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Art Dealers' Fair Returns Smaller, With a New Charity Partner

Hoi-Ling MakPublished 7m ago2 min readBased on 2 sources
Art Dealers' Fair Returns Smaller, With a New Charity Partner
source:artdealers.org

The 2026 Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) Fair has opened at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan with 63 exhibitors, ArtNews reported. That is 12 fewer than the last time the fair ran. The fair is scheduled to run from November 12 to 16, 2026, at the armory, a historic military building on Park Avenue.

The fair is back after a break. The ADAA, a trade group for art galleries, cancelled its 2025 edition in July 2025, calling the decision a "strategic pause." It has since reshaped the event. The fair has dropped the Art Show name, and Kinsey Robb, who has led the ADAA as executive director since September 2024, is steering the changes.

The biggest change for charity is the new partner. The ADAA has ended its fundraising partnership with Henry Street Settlement, a New York social services organisation. According to ArtNews, that partnership had brought in more than $38 million through the fair's benefit previews, which are special events held before the public opens, with proceeds going to a cause. The Whitney Museum of American Art, the New York museum devoted to American art, is now the fair's beneficiary. The fair's Preview Gala on November 12 is set to benefit the Whitney.

The ADAA also reports on its own membership. It represents more than 200 member galleries in nearly 40 cities across the United States, and it welcomed eight new members in its Class of 2026. Four people joined the ADAA Board of Directors: Elizabeth Feld, Bridget Moore, Yancey Richardson and Melissa Timarchi.

Behind the fair sits the ADAA Foundation, created in 1970. It gives grants to museums, archives and arts groups, money used for research into art history and for building exhibitions.

For the public, the practical news is simple. The fair is open at the Park Avenue Armory through November 16. For the two organisations at the centre of the charity change, the result is a shift in where the fair's benefit money goes next: away from Henry Street Settlement and toward the Whitney.

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