The Dallas Art Fair is changing address for its 2027 edition, moving from its longtime home at the Fashion Industry Gallery to the campus of Southern Methodist University.

The fair will take over the 67,000-square-foot Armstrong Fieldhouse at SMU, a far larger venue than its previous site. Organisers describe the move as a first for an international contemporary art fair, placing the event on a university campus rather than in a convention centre or gallery district.

The extra space is intended to let the fair grow in scale while expanding its programming and its engagement with the local community. A university setting also opens up possibilities for talks, student involvement and academic partnerships that a commercial venue could not offer as readily.

For Dallas, the move ties the fair more closely to one of the city's major institutions and to its student population. It also reflects a wider pattern in which art fairs look for venues that can offer something beyond a trade-show floor, whether that is a distinctive building, a new audience or a civic partner.

Further details of the 2027 edition, including the exhibitor list and dates, are yet to be announced. What is clear is that the fair's next chapter will unfold in a setting unlike any it has occupied before.

University campuses have become increasingly attractive to fairs looking for distinctive settings and new audiences, and a campus venue also brings students and faculty into the fair's orbit. Whether the experiment draws a broader public than the fair's previous home will be one measure of the move's success when the 2027 edition opens.