The ADAA Fair will return to the Park Avenue Armory in New York from 12 to 16 November, relaunched under its executive director Kinsey Robb in the first edition presented wholly during her tenure. The event began more than 35 years ago as the Art Show and is now being repositioned as a closer expression of the Art Dealers Association of America's mission, with a Preview Gala on 12 November benefiting the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Sixty-three member galleries will present curated solo, two-artist and group exhibitions spanning Old Masters to contemporary art. Among the presentations Robb singled out are a new body of work by Julie Buffalohead, shown solo by San Francisco gallery Jessica Silverman; Maren Hassinger's On Dangerous Ground at Susan Inglett Gallery, revisiting her 1981 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Harry Bertoia's sound-producing Sonambient sculptures at Hosfelt Gallery. Anthony Meier will devote its booth to Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, her first New York solo presentation in nearly six decades, while Roberts Projects marks Betye Saar's centenary with early assemblages, archival material and newly discovered drawings.

Robb, who leads the association, described the fair as a boutique event whose intimacy and concentration of leading dealers set it apart on a crowded international circuit. Galleries are admitted through peer review, and she argued that the format's collegial atmosphere, in which dealers share scholarship and build relationships with collectors and curators, feels newly relevant as both sides grow more selective about where they spend their time.

Public programming includes the ADAA Upper East Side Gallery Walk on Saturday 14 November and a series of talks on collecting, philanthropy, artistic legacies and stewardship. Proceeds from the Preview Gala will support the Whitney, continuing a philanthropic tradition that also includes grants from the ADAA Foundation to museums and nonprofit visual arts organisations with modest budgets.