LongHouse Reserve has emerged from a long, cold winter and is ready for spring, according to Carrie Rebora Barratt, who has officially taken the reins as director of the East Hampton garden and arts center.
Rites of Spring, LongHouse's annual opening event, will take place on April 30. It will also serve as the inauguration of a new season of performances and sculptures installed onsite from artists such as the Ladd Brothers, Maren Hassinger, Alexander Polzin, Bjorn Amelan, Niki de Saint Phalle, Moko Fukuyama, and Byung-Hoon Choi. In July, Cheng Tsung Feng's "Fish Trap VI" will open, and a work by Sam Van Aken will come in the fall.
The Ladd Brothers piece, which was commissioned before the pandemic to be built onsite, was instead built at the brothers' studio during the shutdown. The woven cedar-shingled portal shares a special resonance with Jack Lenor Larsen's legacy in fabric design and as founder and builder of LongHouse's structures and grounds. Steven and William Ladd will be at LongHouse's opening to discuss the work.
Mr. Feng's installation and Ms. Hassinger's sculptures will be built onsite. Mr. Feng will build his own sculpture, whereas Ms. Hassinger's "Monuments" sculptures will be constructed with public participation. "What is coming to LongHouse is basically the armature, which is wood and chicken wire, and we build them here with our community," Ms. Barratt said.
Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner will play classical piano to mark Larsen's birthday in August and the choreographer Abdul Latif will create a water ballet for the LongHouse pool.
While describing this year's new installations and programs in a recent conversation, she paused to reflect and respond to the turmoil that has marked the institution since the loss of Larsen, its founder, in December 2020.
She began her association with LongHouse on a four-month contract as interim director after the abrupt and controversial firing of her predecessor last fall, and was offered a permanent position by the board over the winter.
In December, she said she would extend her contract to April, but "there was just no way to accomplish a transition in four months, given what was facing this place," including "a lot of grief. I would say that was the hardest thing of all, a lot of emotion about everything." When she decided to stay, the board asked her to remove the interim in her title as a stabilizing influence, "so that our community knows I'm staying at LongHouse and I'm not one foot out the door."
She brings a lifetime of arts administration experience to East Hampton as a curator, manager, and deputy director in a 30-year career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and more recently as the chief executive officer and president of the New York Botanical Garden.
"I came on as a consultant to help in a very difficult moment last fall," she recalled. Things have quieted down a bit since the early days of "crisis management" that marked her arrival. At that point, the public outcry from artists, donors, volunteers, committee members, staff, and board members protesting the firing of Matko Tomicic, LongHouse's longtime executive director, was at its height, with many withholding their support of the organization.
Around the same time, a group of LongHouse donors filed a complaint with the New York State attorney general's office, which Ms. Barratt confirmed LongHouse is cooperating with. The complaint centers on decisions Larsen made near his death to change his will, which affected LongHouse financially.
The investigation, she said, involves just a small group of people who were there with Larsen at his bedside, some of whom were board members. The office receives calls from time to time, not every day, and LongHouse has retained legal counsel to comply with the investigators. "It's a big distraction. It's such a shame, but we're complying with that."
She has also spearheaded a restructuring of the board to address the transition it is making from private foundation to public institution. "Now we're looking to the future, and to move strategically into the future you need a structured board." She said it's necessary for their audit, to qualify as a 501c3 nonprofit, and for membership in the Alliance of American Museums, the American Public Gardens Association, and the Garden Conservancy. "To really be squeaky clean and to have the appropriate structure, that is why they brought me here."
The board, which had many members serving for more than a decade, has established term limits and is retiring members in staggered years to keep a core of leadership while it builds anew. "Anyone who thought these differences would take place within a period of months needs to understand that these things take time."
They are actively recruiting and have done some outreach into the community, she said, including people who signed a public letter protesting Mr. Tomicic's firing. "I am so interested to meet with anyone," she said. "The winter has been hard. I think some of the people with whom we would have liked to have met, who signed that letter, are away." She added, "We're looking forward to spring, when the weather is better and we can maybe invite some people in to talk."
Another big change in the management structure is the resignation of Wendy Van Deusen, who served as LongHouse's curator for many years. "Wendy is the person in the world who knows most about Jack's furniture, fabrics, his ceramic collection, all of that," Ms. Barratt said. She has agreed to work on a consulting basis on special projects related to Larsen's collections.
Glenn Adamson has come aboard as curator at large, advising on craft and design and to create a special invitational exhibition related to Larsen's appreciation of ceramics. Lee Skolnick has stepped off the board to serve as consultant on the work needed to make the house into a public space. LongHouse is also working with East Hampton Town on zoning issues.
"It feels we've learned through establishing proper structures. Now, we're not in crisis mode. This is actually what happens in a good not-for-profit. There are always issues. We face challenges every single day," Ms. Barratt said. "But our real work is to be a community partner and a great cultural center for East Hampton and beyond. We never lose sight of that."
