Amy Kirwin: New, But Familiar Face at Southampton Arts Center

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Amy Kirwin, the Southampton Arts Center’s new director of programs, took a visitor on a tour of the Job’s Lane building that was the longtime home of the Parrish Art Museum. With the shops replaced by exhibition space and a temporary wall removed to admit daylight into another gallery, the exhibition area feels brighter and roomier. 

An even more dramatic change has taken place in the executive office. Where at one time six or seven Parrish staff members were crammed into the small space, there are now only two full-time employees: Ms. Kirwin and Julie Fitzgerald, the director of operations. The building’s other office spaces, which require a G.P.S. to find, are at the moment unoccupied.

The new position has an element of déjà vu for Ms. Kirwin, who was hired away from the Parrish, where she had worked for six years, two of them at the Job’s Lane building. As a result, she knows every inch of her not-so-new workplace.

Despite the small staff, which also includes a part-time person who works in the galleries and helps with social media, the center has embarked on its fourth summer with a vengeance, with the first of three art shows now on view and an ambitious slate of programs set to launch later this month.

“It helps to have a board that’s really engaged,” Ms. Kirwin said. “We have a program committee where we talk, and I hear their ideas and help implement them. The board members know great people, and they bring them in. We want to start programming at least 10 months out of the year, to stay active and make this a really vital part of the community.”

The path to her current position ran for many years through the theater world. Her family moved from Princeton, N.J., where she was born, to northern California and then to St. Louis before settling in Los Angeles when she was 12. She began acting soon after, taking workshops, starting a drama club in high school, and eventually attending the University of Kansas, which is known for its theater and film programs.

She intended to return to the West Coast to pursue a career in film and television — “I was never keen to be a stage actor” — but when offered a work-study scholarship in 1995 to Circle in the Square Theater School on Broadway, she moved to New York City. “I went to Circle for two years, and it kind of burned me out for acting. After graduation, I began to audition, and I learned I really don’t like to audition.”

Not wanting to leave the theater world, for the next 13 years she worked at theaters in the city, starting as box office manager of “Forbidden Broadway” and eventually, after helping create and manage 59E59, a new three-theater complex, becoming manager of partnership marketing for the Broadway League and the Tony Awards.

While at the latter position, she met Peter Kirwin, a Southampton native, whom she married in August 2010. “I tried for about two weeks to commute to my job in the city, but it was not working. Then the Parrish job in the benefits office opened up.”

Once the museum moved to Water Mill, its programming agenda, run by Andrea Grover, curator of special projects, increased exponentially. “It became clear she needed help with both creating programs and managing them,” said Ms. Kirwin, “so part of my job became working with her and also running the programs. She is a very gracious person and loves to collaborate, as do I.”

Ms. Kirwin developed the outdoor music events, including Jazz en Plein Air and Sounds of Summer, as well as yoga and meditation on the terrace. “I focused mostly on the types of programs that appeal to a wide audience.”

When the opportunity arose to head programming at the Southampton Arts Center, “I thought it could be really great for me to be able to go out on my own and get more creative. So I went for it, and here I am.”

This summer’s programs include music, film, talks, kids’ programs, and, in addition to exhibitions, yoga and meditation on the center’s lawn. The films will include outdoor Friday night screenings in partnership with the Hamptons International Film Festival and documentaries in cooperation with the Telluride Mountain Film Festival and React to Film.

Performances will launch on June 25 with an outdoor concert by the Thunderballs, a roots reggae band from Massachusetts. Also on the schedule are Jake Lear, a bluesman; Jazz at Lincoln Center; Miss Rosie, an Americana folk band; Pianofest; Jazz on the Steps; “Broadway to Boheme,” with the opera singer Melissa Zapin; the George Gee Orchestra, a swing band, and, wrapping up the season on Sept. 3, the HooDoo Loungers.

The current art exhibition, “East End Collected 2,” a large group show organized by the artist Paton Miller, will mark its final weekend on Saturday evening at 7:30 with a performance by Nancy Atlas, one of the principal rockers on the East End scene.

On June 24, the center will open “Water/Bodies,” an exhibition presented with the New York Academy of Art and organized by David Kratz, the academy’s president, and Eric Fischl. The work in the show will embrace the sea, the beach, the pool, sunbathers, the nude, and the nature of pleasure. Participating artists include Ross Bleckner, Ralph Gibson, April Gornik, Michael Halsband, Jill Musnicki, David Salle, and Mr. Fischl.

The final exhibition will be “Winning the White House: From Press Prints to Selfies,” presented with the International Center for Photography, and will range from official portraits and campaign ads to selfies and televised debates.

The programs for children and families include Stories on the Steps, with storytellers from the Rogers Memorial Library; Studio on the Steps, with the artists Aurelio Torres and Andrea Cote; live concerts, puppet shows, Baby Loves Disco, an afternoon family dance party; and a performance by Chris (Shockwave) Sullivan, a beatboxer, percussionist, improviser, and comedian.

“I love new challenges,” said Ms. Kirwin. “And it’s very gratifying to see people enjoying something you’ve created. It’s the best feeling.” With a jam-packed schedule, details of which can be found on the center’s website, 

Ms. Kirwin will have a busy, but very rewarding, summer.