Next
Next
Come celebrate with us! Stop in anytime between 6 PM and 7:30 PM on October 4th to get the first look at our 2025 Fall Exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial during our opening reception. A multi-media exhibition, Here & There highlights the artists residency program at The Church from its first three years, 2021 through 2024.
Central to our mission to ensure that Sag Harbor continues its long history as a thriving center for makers and artists, this year-round residency program has featured over 128 artists and thinkers from around the world and from our community. More than 40 of those artists will be on view in all visual art media including painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, and video art, in addition to events and workshops in performance, music, and the written word.
What are the points of intersection between writing a biography and writing a memoir? Authors Bill Goldstein and Thymaya Payne explore this and more! The two discuss their latest literary endeavors that find them in a state of “trusting the process.” Each will share an excerpt from their current works-in-process before diving into a discussion about the intersections of their practices and experiences. Moderated by Kristen Santori, the talk will close with a welcomed Q&A with the audience.
Goldstein’s work-in-process is a biography of Larry Kramer, the legendary American playwright, novelist, film producer, and AIDS activist. His work is born from years of research as well as a working relationship with Kramer while he was alive. This vantage point of both being present in Kramer’s physical timeline as well as conducting the research as a third person observer has presented unique challenges to Goldstein’s process.
Payne shifts gears to turn the narrative to his own life, a sharp contrast to researched-based works that explored the lives of others – including his forthcoming biography on civil rights leader Walter White and a documentary film on Somalian Pirates. His memoir-in-process, entitled AIDS, Raves, and Pirates, explores reflections on his relationship with his father. Payne’s process explores the validity of memory and questions the mind and heart’s tendency toward projection.
Both Goldstein’s and Payne’s projects were in development here at The Church during Goldstein’s and Payne’s respective residencies.
Programmed in tandem with our Fall exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial, this program also falls on what would be the 38th anniversary of a massive LGBT march on Washington as well as National coming out day. Join us as we honor the legacy of an activist, celebrate our LGBTQIA+ community, and stand together in allyship and community.
Photographer Mary Ellen Bartley will share the inspirations, evolutions, and challenges she faced while working on her project Morandi’s Books. Bartley’s 2020 residency at Casa Morandi in Bologna initiated Morandi’s Books, which offers a contemplative look into the personal library of Giorgio Morandi, the twentieth-century Italian painter renowned for his quiet and precise still life compositions. A six-week residency at The Church during the pandemic offered Bartley space for expanding the series which reflects Bartley’s deep engagement with Morandi’s restrained visual language while expanding her ongoing exploration of books as vessels of both form and feeling.
Learn about Bartley’s process and ideas at our first Insight Sunday of the autumn. Following the discussion there will be a thoughtful Q&A.
Bartley’s work will be on view as part of Here & There – The First Churchennial, our fall exhibition and can be seen ahead of the talk during our exhibition hours Thursday-Monday 11 AM to 5 PM beginning October 5th.
Calling all Educators, Superintendents, and School Administrators!
Join us for a special Open House designed to support East End students and educators. Attendees will learn about existing arts enrichment opportunities for schools and students, as well as how to apply for our new ACE (Arts, Creativity, and Education) Pilot Program for the 2026 school year. Five selected applicants will be awarded a $5,000 budget each to support a yearlong arts education partnership with The Church.
Enjoy light refreshments, connect with fellow educators, and meet our co-founders April Gornik and Eric Fischl, as they share the founding vision for The Church and its mission to inspire creativity on the East End.
Event Highlights:
Program overview with Executive Director Sheri Pasquarella
Learn how you district can benefit with Casey Kleister-Meyer, Operations Manager
Explore possibilities with Kristen Santori, Programming and Communications Manager
Tour our facilities and explore workshops with Samuel Havens, Workshop & Residency Manager
Q&A and Feedback Session
Food, beverage & Conviviality!
Registration is free. Space is limited.
This event is specifically designed for educators and school leaders –please share with anyone who may be interested.
Let’s inspire creativity together!
Deepen your appreciation for the beauty of the line, shape, and form with artist Margaret Garrett. A former dancer turned visual artist, Garrett will discuss her inspirations and her process in the creation of Canon, a video that is representative of her movement-based work. Learn how making Garrett began making videos as a way to find shapes for her paintings and how this evolution led to the development of a new visual language for her—video collages that explore movement, shape, and the unfolding of contrapuntal patterns. Following the discussion there will be a spirited Q&A
Garrett’s Canon will be on view as part of Here & There – The First Churchennial, our fall exhibition and can be seen ahead of the talk during our exhibition hours Thursday-Monday 11 AM to 5 PM beginning October 5th.
This program has been generously supported by the SHS Foundation, in honor of its treasurer, Sara Throne.
Welcome back Johnnie Cruise Mercer! Join us for a moving evening as Mercer presents his one act dance theater work, Mercies of a Butterfly. A movement allegory on “weathering the storm,” the work follows a recently born spirit as they contend with weight, build strength to run, and eventually learn how to fly! With Mercer’s Black movement history at the center of the work’s structure, the dancer/choreographer/director publicly leans into his epic memory in order to share the goodness of letting go.
The solo performance involves close collaboration alongside a creative team of long-time collaborators and peers including music producer Young Denzel, film/video artist Torian Ugworji, horn player Robert McSweeney, drummer Jean Charlot, and fashion designer Pierre Rashad.
This performance has been programmed as part of our Fall Exhibition, Here & There: The First Churchennial. More information can be found by visiting our exhibition page here.
In a world saturated with technology, Jamie Diamond invites viewers to explore the evolving nature of relationships in her short film Skin Hunger. Join us at The Church for a screening of the film and a follow-up discussion and Q&A with the Creator Jamie Diamond, Director of Photography Matt Cianfrani, producers Amy Lawday and Abby Russel, and touch practitioner and subject of the film: Ella.
Peering into the epidemic of loneliness and the service economies that have emerged in response to the growing need surrounding touch, intimacy, Skin Hunger explores the emergence of a new kind of service: the renting of people for nonsexual touch, a.k.a. cuddling.
The 26-minute short film introduces viewers to Steven, a handsome, affable 60-year-old man who lives alone in Coney Island. He’s a film buff and, each day, he travels to Times Square for work where he is surrounded by people. But, inside, he is suffocating from loneliness and a yearning to be touched — or “skin hunger.” He contacts Ella, New York City’s leading touch practitioner, and embarks on a wild journey of discovery. “Skin Hunger” spotlights the phenomenon of paying for platonic touch, and its rapidly growing community which seeks to share the mental and physical restorative benefits of touch with the rest of the world.
This screening has been program in tandem with our Fall exhibition Here & There: The First Churchennial. Learn more about the show by visiting our exhibition page here.