Guild Hall Takes The 2022 Season On The Road

With summer nearly here, Guild Hall is gearing up for its 91st season, and on the schedule is a full slate of art, music, dance performances, food happenings, kids events and more. But this year, instead of programming taking place inside the fabled Main Street institution in East Hampton — where it has been in operation since its founding in 1931 — the shows and the performers are hitting the road, literally.

That’s because Guild Hall is currently closed as it undergoes a year-long and sweeping $25 million capital improvement plan to re-envision and upgrade the theater and galleries, as well as educational spaces, offices and other amenities around the property. While facets of the renovation are now underway, in the wake of community pushback over the initial plan to revamp the John Drew Theater, Guild Hall’s leadership announced in late May that it would “pause and reflect” on the new John Drew plan as it looks to incorporate needed technical upgrades without dramatically altering the original design of the theater.

Even with the delay, Guild Hall is scheduled to fully reopen again sometime in 2023. But that doesn’t mean the organization is hitting pause on its programming in the coming months. Amy Kirwin, Guild Hall’s chief creative officer, noted in a recent interview that with the facility offline, the opportunity to take the programming out into the community came firmly into focus.

And that’s exactly what “Guild Hall: Offsite” is all about — a summer of events that will create many new community partnerships with other organizations along the way.

“What we wanted to do was take this opportunity to explore new and exciting projects — different from what we would normally do,” Kirwin explained.

To that end, Guild Hall is spreading its programming across the region this season by partnering with a range of local venues, many of them representing new collaborations. For example, the offsite season officially began on May 20 with opera, when the Guild Hall and Bel Canto Boot Camp Resident Artist Program, which awards paid residencies to emerging opera artists, presented a recital at St. Luke’s Church, right down the street from Guild Hall. Next, on June 3, Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton partnered with Guild Hall to host Resistance Revival Chorus, a group of 60 singers who offered songs of resistance that empower women’s voices.

Coming up this week, on Thursday, June 16, Guild Hall offers “Behind the Work,” a conversation at The Church in Sag Harbor with dancer and choreographer LaTasha Barnes, who is currently in residence there and at work developing “The Jazz Continuum,” a piece which explores the artistry of jazz music and dance as a cornerstone of Black American dance forms. On Wednesday, June 22, the popular Choir! Choir! Choir! — an offering that was a big hit at Guild Hall a few years back — returns to Guild Hall, but this time in a partnership with The Clubhouse in Wainscott. The ultimate audience sing along, Choir! Choir! Choir! is a Canadian-based company that teaches large groups of people original arrangements of universally beloved songs who all sing together after just an hour or so of rehearsal (no experience needed).

“Once we knew we were going into the capital improvements project and weren’t going to be able to program at Guild Hall, we’ve been completely focusing on finding great locations and partners,” Kirwin explained. “Some venues might actually be closer to where audiences live, like Choir! Choir! Choir! at The Clubhouse. We’re also working with CMEE [Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton] to do our KidFEST programs and the Hamptons Dance Project will be back at the 20-acre farm in Springs.

“We want to offer everything — music, dance, kids’ programming, talks and a nice mix,” Kirwin said. “There are partnerships that still may pop up that we haven’t planned yet. We also scaled back our programming and are not doing as much as we normally do, because we wanted to really focus.”

In terms of visual art, Guild Hall is teaming up with the Amagansett U.S. Life-saving Station this summer to present “Now Here,” an exhibition running from July 16 to September 30. Presented by the NoW Here Collective — artists Alice Hope, Bastienne Schmidt and Toni Ross — the exhibition will feature the three artists presenting work that responds to one of the artifacts in the Life Saving Station’s collection — a “faking box.” The curiously named object is a device in which a long, single rope is wound around a series of pegs in such a way that it won’t become entangled when shot out from the shoreline to a vessel in distress on the ocean.

“We’re offsite in this unusual space inspired by the faking box, this unusual object that was actually used to help ships at sea,” explained Kirwin, noting that organizing art exhibitions away from Guild Hall’s home galleries is a much more complicated process than presenting performances. But having artists create original work for a specific theme in a unique venue has turned out to be a workable solution. “We needed a project that could be taken off-site and the three artists came to us with this.”

Similarly, on the art front from September 10 to October 1, Guild Hall will present “Swept Away: A Love Letter to a Surrogate(s)” at Main Beach in East Hampton. On four consecutive Saturday nights, artist Warren Neidich, in collaboration with Guild Hall’s chief curator, Christina Mossaides Strassfield, will curate performances and time-based exhibitions by a variety of artists at the water’s edge between 6 and 10 p.m. with the sound of the surf providing the background ambiance. Artists will be asked to participate in performative gestures of immateriality, like making sandcastles, singing a song, reciting poetry, making a sculpture that interacts with the tide, using natural color dyes to make temporary paintings in the tide, sky writing, and more. This project is a nod to the work of painter and assemblage artist Allan Kaprow who, in the mid-1960s, staged “Happenings” across the South Fork.

And not to leave out the food component of a Guild Hall summer, New York Times food and wine writer Florence Fabricant is back this season with a new take on her popular “Stirring the Pot” series of conversations with culinary celebrities. This year, instead of taking place on the stage of the John Drew Theater, Fabricant will get things cooking at three unique sites on the East End. The first “Stirring the Pot” will be held August 7, at the newly opened hot spot Roberta’s Montauk, where Fabricant will lead a conversation and mozzarella-making demonstration, followed by a family style lunch. The second event on August 21, at Sagaponack Distillery, will be all about spirits, featuring tastings and an in-depth discussion about the distillation process and the Foster family who run the distillery. Finally, Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin will chat with Fabricant about his new book “Vegetable Simple” at The Hayground School in Bridgehampton on August 28, and guests will have the opportunity to sample his vegetable ratatouille.

While the next couple of months are the busiest of the year, the events don’t end with summer. From October 21-23, Guild Hall will offer “Fan Fair,” a 3-day celebration at LTV. The weekend-long event will feature a members-only art sale and public fair (similar to the annual Clothesline Art Sale), a silent disco dance party, an open mic night hosted by Guild Hall Teen Arts Council, and an opportunity for members of Guild Hall to sign up for a slot to offer a live performance on stage.

“Whether they are singers or dancers or digital artists, members can take part in whatever their artistic outlet is,” Kirwin explained. “If you sing, you reserve a slot on the stage to perform, if you’re an expert in mushrooms you can do a presentation. This will be in October. We want to get the word out because people should start working on their pieces now.”

So although Guild Hall itself may be dark this summer, don’t think there’s not many points of theatrical, musical and artistic light happening at unexpected venues throughout the community. Kirwin is happy to be forming new relationships with them all.

“There are so many great places that can be used. It’s great to be able to work with some of the places we haven’t before — like St. Luke’s Church and The Clubhouse and LTV, which is a really big space,” she said. “I’m excited about all of it.”

Museum:

“Now Here” by The No W here Collective: Alice Hope, Toni Ross, and Bastienne Schmidt. Curated by Christina Strassfield. July 16 to September 30. Amagansett Life Saving Station, 160 Atlantic Avenue, Amagansett. Indoor installation open Friday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or by appointment. Outdoors open daily. Free. Opening reception July 17, 4 to 6 p.m.; Meet the artists, July 31, 3 p.m.; Family workshops August 6 and 13, noon to 3 p.m.; Panel discussion with the artists August 20, 5 p.m.

“Swept Away: Love Letter to a Surrogate(s)” by Warren Neidich in collaboration with Guild Hall chief curator Christina Strassfield. September 10, 17, 24 and October 1, 6 to 10 p.m. Main Beach, 101 Ocean Avenue, East Hampton. Free.

Talks:

“Stirring The Pot: Conversations with Culinary Celebrities” hosted by Florence Fabricant. August 7, 11 a.m. mozzarella-making demo and lunch at Roberta’s in Montauk, 240 Fort Pond Road, Montauk; August 21, 4 p.m. cocktail-making, and happy hour at Sagaponack Farm Distillery, 369 Sagg Road, Sagaponack; August 28, 11 a.m. “Vegetable Simple,” a talk, demonstration, tasting and book signing with Chef Eric Ripert at The Hayground School, 151 Mitchell Lane, Bridgehampton.

Dance:

“Works & Process OUT EAST: The Missing Element,” Saturday, July 16, 7 p.m. at LTV Studios, 75 Industrial Road, Wainscott. “The Missing Element” features world champion beatboxers of The Beatbox House and leading street dancers representing Krump, Flex and Break Dancing who will embark on an adventure of sound and movement. Creative directors Chris Celiz, a world champion beatboxer, and b-boy Anthony Vito Rodriguez “Invertebrate” assemble a formidable cast to push the vocal boundaries into the unimaginable. Commissioned by Works & Process at The Guggenheim before the pandemic, The Missing Element was developed in Works & Process bubble residencies at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in August 2020 and March 2021.

Hamptons Dance Project IV, Friday to Sunday, August 12 to 14. VIP cocktail reception 5 p.m., performance 6 p.m. Jose Sebastian and Hamptons Dance Project (HDP) return to Guild Hall for their fourth summer season. Set on a 20-acre farm in Springs overlooking Gardiner’s Bay, The Hamptons Dance Project pairs dancers from American Ballet Theatre and beyond with master choreographers in fresh, dynamic works — including world premieres — from contemporary to classical.

Music:

Choir! Choir! Choir! Wednesday, June 22, 7:30 p.m. The Clubhouse, 174 Daniels Hole Road, East Hampton. Get ready to fill the house with over 200 voices singing along with Canada’s famed musical group.

Guild Hall and Bel Canto Boot Camp Resident Artist Program: Saturday, July 30, 7 p.m. Bel Canto Scenes & Arias, Saturday, Brittany Smith, Juan Hernández and resident artists with Rachelle Jonck and Derrick Goff, pianists.; Saturday, October 15 at 7 p.m. Michael Spyres and Bel Canto Boot Camp, Hoie Hall at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 18 James Lane, East Hampton.

Kids:

Guild Hall’s KidFEST @CMEE (Children’s Museum of the East End) in the outdoor amphitheater, 376 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, Bridgehampton. Ages 4+.

“Charlotte Blake Alston: Stories & Songs in the Oral Tradition” Wednesday, July 6, pre-show workshop 4:30 p.m., performance 5 p.m.

“Music From The Sole: Afro-Brazilian Funk & Dance” Wednesday, August 3, pre-show workshops 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Performances at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Community:

Guild Hall Fan Fair: A 3-Day Celebration of Art and Community, Friday, October 21 to Sunday October 23, LTV, 75 Industrial Road, Wainscott.

Benefit Events:

Hamptons Fine Art Fair Bastille Day Vernissage Benefiting Guild Hall, Thursday, July 14, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Southampton Fair Grounds, 505 County Road 39, Southampton.

Summer Gala honoring Kathy Rayner, Friday, August 19, 6 to 11 p.m. Mulford Farm, 10 James Lane, East Hampton.

Annual Golf Outing at the Maidstone Club, Monday, September 19.

For more information on Guild Hall’s upcoming events and tickets, visit guildhall.org.