Susan Stroman Named President of Guild Hall's Academy of the Arts

Last week, Guild Hall in East Hampton announced that award-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman will assume the role of president of the Guild Hall Academy of the Arts, with standing president, artist Eric Fischl, stepping down after a long and impactful tenure.

“I am deeply honored to accept the role of president of the Academy of the Arts at Guild Hall,” Stroman said. “As a director and choreographer, I have long championed the arts, and I am thrilled to continue this legacy by leading Guild Hall’s prestigious Academy. I look forward to collaborating with fellow artists, fostering creativity, and advancing the mission of this cherished cultural institution.”

Past Academy presidents have included Broadway producer Roy Furman and television executive Ed Bleier. During his tenure, Eric Fischl put forth his vision of supporting the next generation of artists by helping to establish the Guild House Artist-in-Residence program in 2016, for which academy members serve as nominators and mentors.

In 1985, in recognition of the abundance of visual, literary and performing artists in the Hamptons, Guild Hall’s Board of Trustees initiated an awards program and honored local luminaries Kurt Vonnegut, Willem de Kooning, and Alan Alda. The following year, the Guild Hall Academy of the Arts was founded by Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Perry, Joseph F. Cullman, III, Peter Jennings, Sydney Gruson, Wilfred Sheed, Elaine Steinbeck, Henry Geldzahler and Sherrye P. Henry as an association of talented artists and arts professionals who have an affiliation with Guild Hall.

Today, the academy is an incredible assemblage of internationally recognized artists who advocate Guild Hall’s mission. The academy’s 250 max members are resources of talent for Guild Hall programs and for mentoring artists-in-residence and younger artists in the community to extend the region’s legacy as one of the country’s most storied art colonies.

“I have been blessed to be a part of the Guild Hall family, first, as a young artist whom they supported, and then as a board member who supported them,” Fischl said. “But above all, I was tasked with heading up one of the most remarkable rosters of America’s greatest talents in the creative fields. During my tenure, we have tried to tap into this pool of talent to get them more directly involved with mentoring, workshopping, exhibiting, and lecturing, and to that end, the academicians have been generous, enthusiastic, and responsive. I am honored to be able to pass the torch to our new president of the academy, the five-time Tony Award-winning director, producer, and choreographer, Susan Stroman. Gasp, breathe, applause, standing ovation, buckle your seatbelts, we are in for a fantastic ride.”

Susan Stroman is a five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer. Her work has also been honored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel and a record six Astaire Awards. She has two shows onstage this Broadway season — Delia Ephron’s play “Left on Tenth” and the new musical “Smash.” She directed and choreographed “The Producers,” winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards including Best Direction and Best Choreography. She co-created, directed, and choreographed the Tony Award-winning musical “Contact” for Lincoln Center Theater, which received an Emmy Award for “Live From Lincoln Center.” She directed and choreographed the musical “The Scottsboro Boys” on Broadway and in London’s West End, where it was honored with the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical.

Most recently, Stroman directed and choreographed the critically praised West End revival of “Crazy for You” and on Broadway, the new musical “New York, New York” and “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive,” a new play by Selina Fillinger. Other Broadway credits include “Young Frankenstein,” “Bullets Over Broadway,” “Oklahoma!,” “Show Boat,” “Prince of Broadway,” “Big Fish,” “The Music Man,” “The Frogs,” “Big,” “Steel Pier,” “Picnic” and “Crazy for You” — winner of the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical.

Guild Hall’s annual Academy of the Arts Awards Dinner will be celebrated in New York City in April 2025. Honorees and new inductees will be announced soon.