Three years ago, the Seattle-based artist Jaq Chartier and her husband, gallerist Dirk Park, opened this fair, then specializing in West Coast galleries, and it quickly became a sleeper hit in the Aqua Hotel. Last year it expanded to a second venue, in Wynwood. This year finds the organizers presenting special projects, including Home Movies, an LED light and video installation by Jim Campbell, who is represented by Hosfelt, of New York and San Francisco, one of the 48 more-established galleries in Wynwood; the 44 at the original hotel are emerging. At the Aqua, a slew of galleries are making first appearances, including Cerasoli: Le Basse, of Los Angeles. Daniel Peterson, of the exhibitor Elizabeth Leach Gallery, of Portland, Oregon, says that the energy of satellite fairs is shifting toward the Wynwood area: “It’s exciting to be on the upswing of that.”

New Yorker Ethan Cohen, a longtime dealer of Chinese art and a seasoned fair exhibitor, launches this new venture, which is focused on cutting-edge art from China, Korea, Japan, South Asia and the Middle East. Cohen feels the time is right for Asian work to make a bigger splash. “Five years ago it would’ve been impossible to show [this art] in Miami Beach,” he says. “But it’s important to give Asian art an equal venue.” The fair has a 60,000-square-foot luxury pavilion in the heart of Wynwood, adjacent to Scope, which is its main supporter, and will host such exhibitors as Gallery Espace, of New Delhi, and Hong Kong’s Hanart TZ Gallery.

New director Nick Korniloff says he has “totally revamped” the event planned for the fair’s 19th year. He brought in a strong selection committee, which chose 49 new exhibitors (out of 100) for the fair’s first year in a 125,000-squarefoot tent (Korniloff prefers the word pavilion) in Miami’s midtown art district. The investment-management firm Black Rock Investments has just joined as sponsor. Amenities include a two-story VIP lounge that overlooks the fair. There will be two curated video and new-media lounges, one for galleries and one for institutions, such as Miami’s own CIFO Cisneros Fontanals Foundation and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, in Beijing.

Art Now, specializing in lower-priced contemporary art, has moved down Collins Avenue, from the Claremont to the South Seas Hotel, to allow its exhibitors to choose between displaying their wares in the hotel’s more spacious rooms or at poolside booths. Organizers expect about 35 galleries to participate in the fair’s second edition. Among the new exhibitors is Thomas Masters Gallery, from Chicago, while those returning include Turner Carroll Gallery and Eileen Braziel, from Santa Fe, and Heineman Myers Contemporary Art, from Bethesda, Maryland.

Bridge canceled what would have been its second London edition, during Frieze in October, because it couldn’t find a suitable location, says the director, Michael Workman. In Miami the fair has claimed two venues: It’s keeping the Catalina Hotel and will also have a 20,000- square-foot tent in Wynwood. Last year, Bridge featured about 75 galleries, but now it will have 70 in the Catalina and more than 60 in Wynwood. Newcomers include Michael Gibson Gallery, of London, Ontario, and Tokyo’s Nanzuka Underground. Workman plans to highlight technology: displays for the Web site Myartspace.com, along with other “social-networking, widgets and online-auction tools.” What are his expectations this year? “Fewer American collectors, but more from overseas.”

Its former venue, the Moore Building, was lovely but cramped, and opening night crowds were wearying. This year the fair, which Art Basel now owns a stake in, moves to a 40,000-square-foot tent in the Design District by the up-and-coming architecture firm Aranda\Lasch. The modular structure, which can be disassembled and used at other events, marks a shift in Design Miami’s approach. “We have previously always used magnificent historic buildings with a lot of charm,” says director Ambra Medda, noting that the new venue symbolizes the fair’s commitment to cutting-edge design. Among the fair’s highlights are an inlaid rosewood Bavaria mirror by the firm Studio Job, courtesy of New York’s Murray Moss, and a Jean Prouvé cabinet from Paris’s Jousse Enterprises.

This little fair that could is making it big by thinking small. Having begun life in New York as an upstart event piggybacking on the Armory Show, Fountain is now in its third year in Miami— but organizers thought it was time to relaunch. There will be only eight exhibitors in the fair’s new warehouse space, in Wynwood, next to the Aqua fair’s local branch, but each will occupy a substantial piece of real estate, 800–1,000 square feet apiece. “The fair is going to be large-scale- installation based,” says director David Kesting. “So we wanted the galleries to have outrageously large spaces.” The warehouse’s 30-foot ceilings can’t hurt. Look for whopping projects from Open Ground and Glowlab, two galleries from Brooklyn.

Eight years ago, the superstar Japanese Pop artist Takashi Murakami’s company, Kaikai Kiki, began producing the Geisai fair in Tokyo. A jury picked the artists, who then showed and sold works at no cost to them. Last year the fair had its first successful run in Miami, hosted by the Pulse fair, and this year it returns, again hosted by Pulse. It has nearly doubled in size, with 35 artists exhibiting. “This year, we’re hoping to bring more elements of the Japanese Geisai to Miami, which I think will be really exciting for the American audience,” says director Shino Takagi. One of those elements is the Japanese version’s award ceremony, at which one artist in the fair receives a special prize. Last year it offered work by artists like Eric Doeringer, a real crowd-pleaser who sold his “fakes” (mini copies of other artists’ works) for as little as $250.

This debut fair grew out of an exhibition during ABMB 2007 sponsored by GenArt, the organization devoted to promoting emerging creators. Organizers are concentrating on young artists, especially those involved in “pop surrealism” and street art. “We fill a gap that no one else is willing to fill,” says the fair’s curator, Francesco LoCastro. “What we bring to the table is really fresh and new.” Only 10 galleries are slated to participate in the Wynwood venue, including Yves Laroche Gallery, of Montreal, and Thinkspace, of Los Angeles, which will feature the cartoon-influenced paintings of David Lebatard, of Lebo Studios.

With just 13 dealers of prints and works on paper set up on the ground floor of a modest hotel on Collins, this may be Miami’s calmest fair. Returning participants include Tandem Press, of Madison, Wisconsin, and Mixografia, of Los Angeles. Look for a selection of etchings by the Scottish painter Peter Doig at London’s Sims Reed and pieces by Louise Bourgeois at New York’s John Szoke Editions.

Of all the satellites, NADA may have the most street cred, assembled as it is by the New Art Dealers Alliance. This year it hosts a performance series on a stage designed by the New Mexican art collective Simparch and the artist Chris Vorhees. Among the performers will be the Los Angeles–based conceptual artist Brendan Fowler with his ongoing rock-meets-art piece Barr. Also look for New York’s Wallspace gallery and London’s Ancient & Modern.

AIPAD may have bowed out this year—its exhibitors had art fair fatigue, according to its director—but photography isn’t dead in Miami, as this two-year- old fair aims to prove. With 60 participants, the same head count as last year, Photo Miami stretches the definition of photography by including video and other new media. There’s a debut section for solo projects, curated by the selection-committee head Paco Barragan. Look for some 28 new exhibitors, such as Prometeogallery, of Milan, Toronto’s Craig Scott Gallery, New York’s Nohra Haime and Zurich’s Kashya Hildebrand. Galerie Seippel, of Cologne, Germany, will exhibit 60 years of South African photography.

For its third go in Miami, this fair, put on by Frere Independent, the folks who produce March’s Diva (digital and video art) fair in New York, has a subtitle, Full House, to call attention to the fact that it now fills every room of the Cavalier Hotel. Pool stands out for giving unrepresented artists the chance to find a dealer. A relaxed schedule (4 to 10 p.m.) and ocean views from the rooms will lend it a laid-back air. The expanded space has allowed for 45 exhibitors to be shown this year, up from last year’s 32, and 75 percent of them are new, including mixed-media artist Madonna Phillips and sculptor Troy Abbott.

Formerly by invitation, Pulse is now application- only, a move that reflects the large number of galleries itching to get in. As in past years, expect a mix of established and emerging dealers in the main section, with some very young and edgy work in the Impulse section. The fair has jettisoned its large entrance courtyard in favor of bigger booths and wider aisles, and it will host panel discussions for its vip s, sponsored by the Financial Times and the CORE : Club. For the first time, the fair’s program of installations and large sculptures is under the curatorial eyes of Claire Breukel, of the alternative Miami space Locust Projects. But the most appealing thing about Pulse may be its friendly vibe; the beguiling still lifes of Sung Ha Ahn, from Seoul’s Gana Art, are one example. Says participant Ed Winkleman, of New York’s Winkleman Gallery, “The camaraderie is, quite frankly, the best I’ve seen.”

Out with the hotel room, in with the booth. Last year Red Dot premiered in a hotel, and this year, having listened to exhibitors like San Francisco’s Andrea Schwartz and London’s Cynthia Corbett, it has moved to a tent, with booth sizes ranging from 200 to 800 square feet. Since Miami emphasizes art made just yesterday, it takes guts to set yourself apart by being anything but ultra-contemporary. “We’re not a cutting-edge fair,” says director George Billis. “Our dealers tend to be established.” The tent allows the fair to expand from 53 to 60 galleries and include new exhibitors like San Francisco’s Caldwell Snyder and LewAllen Contemporary of Santa Fe.

Last year SeaFair dropped anchor at the Miami Marina, distant from the convention center, but organizers David and Lee Ann Lester were forced to cancel their ambitious post-Miami tour plans. Not ones to miss out on the action, this year the Lesters have settled on a different strategy: docking at the recently renovated Fontainebleau Hotel on Collins with a luxury-goods angle rather than an art focus. The SeaFair megayacht will be home to Rock the Boat, featuring jewelry and timepieces from 28 names, including Graff (diamonds), Chaumet (jewelry and watches), Audemars Piguet (watches) and the Paris-based Martin du Louvre Modern and Contemporary Art. Expect equally tony events, such as an opening gala and celebrity-chef lunches. Bring your deck shoes.

Scope isn’t just the most established of the Miami satellites; it’s also technically the first of all the Miami fairs in the December time slot, having started in 2001. Back then, dealers set up camp in the Townhouse Hotel, on Collins Avenue, but Scope has long since outgrown that venue and now embarks on its second tent iteration. This year, more than 80 exhibitors will show their wares in an artist-designed 60,000-square-foot pavilion in Wynwood; it’s 30 percent bigger than last year, bolstered by first-timers that include Gallery Anton Weller, of Paris, and Yuka Sasahara, of Tokyo. It will also include a special section devoted to Latin American art, curated by a local collector to be announced. As for the galleries, they “are bringing better-quality work, because the market is starting to slow down,” says director Jeff Lawson.