By Eric Fischl
I had a revelation five years ago that what has always distinguished Sag Harbor Village from the rest of the Hamptons was that its resilience is rooted in a history of producing products that went out into a global market. Though the industries came and went, what didn’t was the fundamental character of the people of this town who understood that they were part of a larger world that their work went into.
Because this gave Sag Harbor a cosmopolitan character, tolerance for diversity, individuality, eccentricity and creativity have been attracted here and accepted here.
Over the course of time, the paradigm of industry shifted to consolidation and centralization, which left Sag Harbor high and dry, except for one thing that has been here from the start: art.
I used to think that the arts were separate from the industry of production here, but, five years ago, I realized that they actually are the next production!
Sag is, first of all, structurally unique. The size and shape of Main Street, with its gentle curve stopping you from seeing all the way to the end of it, draws you farther down the row of shops. That the town ends at the harbor is significant for how it both stops your leaving and gives you such a great feeling of expansiveness.
You naturally slow down to enjoy before turning back, going up the other side with the rows of other stores, shops, restaurants and bars. The physical structure of Sag embraces you, holds you in place. No other town out here comes close to the warmth and welcome that is this town.
We have the opportunity at this very moment to propel this great village in a direction that I believe will be its greatest manifestation of health and prosperity for years to come. With the Whaling Museum, the library and The Church anchoring the south end of town, the cinema holding the middle, and Bay Street Theater anchoring the north end of town, we are creating an arts district that will over time pull the whole town together in a way that contributes to our next global production: The Arts.
The portraits of the writers, artists, performers, poets and musicians that populate the windows of The Church are there as inspiration and reminders that Sag Harbor has always had creators who have made work that moved out into the global economy and had enormous impact on culture around the world.
It is my vision, my ambition and my greatest desire to see Sag Harbor revitalized by what has always been an authentic part of its DNA. It is a vision that I share with April, and, to this end, we have spent enormous amounts of time, energy and capital to begin to help shape and transform this town, which has been increasingly sliding down a slope to utter banality.
If we don’t really begin to focus our energy into how to protect what are our greatest assets, and on how to nurture and support what we will need to make our newfound prosperity survive the short-term, shortsighted goals of easy money, we will have, like our neighbors have had, a steep spike and precipitous fall as the landscape of ever-shifting economics determines.
What we need is an overview. What we need are public discussions in which each cultural institution lays forth its programs for how to not only import culture but to create works that emanate from here. How do we plan to create opportunities, education, stimulus that will encourage youth with talent to stay here, attract talent and audiences to come here because they can’t get what we have anywhere else? This should be our ambition, and our greatest efforts should be focused on making this happen.
Without a robust discussion as to what are true assets are, it will be easy to mistake our strengths, with plans by developers who only understand short-term gain and models based on the economic profiles of high-end shopping malls and luxury destinations. We run the risk of populating the village with fancy restaurants and luxury item shops carrying name brand products that can be found anywhere, reshaping the harbor and marina for larger and larger luxury vessels, and ultimately creating an elitist enclave comparable to St. Tropez and the Riviera. This is a model that does not feed our souls nor ameliorate the enormous divide that is affecting this village and this country.
We do not have to be like everywhere else. And if we were really smart and forward-looking, we would take our cues from those who’ve honed creative visions. That includes all the cultural institutions here.
Eric Fischl is an artist who resides in North Haven. He and his wife, artist April Gornik recently founded The Church, an artist residency, exhibition space and creative center in Sag Harbor Village.
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