I tend to disagree with this. Maybe the “NFT” specific digital art “space” is smaller but Digital Art as a whole is undeniably bigger and more pervasive than ever. Perhaps worth examining if it’s actually that the amount of artists who can justify/afford to travel & stay in NYC for a week of nebulous events is more what has actually shrunk? NFTNYC from my point of view is extremely anomalous in that it’s traditionally been built around this main conference that almost no one from “the space” actually goes to… but all in a very true to form, decentralized & unofficial capacity… Many scattered satellite events are announced within the 4 weeks leading up to it and most really aren’t promoted in any aggressive or organized manner whatsoever especially outside of the bubble… I’m hyper present here online and I didn’t even catch any open calls (which there apparently were a bunch) to submit work. So that tells you how much you need to be paying attention to even be included as an artist… there aren’t even really official start and end dates… did it start on Saturday? Or Monday? Does it end on Friday? Saturday? Sunday? People come in whenever, leave whenever. Hard to expect this to grow in some major way without more organization/promotion/some type of catalyst etc but honestly is that even desirable? I think this place here has always been a small niche with built-in even smaller micro clicks. Many people I know from other areas couldn’t attend or even people I know who live here weren’t able to be present this week. Not saying that it couldn’t also be genuinely shrinking in some ways , but from my POV last year felt even smaller to me in many ways. This year i’ve felt a very healthy pulse and a sense of maturity that was lacking prior. 🤷🏻 maybe im trippin tho.