The American Folk Art Museum has announced several changes for its January 2006 Americana Week show, officially named The American Antiques Show (TAAS). Changes in venue, management and a reduced number of dealers participating in the show have all been revealed.

Good news to everyone’s ears will be the relocation of the show to the former site at the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street. The event was forced to move uptown for this past January’s outing due to a scheduling conflict at the Metropolitan Pavilion location. While the site at the Time Warner building was convenient for shoppers, the actual floor space left a lot to be desired, as did the logistics for the dealers.

The largest and most noticeable changes for TAAS, however, center around a change in management. Keeling Wainwright, who has managed the show since its inception, announced that it will not be returning to the fair. Josh Wainwright cited conflicts with his Black Fine Arts Fair that he promotes in February and has decided to concentrate his efforts in that direction. Wainwright’s art fair will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2006.

TAAS executive co-chairs Barry Briskin and Joan Johnson stated in a letter sent to participating dealers that Karen DiSaia has been named the new manager. Ms DiSaia and her husband, Ralph, own Oriental Rugs LTD in Old Lyme, Conn. She is an active member of the Antiques Council and is currently the manager of three other shows, the ADA show in Deerfield, Mass., the Minneapolis Institute of Art Antiques Show and the Litchfield Antiques Show. She has also recently been named the new manager of the Connecticut Spring Antiques Show in March (see related article).

“I’m very excited and honored to have been asked to do this and I’m looking forward to it,” stated Ms DiSaia in regard to managing TAAS. The new manager said that she has been “working closely with Barry Briskin and the dealer advisory committee. We are just getting started,” she said, “and are still formulating what ideas will work and what will be more than we can handle for any one year.”

Several changes are already underway and will be incorporated into next year’s show, mainly centering around a change in the floor plan and the reduced number of dealers it will accommodate. “There were a few issues with the floor plan, some dead spots,” stated the new manager. “I changed some things around so every booth will be a good booth, and we are reducing the number of dealers to somewhere between 38 and 44.”

Ms DiSaia emphasized that while she has been hired by TAAS to “work with the committee” and “achieve their goals,” that she is also a “dealer advocate. I made that very clear to them,” she said. “They have very distinct ideas of where the show is heading. My job is to mesh the two together and make it all work.”

The TAAS executive co-chairs have also announced that Caroline Kerrigan will be returning to the show to serve as the executive director.

TAAS dates for 2006 begin with the preview party on Wednesday, January 18. The show opens to the public on January 19 and continues through to January 22.