Christina Mossaides Strassfield Reflects on First Year Leading Southampton Arts Center

When Christina Mossaides Strassfield was ready to make a change, she decided to stay near home and near the things she loved: art and museums. Strassfield took over as executive director of the Southampton Arts Center Jan. 9, 2023, after nearly 30 years at Guild Hall in East Hampton.

“It was during COVID, just after Guild Hall closed for renovation,” Strassfield says. “And, I was fortunate enough to curate a show at Southampton Arts Center. Their director was leaving, and it seemed like the right time to apply.”

For the arts museum, whose mission is to build community through art, Strassfield’s focus works perfectly.

“Our goal is to reach out to patrons, the community, on different levels through music, theater and art,” Strassfield says.

Their patrons range from the super wealthy to those of modest income. Admission to most things is free. She and her team work to curate exhibits that offer patrons a glimpse not only into the art, but also a look into the mind of the artist, author or whomever they are featuring.

This is especially true of the latest exhibit “Look at the Book,” which was curated by Strassfield.

“It was my idea and they gave me carte blanche,” Strassfield said. “It is dear to my heart.”

The multimedia exhibition pays homage to books, focusing on how contemporary artists engage with the book as a surface, structure, found object and philosophical and literary guide. Included in the exhibit are various types of books: accordion books, video books and audiobooks, graphic novels, sculpture, photography and several site-specific installations created with and from books. Thirty-three artists explore literacy and celebrate the changing role of books in the digital age.

“I truly love books,” Strassfield says. “This is my way of paying homage to books and reminding people that holding a book in your hands is not out of style. We hope the exhibit will shed light on the impact of the evolving role of books and spur conversations about their implications for society.”

They also provide artists and community members a platform to engage through workshops, readings and performances that address the issues raised in the exhibition.

Another hope she harbors is that visitors will embrace the museum as she has.

“The first time I came into the building, I loved it,” Strassfield remembers. “I’ve grown to love it even more coming here every day.”

She also loves watching others make themselves at home at the Southampton Arts Center.

“When I sit in my office, I can see how visitors have made the grounds their own,” Strassfield says. “There is a gentleman who comes every day at four o’clock; he walks his dog on the grounds. Every Thursday, a couple comes and sits on a bench on the grounds. We don’t have room for a café, but people do bring their coffee and sit and enjoy it.”

Strassfield says that’s exactly how she wants people to feel — as if it is their museum (which it is.) She also wants other area museums and artists to embrace the communal mission of the arts center.

“We have a direct relationship with the other museums around here and the various communities, such as the Shinnecock Nation and the African American Museum of Southampton,” Strassfield says. “We have many groups who meet here such as the Organization of Latino Americans, and we host performances by The Explorers and The Players, a group composed of those with behavioral and developmental disabilities.”

The arts center also hosts documentary films and the Hampton Jazz Fest. She hopes that others will be inspired by the Southampton Arts Center as much as she was by the Metropolitan Museum of Art growing up.

“When I was young, my mother worked as a dressmaker doing alterations for expensive couture,” Strassfield says. “The woman had a granddaughter my age, and her mother would take us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I remember saying that someday I would work at that museum.”

And, she did, first during vacations and then as a full-time staffer for five years.

“I hope that we someday inspire someone else,” say Strassfield, who is married with three adult children and a rescue terrier mix.

It is absolutely possible, as the museum hosts more than 50,000 visitors per year. It also is centrally located, further encouraging folks to easily drop by.

“We try to reach out to the community on different levels,” Strassfield explains, mentioning such activities as paint and sip, cookie-decorating parties, classic movies and plays. “In the future, museums are going to have to become more accessible to the community at large. We have to be welcoming, all inclusive. It may not be easy for some museums, but that is what we have to do.

“My goal is that we stay true to our mission,” says Strassfield, who says each day she takes a walk through the museum, visiting every gallery. “Being around art is very soothing.”

SAC is located at 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton. For more information, visit southamptonartscenter.org or call 631-283-0967.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.