The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies has announced that its flagship event, the Picture Buyers Fair, will not return in 2011. This is the second such announcement coming from a major European market in recent years: the German stock-photo event was cancelled last year.
Unlike Germany's BVPA, which cancelled PICTA 2009 due to waning interest from attendees but has since returned to the event, BAPLA's move appears more strategic. The organization said it plans to look at a series of smaller networking events during the year instead, catering to members who have shown interest in building client relationships on a more personal level.
Nonetheless, this does come as a surprise to a casual observer. PBF was a unique venue in that it connected BAPLA member agencies with image buyers. In addition, the 2010 event expanded beyond its usual format with glitzy and surely expensive new features, such as a digital gallery and a new venue. BAPLA also said the fair broke even—while somewhat short of a resounding success, this did give many hope that the market is not entirely down the drain.
BAPLA chairman Paul Brown said in a statement that the organization's members still see the need for a PBF-like event. And it is not officially dead yet; BAPLA is considering converting to a biannual format. For the moment, however, the organization is dealing with increased economic pressures on its member base, and that base is getting smaller: now around 300 member-agencies, which likely represents a drop of anywhere between 10% and 25% since mid-2000s.