Guild Hall Academy of the Arts Mission and Procedures

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 John Drew 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.