Academy of the Arts

Original Awards Committee: (standing) Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Perry, Joseph F. Cullman 3rd, Peter Jennings, Sydney Gruson, Wilfred Sheed; (seated) Elaine Steinbeck, Henry Geldzahler, Sherrye P. Henry. Photo by Rameshwar Das

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, presided over by President Susan Stroman, is a truly incredible assemblage of internationally recognized artists who are ardent advocates of Guild Hall’s mission. The Academy’s 250-max members are resources of talent for our programs and for mentoring younger artists in the community, with the intention of extending the legacy of the region as one of the country’s most storied art colonies. 

Past Academy Presidents have included Broadway producer Roy Furman, television executive Ed Bleier, and most recently, artist Eric Fischl, who put forth his vision of supporting the next generation of artists by helping to establish the Guild House Artist-in-Residence program for which Academy members serve as nominators and mentors. Award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman assumed the role of President in December 2024.

Each spring, the Annual Academy of the Arts Awards Dinner continues the founding tradition of recognizing lifetime achievement by artists, creative professionals, and individuals who passionately support the arts in our community. The 40th Annual Academy of the Arts Achievement Awards Dinner will take place on Monday, April 27 at The Rainbow Room., where we will honor Carl Bernstein and Katie Couric each with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Media & Communications and Leila Straus with the Special Award for Leadership and Philanthropy. We are delighted to recognize our newest inductees to the Academy of the Arts: Victor Garber, Sarah Sze, and Colson Whitehead. 

To foster and inspire the artistic spirit of the East End and recognize the diversity and ingenuity of human expression, this is the mission of Guild Hall’s Academy of the Arts.

Established in 1985, the Academy is one of the four pillars of Guild Hall of East Hampton in concert with the Hilarie and Mitchel Morgan Theater, Guild Hall Museum, and Education Department. It is a life-term honor conferred on no more than 250 living members with an association to eastern Long Island.

Each year, all members may vote on the Lifetime Achievement Awards. Up to three Academicians are recognized from the membership—one from each Academy branch: Visual Arts, Communications and Literary Arts, and Performing Arts. Guild Hall may recognize excellence in Leadership and Philanthropy with a fourth. The achievement awards ballots are drafted by the Liaison to the Academy under the direction of the Academy President, Executive Director, Artistic Director and Museum Director. All Academy members, regardless of where they reside in the Academy, are invited to vote across disciplines for the three Achievement awards. While honorees are generally chosen from the body of the Academy, outstanding candidates who are not yet Academicians may win the Lifetime Achievement Award. In such cases, those honorees are invited to sit on the Academy. All Achievement honorees become members of the Academy in perpetuity.

When honorees become members in memoriam or members’ terms expire, their voting seats are available for the Academy to fill with appropriate talent. If vacancies arise, members are added once a year in the winter. A Nominating Committee comprised of no more than ten Academy members produces the ballots. The committee consists of the Academy President, Executive Director, Artistic Director, Museum Director and no more than six at-large members of Academicians. They follow strict selection criteria: art professionals of significant achievement in their fields demonstrably associated with the East End of Long Island. From the committee-assembled ballots, each branch votes to add members of their own discipline. New members are invited to join for the term of their natural lives.

The Guild Hall Academy of the Arts is an honor society representing substantive artistic achievement. In the past, Academicians have chosen to mentor Guild Hall’s artists-in-residence, supply programming in the Theater and Museum, serve as thought-leaders, participate in symposia and multi-disciplinary fora. Most fervently, Guild Hall invites its Academy to use institutional resources as their laboratory thereby aiding Guild Hall to further its mission of letting artists lead the way.

Alan Alda, ’85
Arlene Alda
John Alexander, ’12
Laurie Anderson, ’11
Julie Andrews
Ken Auletta, ’08
Alice Aycock, ’18

Jon Robin Baitz, ’11
Bob Balaban, ’09
Alec Baldwin, ’03
Monica Banks
Mary Ellen Bartley
Louis Begley, ’04
Joy Behar
Lynda Benglis
Barry Bergdoll
Candice Bergen, ’08 
Uri Berliner
Jill Bialosky
Sanford Biggers
Ross Bleckner, ’00
Dianne Blell
Lorraine Bracco
Christie Brinkley
Matthew Broderick, ’14
Mel Brooks, ’07
Tory Burch
Carter Burwell, ’18

Kate Capshaw
Ina Caro
Robert Caro, ’92
Nanette Carter
Fran Castan
Kim Cattrall
Dick Cavett, ’10
Chevy Chase
Marty Cohen, ’22
Michele Cohen, ’22
Bob Colacello, ’18
Blanche Wiesen Cook
Lucy Cookson
Joan Ganz Cooney, ’01
Katie Couric
Renee Cox 
Melanie Crader, Ex Officio

Cynthia Daniels
Blythe Danner, ’13
Paul Davis, ’90
Philippe de Montebello, ’13
Ron Delsener
Jeremy Dennis
B. Diamonstein-Spielvogel
Nicolette Donen
Robert Downey Jr.
Susan Downey

Cornelius Eady  
Melissa Errico

Florence Fabricant
Bran Ferren 
Eric Fischl, ’94 & ’25, President Emeritus
Cornelia Foss
Barry Friedberg, ’15
Roy Furman, ’06, President Emeritus

Steven Gaines
Ina Garten
Richard Gere
Ralph Gibson, ’14
Arnold Glimcher
RoseLee Goldberg 
Paul Goldberger, ’06
April Gornik, ’02
Andrea Grover, Ex Officio

Joan Hamburg
Stephen Hamilton
Neil Patrick Harris
Mary Heilmann, ’15
A.M. Homes, ’15
Edmund Hollander
Sunny Hostin
Sheree Hovsepian
Bryan Hunt

John Irving, ’90
Walter Isaacson, ’12

Virginia Jaramillo
Valerie Jaudon
Billy Joel, ’97
David Joel
Betsey Johnson
Rashid Johnson

Donna Karan
LaVon Kellner, ’23
Mel Kendrick
Patti Askwith Kenner, ’18
Amy Kirwin, Ex Officio
Calvin Klein
Reed Krakoff
Jane Krakowski
Jill Krementz
Steve Kroft

Susan Lacy
Laurie Lambrecht
Nathan Lane, ’12
Erik Larson 
Jo Carole Lauder, ’13
Ronald Lauder, ’13
Matt Lauer
Ralph Lauren
Ricky Lauren
Paul Libin
Judy Licht-Della Femina
Linda Lindenbaum, ’25
Annie Leibovitz
Robert Longo 
Susan Lucci

Harry Macklowe ’14
Linda Macklowe ’14
Anthony Madonna, Ex Officio
Arielle Tepper Madover
Fern Mallis
Joe Mantello
Peter Marino, ’23
Howard Marks, ’24
Nancy Marks, ’24
Kati Marton
Patrick McEnroe
Jay McInerney
Richard Meier, ’91
Susan Meiselas
Lorne Michaels
Paton Miller
Cheryl Minikes, ’16
Michael Minikes, ’16
Isaac Mizrahi
Julianne Moore
Charlotte Moss, ’15
Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Robert Nederlander
Arcmanoro Niles
Cynthia Nixon
Marsha Norman, ’09

Hannah Pakula
Maulik Pancholy
Sarah Jessica Parker, ’15
Alan Patricof, ’09
Itzhak Perlman, ’88
Lisa Perry
Holly Peterson
Elizabeth Peyton, ’10
Lisa Phillips
Joseph M. Pierce
Nicholas Pileggi
Marla Prather
Richard Prince, ’09

Questlove
Sally Quinn

Dan Rattiner
Ron Rifkin
Eric Ripert
Dan Rizzie
Dorothea Rockburne, ’19
David Rockwell
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
Ugo Rondinone
Marshall Rose, ’04
Jane Rosenthal
Clifford Ross
Toni Ross
Daryl Roth, ’24
Jordan Roth
Tom Roush, ’23
Mercedes Ruehl, ’06
Salman Rushdie, ’19

Carl Safina
David Salle, ’07
Marcus Samuelsson
Sheri Sandler, ’17
Val Schaffner
Henry Schleiff
Julian Schnabel, ’98
Grace Schulman
Philip Schultz, ’16
Stephen A. Schwarzman, ’05
Jerry Seinfeld
Jeffrey Seller
Julie Sheehan
Cindy Sherman, ’04
Lynn Sherr
Paul Simon, ’89
Taryn Simon
Lee Skolnick
Arlene Slavin
G.E. Smith
Iris Smyles
Judith Sneddon
Dava Sobel
Barry Sonnenfeld, ’19
Steven Spielberg, ’98
Robert A.M. Stern, ’99
Martha Stewart
Susan Stroman, ’16, President
Michelle Stuart
Billy Sullivan
Donald Sultan

Elie Tahari
Hank Willis Thomas
Frederic Tuten
Judith Hope Twomey
Neil deGrasse Tyson

Hans Van de Bovenkamp
Edwina von Gal, ’16

Rufus Wainwright
Amei Wallach
Janet Wallach
Emma Walton
Vera Wang
Bruce Weber, ’11
Carrie Mae Weems
Andrina Wekontash Smith
Ali Wentworth
Lucy Winton
Bruce Wolosoff
Nina Yankowitz

Almond Zigmund
Donald Zucker, ’08
Mortimer B. Zuckerman, ’03

 

IN MEMORIAM

Edward Albee, ’91
Lauren Bacall, ’90
Jennifer Bartlett, ’08
Robert Benton, ’95
Edward Bleier, President Emeritus
Ben Bradlee, ’03
Marshall Brickman, ’10
John Chamberlain, ’06
Chuck Close, ’95
Cy Coleman, ’00
Betty Comden, ’92
Lewis B. Cullman, ’10
Joseph F. Cullman, III, ’99
Willem de Kooning, ’85
E.L. Doctorow, ’86
Jason Epstein, ’00
Jules Feiffer, ’14
Audrey Flack, ’17
Lukas Foss, ’93
Jane Freilicher, ’96
Betty Friedan, ’98
William Gaddis, ’94
Barbara Goldsmith, ’99
Adolph Green, ’92
Charles Gwathmey, ’89
Sheldon Harnick, ’04
Ted Hartley, ’19
Joseph Heller, ’87
Don Hewitt, ’02
Robert Hughes, ’95
Anne Jackson, ’92
Peter Jennings, ’98
William King, ’97
Jack Lenor Larsen, ’97
Roy Lichtenstein, ’87
Sidney Lumet, ’86
Peter Matthiessen, ’89
Terrence McNally, ’93
Dina Merrill, ’11
Alan J. Pakula, ’96
Susan Patricof, ’09
Frank Perry, ’91
Joe Pintauro, ’07
George Plimpton, ’01
Larry Rivers, ’88
Jerome Robbins, ’87
Gene Saks, ’94
Budd Schulberg, ’02
Gail Sheehy, ’17
Robert F. X. Sillerman, ’07
Saul Steinberg, ’86
Peter Stone, ’96
Melville Straus, ’12
Elaine Stritch, ’01
Gwen Verdon, ’99
Esteban Vicente, ’93
Kurt Vonnegut, ’85
Eli Wallach, ’92
Barbara Walters, ’13
Tony Walton, ’92
Wendy Wasserstein, ’97
Jane Wilson, ’01
Lanford Wilson, ’00
Robert Wilson, ’02
Tom Wolfe, ’88
Jack Youngerman, ’03
Harris Yulin, ’17

Lifetime Achievement Honorees denoted by year

Year Visual Arts Performing Arts Media & Communications Special Award
2026     Carl Bernstein and Katie Couric Leila Straus
2025 Eric Fischl     Linda Lindenbaum
2024   Daryl Roth   Nancy & Howard Marks
2023 Peter Marino     Tom Roush & LaVon Kellner
2022       Marty & Michele Cohen
2019 Dorothea Rockburne Barry Sonnenfeld Salman Rushdie Ted Hartley
2018 Alice Aycock Carter Burwell Bob Colacello Patti Askwith Kenner
2017 Audrey Flack Harris Yulin Gail Sheehy* Sheri Sandler
2016 Edwina von Gal Susan Stroman Philip Schultz Cheryl & Michael Minikes
2015 Mary Heilmann Sarah Jessica Parker A.M. Homes Charlotte Moss & Barry S. Friedberg
2014 Ralph Gibson Matthew Broderick Jules Feiffer Linda & Harry Macklowe
2013 Philippe de Montebello Blythe Danner Barbara Walters* Jo Carole & Ronald S. Lauder
2012  John Alexander  Nathan Lane  Walter Isaacson  Mickey Straus*
2011  Bruce Weber  Laurie Anderson  Jon Robin Baitz  Dina Merrill*
2010  Elizabeth Peyton  Dick Cavett  Marshall Brickman  Lewis B. Cullman*
2009  Richard Prince  Bob Balaban  Marsha Norman  Susan* & Alan Patricof
2008  Jennifer Bartlett*  Candice Bergen  Ken Auletta  Donald Zucker
2007  David Salle  Mel Brooks  Joe Pintauro*  Robert F. X. Sillerman*
2006  John Chamberlain*  Mercedes Ruehl  Paul Goldberger  Roy Furman
2005        Stephen A. Schwarzman
2004  Cindy Sherman  Sheldon Harnick*  Louis Begley  Marshall Rose
2003  Jack Youngerman*  Alec Baldwin  Ben Bradlee*  Mortimer B. Zuckerman
2002  April Gornik  Robert Wilson  Budd Schulberg*  Don Hewitt*
2001  Jane Wilson*  Elaine Stritch*  George Plimpton*  Joan Ganz Cooney
2000  Ross Bleckner  Cy Coleman*  Lanford Wilson*  Jason Epstein*
1999  Robert A.M. Stern  Gwen Verdon*  Barbara Goldsmith*  Joseph F. Cullman 3rd*
1998  Julian Schnabel  Steven Spielberg  Betty Friedan*  Peter Jennings*
1997  William King*  Billy Joel  Wendy Wasserstein*  Jack Lenor Larsen*
1996  Jane Freilicher*  Alan J. Pakula*  Peter Stone*  
1995  Chuck Close*  Robert Benton  Robert Hughes*  
1994  Eric Fischl  Gene Saks*  William Gaddis*  
1993  Esteban Vicente*  Lukas Foss*  Terrence McNally*  
1992  Tony Walton  Betty Comden*  Robert Caro  
     Adolph Green*    
     Anne Jackson*    
     Eli Wallach*    
1991  Richard Meier  Frank Perry*  Edward Albee*  
1990  Paul Davis  Lauren Bacall*  John Irving  
1989  Charles Gwathmey*  Paul Simon  Peter Matthiessen*  
1988  Larry Rivers*  Itzhak Perlman  Tom Wolfe*  
1987  Roy Lichtenstein*  Jerome Robbins*  Joseph Heller*  
1986  Saul Steinberg*  Sidney Lumet*  E.L. Doctorow*  
1985  Willem de Kooning*  Alan Alda  Kurt Vonnegut*  

* In Memoriam