Georgette Grier-Key To Be Honored by Bay Street, Alongside Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka

Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, David Burtka, are accustomed to the spotlight — the former an icon on stage and screen, the latter a Broadway star and chef.

The same is not true of community leader Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, an accomplished artist and scholar, as well as the inaugural executive director and chief curator of the Eastville Community Historical Society in Sag Harbor.

But on Saturday, July 6, they will all be under the same lights at Bay Street Theater as the Sag Harbor institution honors them during its 32nd annual Summer Benefit Gala.

“I was surprised, elated and overwhelmed at the same time,” Grier-Key said, “and grateful, of course.”

Tracy Mitchell, the theater’s executive director, keeps a running list of potential gala honorees, she said, and this year, Grier-Key naturally floated to the top. In her eyes, she is one of the “unseen heroes that really make our community wonderful,” she said.

“It’s really about the fact of being seen,” she said. “It makes me feel blessed that we’re helping to get Georgette’s organization, get her out there in front of some other people who live around the corner and have no idea they exist — whether it’s about the history, or the building, or her work.”

Grier-Key’s legacy on the East End dates back to her childhood — and her grandfather, who was the underbishop for the Church of God in Christ, one of the largest Black denominations nationwide.

Under his jurisdiction, he oversaw 145 churches, she said, ranging from Brooklyn to Bridgehampton. And while religion sat at the center of her childhood, the arts were a close second, she said.

As a girl, she grew up learning modern and African dance. She painted, sang and played musical instruments. But when she decided to pursue the arts as a career, her parents swiftly rejected that idea, she said.

“So I came to art late in my life when I finally just made the decision and told my mom, ‘This is what I want to do,’” she said, adding, “Most people don’t know I have two art degrees.”

Grier-Key studied visual arts, with a focus on electronic media, at the State University of New York at Old Westbury before earning her Master of Arts from Adelphi University in 2004 in education, with a concentration in art education, and her Doctor of Education in 2012 from Dowling College.

Throughout her education, she learned the importance of artistic expression — both on the world stage and, through her position at Eastville Community Historical Society, on a local one.

“Having the artists and the art organizations being able to present programs that reflect the world that we see, the world that we’re responsible for, telling that story and responsible for taking care of, it’s really important that we’re able to do that,” she said.

The work that the Eastville Community Historical Society does — which is a true center for Sag Harbor, Grier-Key said, not just arts and culture — has always been relevant, she said, but perhaps feels even more so given the resurgence of racism and xenophobia in recent years.

“I think that there’s always been a fight, I just think that it’s in the forefront,” she said. “We have to continue to make sure that we’re pushing that needle forward. And I think it’s through the arts, through artists, our expression — whether it’s its performance arts, fine arts. This is where we get to evaluate the world as we see it.”

Bay Street Theater’s 32nd annual Summer Benefit Gala, honoring Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka and Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, will be held on Saturday, July 6, at the Sag Harbor theater. For tickets and more information, call 631-725-9500 or visit baystreet.org.