premium art space, we turn a cultural gathering into a holistic lifestyle resource. This is how you build an inclusive ecosystem that actually cares for the people it serves.

Who is the target audience for the festival?

Our audience is multi-layered. We cater to seasoned private collectors, corporate art buyers and institutional curators looking for primary talent pipelines.

But, equally important, we are targeting the next generation of culture-shapers, millennials and Gen Z luxury consumers who approach art with a research-led, experience-rich mindset, we call them Young Professionals.

The 2026 Art Market Report highlights that luxury segments are a massive gateway for next-gen buyers.

For instance, 29 percent of bidders in top luxury sales are under 40, and nearly half of new bidders at major houses are millennials or Gen Z.

HFAS is the premium destination for these purposeful, intentional collectors who demand both high aesthetic value and deep cultural resonance.

HFAS18 Featured artists Luca Goly and Naderson Saint Pierre. Image credit: Sekou Luke

What is the state of African diasporic art?

The state of African diasporic art is strong, resilient and structurally progressing.

Globally, the art market saw a modest recovery, returning to growth with total sales rising 4 percent year-on-year to an estimated $59.6 billion.

While mainstream segments like ultra-contemporary art experienced a period of stabilization and risk-aversion, the appetite for established narratives and high-quality storytelling has remained incredibly solid.

African diasporic art is no longer being treated as a passing trend or a niche category. It is recognized as a vital, stabilizing and commercially viable force in the global creative economy.

Who are the primary collectors of African art?

Historically, our primary support has come from dedicated private collectors within our own communities.

Today, that base is expanding rapidly. We are seeing a major influx of corporate collectors, tech entrepreneurs, next-gen wealth inheritors and international museums.

Interestingly, the market is seeing a localized tightening.

The 2026 report shows a distinct shift toward local private collectors across the board.

For the smallest, independent dealer brackets, the local share of private sales rose to 71 percent. This tells us that localized, community-led roots are incredibly powerful right now, even as international interest grows.

Richard Pelzer II and HFAS18 Features Artist Dr. Thomas Elias Lockhart III. Image credit: Sekou Luke

Is there a strong primary market for African art? And the secondary market?

There is immense energy in the primary market.

On a global scale, dealer sales shifted to a positive trajectory, climbing to $34.8 billion, and primary market galleries actually achieved gender parity in artist representation for the first time.

However, the secondary market is where the massive value spikes occurred this year.

Global public auction sales surged by 9 percent to $20.7 billion, driven heavily by a "flight to quality" and single-owner collection sales.

For African diasporic art, the primary market remains our engine for discovering and nurturing raw genius, while the secondary market is beginning to institutionalize and validate the long-term asset value of our masters.

What is the challenge for African artists in the United States and other global markets?

The primary challenge is navigating administrative complexity, rising operational costs and international gatekeeping.

Global trade faced intense fragmentation recently, with over half of art dealers (56 percent) reporting that tariffs and cross-border barriers negatively impacted their business.

Packing, shipping and logistics costs skyrocketed by 10 percent, and art fair costs rose by 9 percent.

For an independent artist or a smaller gallery trying to break into the U.S. or European markets, these straight-line cost increases create a massive barrier to entry.

If the infrastructure is too expensive to navigate, incredible global talent gets locked out of the room.

HFAS18 Featured Artist Mr. Moda. Image credit: Sekou Luke

What work needs to be done to educate collectors about this genre of art?

We have to move past symbolic gestures.

True education requires building a rigorous, documented history around our creators.

Mainstream data shows that top-tier works priced over $1 million dictate the headlines, yet 87 percent of all day-to-day transactions in the art market happen below $50,000.

We need to educate collectors to look at the primary market not just as a transactional space, but as a space for building cultural equity.

We must fund monographs, publish comprehensive catalogs and teach collectors how to build a legacy collection.

Diversity without economic equity is just exploitation.

Collectors need to understand that buying a piece of African diasporic art is an investment in the preservation of global history.

Where would you like to take the Harlem Fine Arts Show?

I want to take HFAS completely global while remaining fiercely grounded in our roots.

I look at this business through the ultimate basketball mindset: never give up, and stay in the game.

In hoops, if you find yourself locked out of the paint, you don't walk off the court. You adjust your play, you keep grinding, and you create your own shot.

We didn't wait for an invitation to an art world establishment that didn't understand our value. We built a magnificent table of our own.

My goal is to scale our Virtual Art District white-label technology globally, establish regional summer festivals across international leisure hubs, and ensure that creators of the African diaspora possess the undeniable economic and structural power to tell their own stories on their own terms.

We are staying in the game, and we are playing to win.

Dion E. Clarke with HFAS18 Featured Artist Tavaris Odom. Image credit: Sekou Luke

Please click here to access information on The Harlem Fine Arts Show Summer Festival.

The HFAS Summer Festival scheduled highlights include:

Friday, July 17, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. EDT: Daytime festival; opening evening event benefitting Hamptons nonprofits

Saturday, July 18, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. EDT: Daytime festival; Curated thought-leader programming; evening event benefitting Alzheimer’s Association

Sunday, July 19, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. EDT: Daytime festival; salutes to the Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA)and local Long Island artists, including Robert Carter and Frank Frazier

Featured artists (among the 50 plus expected) include:

Angie St. Louis: Brooklyn-born virtual artist who works primarily on wood and canvas, using mixed media that includes some oil paint and acrylic. Ms. St. Louis said, “I like to create bold, vibrant, beautiful, colorful pieces that make people happy.”

Coco Head Pottery: Ceramic sculpture byLaurie-Lee Smith

DollyRose Arts: An immersive celebration of mixed media art by Carla E. Wade. Ms. Wade said, “My work lives in the space between strength and sensitivity – where color, texture and emotion collide to reveal the beauty of being unapologetically human.”

Don O’Bannon: Contemporary American painter, cultural storyteller and collector artist known for bold, story-driven oil paintings rooted in music and cultural history. Mr. O’Bannon said, “My work explores the beauty and complexity of the human journey, with a focused lens on the African American experience. I create paintings that form a visual dialogue between past and present."

Keonna Thomas: Photographer, visual artist and founder of KTV Creations creates cinematic, symbolic imagery rooted in identity, memory, and transformation. Through surreal portraiture and intentional detail, her work invites viewers to see themselves more honestly — layered, evolving, and fully felt. Ms. Thomas will also be the HFAS Virtual Arts District ambassador and be on site at the HFAS Summer Festival.

HFAS18 ice sculpture. Image credit: Sekou Luke

Featured chefs (among the 15 plus expected) include:

Chef Leen (Kathleen Coy): Chef, mom, entrepreneur, Food Network Chopped champion, star of Real Life Cooking and owner of Harlem HomeMade delivery business

Chef Jeff Jeffrey Morneau (JMA): founder of a luxury creative agency that blends design, fabrication and culinary innovation to produce immersive experiences

Chef Lioness (Jennifer Corporan): Dominican-American social worker turned private chef and entrepreneur

Chef Cisse (Cisse Elhadji): Mr. Elhadji opened his first restaurant, Ponty Bistro, in 2008, followed by additional ventures including Renaissance Harlem, Harlem Café and, most recently, PB Brasserie. His restaurants combine West African flavors with French and international cuisine, reflecting his heritage and the diverse culinary culture of Harlem

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