It's early yet, but Miami art dealer Fred Snitzer has a lot of work to do in preparation for December's onslaught of art fairs, museum exhibitions, gallery shows, special events and all-night cocktail parties.

Snitzer still must curate his gallery's booth inside the Miami Beach Convention Center for Art Basel Miami Beach, the annual fair that carries enough heft in the art world to attract an orbit of more than a dozen independent fairs.

He also has to prepare his Wynwood showroom for the thousands of art collectors, museum directors, curators, critics and others who will be in town the first weekend of December.

And finally, Snitzer is working with Miami-born artist Cristina Lei Rodriguez to navigate the Miami Beach permitting process in order for Rodriguez to create a geodesic dome installation that will carry a high profile during the fair.

``There's so much to do,'' says Snitzer, a member of the Art Basel selection committee, which met in April to begin choosing the 266 galleries that will participate.

``All the dealers, regardless of whether they're in the fair or not, are preparing special exhibitions,'' Snitzer says. ``Everybody is focused on what they need to do and what they need to get accomplished.''

``Focus on the prize'' is a common refrain among the artists, dealers, museum directors and others who look forward to Art Basel Miami Beach the way children anticipate Christmas.

``You have to think ahead . . . because you want to have something very good and you want to have something different,'' says Barbara Gillman, a Miami gallery owner for 30 years and a member of the Art Basel Miami Beach Host Committee, which promotes the fair locally.

NEGOTIATING RENTS

Gillman has been busy negotiating rents for venues to host two events, and curating the art to be shown including Christopher Janney's, whose local installations include Harmonic Runway, a corridor of glass and sound effects that used to greet visitors to Miami International Airport before the work was demolished in 2004.

``It's a special time,'' Gillman says of Art Basel week.

Expectations are running high among art fair organizers, says Heather Hubbs, director of the New Art Dealers Alliance, a fair of about 80 art galleries scheduled for the Deauville Beach Resort at 67th Street and Collins Avenue.

Hubbs recently hosted a cocktail party at the Deauville for about 100 artists, gallery owners and media to show them the two ballrooms where the fair will take place.

``People were surprised to see how nice the hotel looks,'' she says.

Hubbs is finishing the floor plan for the NADA fair, placing galleries in booths, and mailing kits to exhibitors. She's also managing the recently launched advertising campaign and drawing up a list for VIP invitations.

``We don't come down and start building the fair until November,'' she says.

As much as art dealers and fair organizers and artists prepare for the busy week of art fairs and events, the organizers of Art Basel are managing a redesign of the big show.

This year, Art Basel brings all galleries into the Convention Center, taking up four halls instead of the usual two. And rather than stuff the halls with many more galleries, fair organizers have widened the booths and the aisles, added restaurants with table service, and amplified the corporate-sponsored VIP lounges and meeting and rest areas.

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