RIO DE JANEIRO.- ArtRio 2015, being held between September 09th and 13th at Pier Mauá, Rio de Janeiro, gathers the most important galleries of Brazil and the world. Reaching its 5th edition, the fair has among its goals to be one of the main global business events in the art segment. The event brings collectors, gallery owners and artists of the current scene to the city.

ArtRio 2015 is being attended by representatives of 11 countries besides Brazil: Argentina, Spain, USA, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Portugal, UK, Switzerland and Uruguay.

In addition to the presence of really relevant names of the market, ArtRio also focuses on presenting emerging galleries with young artists who are already recognized by curators as future market bets.

Since its first edition, ArtRio features unprecedented curatorial programs and two new curators debut in PRISMA program in 2015. One of them is Carolyn H. Drake, Dutch independent curator and director of A Tale of a Tub, non-profit organization for debates on contemporary art based in Rotterdam. Drake is also an advisor of Young Stedelijk at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The other newcomer is Bernardo José de Souza, from Brazil, who was assistant curator of the Mercosul Biennial and is a member of the boards of curators at Contemporary Art Museum of Rio Grande do Sul and Vera Chaves Barcellos Foundation.

ArtRio is part of the official events calendar of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Held by the partners Brenda Valansi, Elisangela Valadares, Luiz Calainho and Alexandre Accioly, ArtRio can be considered a great art platform that includes, beyond the international fair, differentiated and diversified initiatives focused on spreading the concept of art in the country, solidifying the market and encouraging and facilitating the growth of a new public by offering access to culture.

The objectives of ArtRio platform are, among others, to increase visitation to museums, exhibitions and galleries; to promote the creation of new collections; and to help rescuing the memory of art, based on the enhancement of Brazilian artists, gallery owners and curators.

An important goal of ArtRio is spreading the practice of donating works to museums and public collections in Brazil. During the 2014 edition of the fair, ArtRio was a partner of Rio Art Museum (MAR), encouraging the visitors of the event to donate exhibits – previously selected and identified in the galleries by the directors of the institution. At that time, the Museum received more than 40 donations acquired at the fair.

"Among our goals for this year, we want to be the best fair for doing business, gathering, in the same place, the most relevant market players: gallery owners, collectors, curators, and artists. Our focus is on fostering the market, giving high visibility to Brazilian art and also bringing in the major highlights in the world scene,” Brenda Valansi says.

"ArtRio is today a great platform with actions at all different times and segments of the art market. These actions enable sponsors and supporters of ArtRio to be present at different times of the segment, and to influence the growth of art public in the country. We are strongly working in the creation of this new public by promoting exhibitions and interventions in open spaces and producing a web portal with all the information of the art segment. We also seek to give access to all social layers, promoting guided tours to museums and institutions for NGOs and public schools. We created a prize to encourage and give visibility to young artists, who present their works at the fair next to the already renowned artists of the market. With ArtRio, we managed to have Brazilian art in a global showcase, recognized by its importance and value," Luiz Calainho adds.