Christina Mossaides Strassfield is the New Director at SAC

Christina Mossaides Strassfield has been a familiar presence on the East End arts scene for the past three decades — and for the last 20 years, she has been the chief curator and museum director at Guild Hall in East Hampton.

But changes are in store for Strassfield, who will soon be heading west — if only slightly. On November 10, the board of directors at Southampton Arts Center (SAC) announced that Strassfield had been named as the nonprofit’s new executive director. Strassfield, who begins her tenure at SAC in early January, replaces Tom Dunn, who left in late July after having served as SAC’s executive director since 2018.

“I’m really excited. It came about and it felt like the right fit,” explained Strassfield. “It was fast, and the board just confirmed it. This is good, this is where I want to be.”

Strassfield first came to Guild Hall fresh from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1987, working first as associate curator and registrar under then-curator Helen Harrison. When Harrison departed for the directorship of the Pollock-Krasner House in 1990, Strassfield became Guild Hall’s curator.

“I stayed on until 1996 when I had twins,” Strassfield explained. “I had three little ones under the age of four. Then in 2002, I came back to Guild Hall when the kids were in kindergarten and I was able to do it, and before I knew it, it was 2020.

“A lot of time passed. It was a wonderful experience and I had such great opportunity being there and learning about running an institution and the museum, making sure everything was being done properly,” she said of Guild Hall. “Now, I’ll be able to push to the next level.”

Though her career has largely been focused on Guild Hall, SAC is not an unfamiliar organization to Strassfield. This past summer, she curated “Figures Transformed,” an exhibition at SAC highlighting the work of East End artists Deborah Buck, Hal Buckner and Strong-Cuevas.

Strassfield is also very familiar with the community of Southampton.

“I live in Water Mill, my kids grew up in Southampton and I was on the school board,” she said. “I was aware of all SAC’s connections to community. I liked what they were doing and I felt like it was a good time for me and for SAC.”

Strassfield comes to SAC just as the organization is looking to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2023. She brings with her a great deal of expertise honed from the decades she spent running Guild Hall’s artistic programming.

“I was in charge of all aspects of the museum — plans, budgets, hiring, creating all the programs related to the museum — it was all under my purview,” she said. “Going forward, at SAC I’ll still be in charge of programmatic aspects, but in a much more administrative role. I’ll probably be hiring more people to do curatorial work and overseeing things, doing more cultivating and maintaining partnerships with the key community stakeholders and the village, especially, because it owns the building. I’ll also be engaging diverse audiences, corporate and nonprofit leaders and elected officials to communicate with the general public year round.

“Southampton is different than East Hampton,” she added. “I felt like I knew the community because I live here and there’s engagement with local businesses, the historical society, the African American Museum, the Southampton Cultural Center, the Peter Marino Art Foundation, and Phillips and even smaller galleries in town.

“I see my role as leading SAC to its next stage of growth and the future for the next 10 years.”

In terms of staffing, while in recent years, SAC not only had Executive Director Tom Dunn, but also Amy Kirwin in the role of artistic director, in early 2021 when Kirwin left to become the inaugural chief creative officer at Guild Hall, her position at SAC was left unfilled. Strassfield notes that she will now be handling both roles going forward.

When asked to reflect on how SAC compares to Guild Hall, Strassfield said, “It’s a different mission. SAC has done some high level shows, but it’s more community based in its reach. That part of its mission statement is something I feel positive about. We have Paton Miller’s show coming up, and we’re incorporating some well-known artists and some under-recognized artists as well. I always loved that at Guild Hall as well, there was a mix of exhibitions.”

Some of the programming ideas that Strassfield would like to explore at SAC going forward are things like play readings or panel discussions that can be held in the theater.

“I think it’s a great opportunity. A lot of films are being shown and there’s an interest in documentaries,” she said. I have a lot of ideas that are brewing that can come to fruition. I was just hired and we had our first program meeting. There are things in place and I’m working and tweaking that now.

“Going forward, I will be able to think about what I have in mind and what we can do in the next year.”

Strassfield finishes up in her role as Guild Hall’s museum director and chief curator on January 6. But she’s not getting much of a break before moving into her new job. Her first day at SAC will be Monday, January 9.

Southampton Arts Center is at 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton. The current exhibition, “A Celebration of Trees,” runs through December 18 and is curated by Laurie Dolphin, Daniela Kronemeyer and Coco Myers. For details, visit southamptonartscenter.org.