Guild Hall in East Hampton has announced that award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman will assume the role of President of the Guild Hall Academy of the Arts, with the standing president, artist Eric Fischl, stepping down after a long and impactful tenure.
“I am deeply honored to accept the role of President of the Academy of the Arts at Guild Hall,” shared Stroman. “As a director and choreographer, I have long championed the arts, and I am thrilled to continue this legacy by leading Guild Hall’s prestigious Academy. I look forward to collaborating with fellow artists, fostering creativity, and advancing the mission of this cherished cultural institution.”
Past Academy Presidents have included Broadway producer Roy Furman and television executive Ed Bleier. During his tenure, Eric Fischl put forth his vision of supporting the next generation of artists by helping to establish the Guild House Artist-in-Residence program in 2016, for which Academy members serve as nominators and mentors.
In 1985, in recognition of the abundance of visual, literary, and performing artists in the Hamptons, Guild Hall’s Board of Trustees initiated an awards program and honored local luminaries Kurt Vonnegut, Willem de Kooning, and Alan Alda. The following year, the Guild Hall Academy of the Arts was founded by Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Perry, Joseph F. Cullman, III, Peter Jennings, Sydney Gruson, Wilfred Sheed, Elaine Steinbeck, Henry Geldzahler, and Sherrye P. Henry as an association of talented artists and arts professionals who have an affiliation with Guild Hall.
Today, the Academy is an incredible assemblage of internationally recognized artists who advocate Guild Hall’s mission. The Academy’s 250 max members are resources of talent for our programs and for mentoring artists-in-residence and younger artists in the community to extend the region’s legacy as one of the country’s most storied art colonies.
“I have been blessed to be a part of the Guild Hall family, first, as a young artist whom they supported, and then as a board member who supported them,” shared Eric Fischl. “But above all, I was tasked with heading up one of the most remarkable rosters of America’s greatest talents in the creative fields. During my tenure, we have tried to tap into this pool of talent to get them more directly involved with mentoring, workshopping, exhibiting, and lecturing, and to that end, the Academicians have been generous, enthusiastic, and responsive. I am honored to be able to pass the torch to our new President of the Academy, the five-time Tony Award-winning director, producer, and choreographer Susan Stroman. Gasp, breathe, applause, standing ovation, buckle your seatbelts, we are in for a fantastic ride!”
Guild Hall’s annual Academy of the Arts Awards Dinner will be celebrated in New York City in April 2025.