Henry Street Announces Partnership with Independent Art Fair: Gala Set for May
By Henry Street Settlement
Henry Street is proud to announce a new partnership with Independent, a mission-driven arts organization that serves collectors, galleries, artists, arts writers, and institutions internationally. Henry Street Settlement will host a gala celebration at the opening night of the organization’s contemporary fair’s 17th edition, taking place at Pier 36, on the East River, May 14-17, 2026. Ticket sales for the event will provide unrestricted support for Henry Street Settlement’s comprehensive social service, arts, and health care programs.
The announcement was featured in Art News and Hyperallergic.
“Our collaboration with Independent marks an exciting step in Henry Street’s long history of supporting the intersection of the art world with our community,” said Henry Street president and CEO David Garza. The work we do helps the Lower East Side’s most vulnerable neighbors and provides access to the arts and creative expression for all. We could not be prouder to share in creating a new ecosystem within the art world that carves a fresh path toward opportunity.”
True to its legacy as an immigrant enclave and the hub of progressivism in New York, the Lower East Side today remains rich in diversity, activism, and artistic experimentation. At the same time, it suffers from one of the highest poverty rates in Manhattan, with many households in the district earning less than $20,000 a year. Henry Street Settlement has developed deep roots in the Lower East Side community over its 132-year history, and since its founding, has been committed to opening the art world to everyone, in the belief that self-expression and creative opportunity is fundamental to human wellness and social progress.
Since Henry Street’s founding, access to the arts has been integrated into its social service programs and in 1975, it opened Abrons Arts Center, offering cutting-edge performances and exhibitions, arts education programs, and residencies. The nonprofit cofounded The Art Show, the city’s first indoor art fair, with the ADAA, in 1989, and sponsored the 50th Anniversary Exhibition of the 1913 Armory Show, which benefited the organization, in 1963. Its partnership with Independent further anchors Henry Street’s philanthropic events in proximity to its locations and establishes Independent as a core player on the Lower East Side, the new home of its high-profile annual event. The gala will attract some of New York’s top benefactors and public figures, generate milestone funding, and make a meaningful difference in residents’ lives by helping Henry Street’s low-income neighbors find jobs, learn English, access food, go to college, find needed mental health, participate in programs in the visual arts, and find paths to success.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to be passed the torch from Henry Street Settlement, one of the longest-serving charitable organizations serving New Yorkers with an impressive track record of collaboration, to inaugurate our next chapter. The Henry Street gala at Independent promises to bring together some of the best and brightest in New York to preview the exhibition, support an important cause, and broaden awareness of the critical work that the organization has been doing for more than 100 years. Right now, that work is needed more than ever and we’re privileged to be in a position to participate,” says Elizabeth Dee, founder of Independent.
