Colucci Musical Mime Theatre produces this amazing event with the sole purpose of helping aspiring young talent by exposing them to the beauty of professional opera, dance, and performance art
The Westhampton Beach Project is a one-of-a-kind curated event featuring art, music, restaurants from all over Long Island, and top-shelf alcohol brands that take over the Great Lawn in Westhampton Beach, bringing hundreds of attendees from throughout the Hamptons! This two-day event, starting July 26, is curated by entrepreneur and CEO Steve Colucci on an annual basis. This year, Dee Rivera has joined forces with Colucci to bring fashion at its best with Hamptons Fashion Week as part of the festivities and run of show. It’s an addition to the event that’s never been done before! Get Ready!
About Steven Colucci
Steven Colucci was born to an Italian family in the South Bronx, next to the now-defunct Yankee Stadium. His father owned and operated the dry cleaning service used by New York Giants. Colucci remembers sharing dinners with legendary athletes like Tucker Frederickson, Rosey Grier, Jim Brown, and Frank Gifford. At 12 years old, Colucci was diagnosed with severe dyslexia and forced to enroll at New York University Reading Institute, a small private school in the East Village.
During his years at NYU Reading Institute, Colucci was encouraged to express himself through painting. He particularly represented movements through paint and carefully studied the works of John Marin, Jackson Pollock, and Willem de Kooning. Growing up in an Italian middle-class neighborhood and pursuing the arts was not easy; Colucci traveled to and from Manhattan with an extra outfit to avoid being bullied. He changed outfits at the 161st Street stop on the D train.
After finishing the program at NYU Reading Institute, Colucci returned to William Taft High School in the Bronx, one of the most violent high schools in America during the 1960s. Colucci remained focused on painting and won the School of Visual Arts scholarship. After graduating with a B.A. in painting, Colucci moved to Paris to continue his studies in art and movement. In Paris, Colucci began to study pantomime and ballet under the tutelage of world-famous movement artist Etienne Decroux. Decroux worked with Colucci, honing his talent until Marcel Marceau discovered him in the late ’70s. Marceau had few protégés, and Colucci quickly became one of them. Under Marceau’s instruction, Colucci developed his artistic voice and style for the next decade.
In the 1980s, Colucci moved back to New York, where he developed a dance and mime program, which offered one-on-one workshops with world-renowned dancers and musicians like Martin VanHamel, Kevin McKenzie, Dennis Koster, Gerald Busby, and more. He brought his workshop to numerous colleges across the United States, including Barr College, which is nationally recognized for its prestigious arts program. Ronal Wilford, President of Columbia Artists Management, recognized Colucci’s work as high art.
Between the 1980s and 1990s, Colucci was asked to collaborate with various dancers and artists, including Alvin Ailey, Melba Moore, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Julio Iglesias, and Etienne Decroux, to name a few.
By the late 1990s, Colucci had refocused on painting and had retreated to his studio in the Dunes, Westhampton. His artwork has been exhibited at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park, the Grant Gallery, and the Belenky Gallery in SoHo. Colucci’s work is part of the permanent collection of the Mark Hachem Gallery in New York and Paris. The artist is a recipient of the prestigious Sam Flax Memorial Award and the Orestes S. Lapolla Memorial Award from The School Art League of New York City and has been featured as a guest artist at the Museum of Modern Art.
Steven Colucci’s paintings and haute couture exhibition at the Mark Hachem Gallery, Madison Avenue, New York, marked Colucci’s debut as a haute couture designer. Colucci feels fashion is a rendezvous of all the art forms, making it a natural step for his career.