The Next Stage
LET'S CREATE
A new destination for the performing arts and arts education
After many triumphs over the last 30 years in the building we rent on Long Wharf, the creation of a permanent home in Sag harbor is a natural next step for us. Bay Street / Next Stage will provide more room for exciting educational opportunities, welcome diverse new voices to the stage, host a growing number of partnerships and fulfill our commitment to our year-round community.
Join us in creating the Next Stage: your new community performing arts center for this moment and for generations to come
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After 30 successful years of innovation, education and entertainment, Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts faces a new future. The physical restrictions of our mainstage and its aging technology coupled with lack of suitable space for education programs and our tenuous existence as a tenant in the property we lease, necessitates the creation of a permanent home for Bay Street Theater in the Village of Sag Harbor.
By engaging renowned artists, theater professionals, community partners, and audiences of the future, our campaign Bay Street, Next Stage will enable us to deliver on our mission like never before, and provide a secure and sustainable future.
Following a model frequently used by artistic institutions in a time of transformation, the Bay Street Board of Trustees established Friends of Bay Street - a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to build a new, state of the art performing arts center and turn it over to Bay Street Theater to operate and own. In October 2020, Friends of Bay Street purchased 22 Long Island Avenue, a magnificent site adjacent to the new John Steinbeck Park at the northern gateway to Sag Harbor Village. World renowned architects Roger Ferris + Partners were engaged with the goal to create plans for a new 299-seat theater with state-of-the art technologies, an education and performance space, rehearsal rooms, dressing rooms and public spaces that will connect with John Steinbeck Park and the Harbor waters beyond.
As the Village of Sag Harbor completes its due diligence regarding the new Waterfront Overlay District, the planning for Bay Street's future takes on more urgency.
Through our campaign, The Next Stage, we will listen and learn, and build a coalition around a collective vision for the next chapter for Bay Street Theater. We will engage and harness the collective passion of theater lovers whose lives are enriched by the performing arts; local merchants who recognize the year-round economic impact of Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts; teachers and administrators who witness first-hand the transformative power of the performing arts in their classrooms; and other stakeholders who recognize the value of the theater arts and arts education in our lives. Together we will all ensure that Bay Street continues to serve and thrive for the next generation… the Next Stage. We invite you join us.
