As a new contributor to the GSBN, I would like to introduce myself. As of October 25, 2024, I have been the Executive Director of the Islip Arts Council (IAC) for 17 years. Islip Arts Gallery at the South Shore Mall recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. It was a celebration sponsored by AARP to award the arts council its AARP card and honor the exhibition’s artists entitled “Five Decades of Arts.”
So much has happened as IAC transitioned from an organization focused solely on music to one that includes all the arts. When I began to work with Lillian Barbash, the titan who founded the Islip Arts Council in 1974, I told her that I wanted to bring art into the fold. Since she was instrumental in the start-up of the Islip of Art Museum, she supported my ideas. In 2011, I took over the management of the Islip Art Museum. Over the years since 2008, I have brought a lot more popular music into the summer concert series. I introduced opera by presenting a staged opera at Bayard Cutting Arboretum and always wanting to return to presenting opera, I have brought opera back to IAC’s roster of presenting music and art in historic homes and sacred houses of worship program, most recently at St. Patrick’s Church in Bay Shore with QueenSound.
I am also proud to say that we are bringing a Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company production of “A Christmas Carol” to St. Mark’s Church in Islip on December 13, at 7:30 p.m.. In the last three years, we introduced Shakespeare at the Park – something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, and we’ve had this production in five parks annually since receiving Suffolk County Omnibus grants to present all of these programs.
This year IAC presented the 16th Annual Teeny Awards. It’s grown out of the ballpark, so much so that the term is copyrighted. It honors high school stage and theatre students’ productions. We include all 11 high schools within the town of Islip. We have a gala performance for the final program with all the teeny nominees on stage. It has become an educational program involving the students learning their ‘act’ in one week’s rehearsals.
Since 2021, our home has been the gallery at the South Shore Mall. Islip Museum never reopened to the public after the pandemic. All the artwork is in storage. The South Shore Mall space has been a wonderful gift, and we are delighted here and have about 2300 square feet. This new location has offered IAC the opportunity to have a whole gallery open to the public during mall hours, making art available to all for free…which was a motto that Lillian Barbash instituted as her statement when she founded IAC 50 years ago.
We proudly offer free concerts and exhibitions to the public all year round. We have brought cultural arts to the mall and present live concerts there, as well as ballet, Hispanic dance, at least one Shakespeare production annually, High School string orchestras, Choral groups, and more.
IAC serves everyone. We serve all ages, ethnicities, and more. All of our programs are accessible. We always have at least one interpreter present, which was important in October as we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month. Exhibitions are installed about every 4-6 weeks, serving the month honoring the group (e.g., Hispanic, Black History, Women’s History, Cancer Survivors, Veteran, or Youth, etc. The exhibitions act as a conduit to serve that community and the public at large, educating all.
We have changed a lot over the last 50 years. We now present artists worldwide and host theater, opera, and more through our Bay Shore Brown Bag Series, Bayard Cutting Arboretum, and Art Crawl while always providing an essential creative outlet for the talented artists that reside right here in the beautiful Town of Islip.
It is with my pleasure that I serve the community at large – doing what I love.
