The Henry Street Settlement, the Lower Manhattan social services nonprofit, will partner with Independent Art Fair to host its annual fundraising benefit, according to an announcement yesterday, October 9. The news comes after the unforeseen discontinuation of Henry Street’s decades-long partnership with the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), whose annual fall Art Show served as the organization’s largest benefit since 1988.Over the course of 36 years, the event — which Henry Street co-founded with the ADAA — was a crucial source of unrestricted funding, raising more than $38 million for the New York organization. This year, the ADAA also cancelled its fall fair, telling Hyperallergic that it was taking a strategic “pause.”The gala will take place on the opening night of Independent’s 17th edition, scheduled for May 14 through May 17 at Pier 36. According to the announcement, all proceeds from ticket sales will support Henry Street, which helps more than 50,000 New Yorkers annually through its social services, arts, health care, and housing programs. David Garza, chief executive officer of the Henry Street Settlement, told Hyperallergic that the partnership “opens doors of opportunity for the most vulnerable people among us.”The news also comes on the heels of Independent’s recent announcement that it will collaborate with Sotheby’s to host its fall modern art fair in the auction house’s new uptown address, at the Marcel Breuer-designed Brutalist building on Madison Avenue.Independent’s founder Elizabeth Dee told Hyperallergic that the new alliance with Henry Street “seemed like a perfect fit” with the relocation of its spring fair from Tribeca to Pier 36 on the Lower East Side, which will place the event just a few blocks from the historic nonprofit’s headquarters and art center. She also suggested that the partnership is a long-term endeavor. “Henry Street will be the fair’s main philanthropic activity going forward,” Dee said.Social service nonprofits have been scrambling to recoup losses from cut federal funding and to brace for future rescissions. Garza cited the loss of funding from the US Department of Agriculture, which supported a critical New York farm-to-table program that helped provide food for low-income families in New York City and elsewhere across the state.“ When funding like that disappears and food disappears off people’s tables, that’s when we try to spring into action to try to find alternative or creative ways to meet that need,” Garza said. “And the reality of the situation is that the worst is yet to come.”