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GUILD HALL
East Hampton
Celebrates
20 Years Of Arts Awards
Story by
Edward T.
Callaghan
Photos
by Barry Gordin
 UILD
HALL of East Hampton, the premier cultural institution of its kind
on Long Island’s East End, celebrated the 20th
anniversary of its prestigious Academy of the Arts Awards with a
glittering fete for the leading lights of performing, visual and
literary arts that was more a family affair than stodgy award
show.
The 200 member Guild Hall
Academy of the Arts – a veritable who’s who in arts and
letters – chose to honor composer/lyricist Sheldon Harnick
for Performing Arts, novelist Louis Begley for Literary
Arts, photographer/artist Cindy Sherman for Visual Arts and
real estate developer and philanthropist Marshall Rose for
Lifelong Patron of the Arts.
The gala not only paid
tribute to this year's honorees but also to the over 60 artists
who have been singled out over the past 19 years for sustained
excellence in their field.
Previous awardees include
such luminaries as Robert A. M. Stern, Chuck Close, Steven
Spielberg, George Plimpton, Edward Albee, Lauren Bacall, Itzhak
Perlman, Jerome Robbins, Sidney Lumet, Cy Coleman, Betty Friedan,
Larry Rivers, Jane Freilicher, Kurt Vonnegut and Willem de
Kooning.
Broadway producer Roy
Furman, Academy of the Arts president, said, “For the past
two decades the Academy has recognized world-class talent in the
performing, visual and literary arts and all of this talent hails
from our own backyard – our friends and neighbors.”
Under the dynamic
leadership of gala co-chairs Leila and Melville (Mickey)
Straus, board chairman Pamela and Edward Pantzer,
Peggy and Henry Schleiff, Claude and Bruce
Wasserstein and executive director Ruth Appelhof, the
gathering was a festive celebration of world-class artistic
talent.
One of Guild Hall’s and
ABC TV The View’s favorite funny ladies, six-time MAC Award
winner and comedian Angela LaGreca, kept the evening moving
at a fast and funny pace.
Pulitzer Prize and Tony
Award winner Marsha Norman presented to Sheldon Harnick;
60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt presented to his old
pal, Marshall Rose; internationally acclaimed artist Robert
Longo to best friend Cindy Sherman, and Knopf
senior editor George Andreou to his star author Louis
Begley.
The star studded turnout
included Candice Bergen (Marshall Rose’s wife), Mrs.
Arlene Alda, Joan Ganz Cooney and Peter G. Peterson,
Melissa Cohn, Judy Licht and Jerry Della Femina, Dallas
Ernst, Tovah Feldshuh, Dina Merrill & Ted Hartley, Marlene
Hess and James D. Zirin, Patti Kenner, Bruce Horten, Linda
Janklow.
Also June Noble
Larkin, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Richard Meier, Gladys and
Robert Nederlander, Marjorie Chester, Joan Steinberg, Robert A.M.
Stern, Judith Hope and Tom Twomey, Mort Zuckerman, Frances
Levine, Tony Walton and Gen LeRoy, B. Smith and
Dan Gasby, Strong-Cuevas, Donald Sultan and Josh
Gladstone, John Drew Theater artistic director. |
