Hamptons Arts Network’s THAW FEST To Feature A Month’s Worth Of Hamptons Happenings

Hamptons Arts Network’s (HAN) third annual THAW FEST, a Hamptons-wide arts festival, will be bigger and better than ever – as programming has expanded to encompass an entire month of exciting offerings. The 2020 FEST will run Friday, March 6 to Sunday, March 29.

“The East End is blessed with a wide range of cultural institutions and resources that contribute substantially to the diverse and rich quality of life that we enjoy. Not only do the arts bring fullness to our daily lives, they are also a catalyst for our regional economy,” New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele stated. “Our cultural institutions foster tourism and create jobs across the economic spectrum. The decision of 19 local arts organizations to join to create a unified arts community will only serve to strengthen their important role in our community and spur economic activity for our local businesses year-round.”

HAN members include Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Dia Bridgehampton, East Hampton Historical Society, Eastville Community Historical Society, Guild Hall, Hamptons International Film Festival, Hamptons Doc Fest, LongHouse Reserve, Madoo Conservancy, Parrish Art Museum, Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center, Sag Harbor Cinema, Shinnecock Nation Cultural Center & Museum, Southampton African American Museum, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton Cultural Center, Southampton Historical Museum, and The Watermill Center.

“Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center For The Arts is pleased to present our annual Beatles Weekend as part of Hamptons Arts Network’s 2020 THAW Fest calendar. This year, acclaimed Beatles cover band The Moondogs will return with a two-night performance of The Beatles’ White Album on Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14, at 8 p.m. each night,” Michael Pintauro of Bay Street shared. “The Moondogs is made up of keyboardist Fred Gilde, guitarist Mick Hargreaves, keyboardist Dan Koontz, bassist Joe Lauro, guitarist Michael Schiano, guitarist Jeff Levitt, and drummer Howard Silverman. In keeping with the style of The Beatles’ legendary harmonies, many of the band members contribute as vocalists.”

Highlights will range from exhibitions to theater performances to special screenings to music to garden tours to workshops to community engagement to family-focused events.

“I’m excited that once again the Parrish Art Museum is a part of a network of 19 cultural institutions in the Hamptons who come together to celebrate the thriving arts and culture of this area,” said Corinne Erni, Senior Curator of ArtsReach and Special Projects. “The Parrish will present an engaging and timely program that explores migration through the lens of women artists at the Parrish as part of THAW fest. Writers Kathy Engel, Ellyn Toscano, and Grace Aneiza Ali, who contributed to the book Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History, will present their work and discuss women artists’ turbulent experiences of migration through the lenses of love, war, and family.”

HamptonsFilm will host a special screening with Board of Directors Co-Chair Alec Baldwin on Saturday, March 7. “We are excited to participate in the Hamptons Arts Network THAW Fest as part of a month long celebration of the arts and culture that Hamptons non-profits provide to residents year-round,” said HamptonsFilm Executive Director Anne Chaisson. “We look forward to having our HamptonsFilm Artistic Director David Nugent and Chairman and film aficionado, Alec Baldwin, talk extensively about the relevance of Silkwood in our current political climate in what will be an engaging and enlightening winter event.”

“The themes of whistleblowing and corporate accountability at the core of the classic 1983 film Silkwood continue to remain an important point of discussion in today’s society,” Baldwin noted. “Under the direction of the legendary Mike Nichols, and featuring an ensemble cast including Meryl Streep, Cher and Kurt Russell, the film tells a story of courage following chemical technician and union labor activist Karen Silkwood on the crusade some suggest eventually cost her her life.”

Hamptons Doc Fest will pay homage to the legendary Audrey Flack. “This year Hamptons Doc Fest is the opening program for THAW FEST, the annual March bonanza of film/culture/music/history presented by 19 non-for-profit arts organizations on the East End,” Jacqui Lofaro, Executive Director of Hamptons Doc Fest, shared. “Hamptons Doc Fest has been co-presenting in January, February and March, a three-part Artists Lens series with the Parrish Art Museum, focusing on films about women artists. Who better to include for this third film in the series, and the first THAW FEST offering, than Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack, directed by Deborah Shaffer and Rachel Reichman, about our own Audrey Flack, at 88 still painting and creating?”

“The film received the Art & Inspiration Award at our 2019 documentary film festival in December and on top of that, it also won the coveted Audience Award. It deserves to be screened again, and Audrey Flack herself will be attending to have a conversation with Parrish Director, Terrie Sultan, after the film,” Lofaro added.

Each week will offer four to five enriching experiences.

“We can’t think of a better program to represent who we are than something inspired by the exhibition on view, TAKEOVER! 2020 Artists in Residence,” Amy Kirwin, Southampton Arts Center Artistic Director, noted. “TAKEOVER! artist Michael Butler will be hosting a special ‘Sip & Paint’ Night on Friday, March 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. where he will teach some of his techniques for panting on a small scale. The exhibition will also be on view and we hope visitors will come and experience that as well.”

Bridgehampton Chamber Music will pay homage to a legendary composer and pianist. “This year the classical music world celebrates Beethoven’s 250th birthday. We’ll be a part of that celebration in our second and third concerts of this year’s spring series, but the first concert presented as a part of THAW Fest is dedicated to the life of one of Beethoven’s biggest influences – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,” Marya Martin, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Artistic Director, relayed. “And we’re thrilled to have the extraordinary Alan Alda join us to bring Mozart’s story to life through the composer’s own words. It’s going to be a great spring of music and we can’t wait to share it with everyone on the East End.”

HAN was founded in 2017 with the mission of “promoting collaboration, partnerships, and shared programming among its members, and to advocate for the arts in the areas of economic development, tourism, and education.”

For more information, visit www.hamptonsartsnetwork.org.