LOCAL CULTURE
Americana Manhasset is proud to be part of a community where there is always something exciting to see and experience. We invite you to learn more about some of the wonderful cultural organizations that make Long Island special.
Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, comprised of North Fork Hall and Hillwood Recital Hall, is Long Island's home for world-class entertainment, offering a wide range of classical and popular attractions for adults and children. The world's most honored ensembles and soloists perform at Tilles Center, along with popular artists of Broadway, Hollywood, the worlds of jazz and cabaret and leading dance companies from the United States and around the world. In addition to its own presentations, Tilles Center also serves as the theatrical home for several of Long Island's leading cultural organizations. The center features elegant entryways and plazas and a soaring, 37-foot-high glass-enclosed atrium. The atrium is used to showcase the works of some of the region's most prominent visual artists. For current information and updates, visit tillescenter.org or call 516.299.3100.
The Nassau County Museum of Art has become a cultural resource bringing a range of visual experiences and quality art education programs to Nassau County. The Museum presents the works of internationally acclaimed artists in the main Museum building, a permanent collection of miniature rooms in the Tee Ridder Miniatures Museum, educational programs for all ages, and special exhibitions for talented local artists. The Museum occupies the elegant Georgian mansion of the Frick country estate. It is situated on 145 beautifully landscaped acres in the heart of Long Island's historic Gold Coast. The site includes formal gardens, a unique Trellis, a Pinetum, rolling lawns and meadows, and ponds which provide delightful vistas to enjoy nature and outdoor sculpture. Both the Museum and its grounds are rich in history. For information about exhibits or events, visit nassaumuseum.com or call 516.484.9338.
Old Westbury Gardens, considered one of the greatest English-style gardens in America, boasts formal gardens and perennial borders including a two acre Walled Perennial Garden, a Rose Garden, Demonstration Gardens, Boxwood Garden and more. The stately three-story mansion, called Westbury House, remains virtually unchanged from the time of the Phipp's residence there during the early 1900's. Its spacious rooms contain the family's collection of 18th century English furnishings and fine arts. Old Westbury Gardens invites visitors to enjoy its 150 acres of sweeping lawns, rolling fields, woodlands, sparkling lakes, ponds, statuary, and abundance of wildlife. There is a lovely picnic area, a Cafe in the Woods, and gift and plant shops - something for everyone - open late April through mid-December, catering to the surrounding communities with guided tours and events for individuals and families. For more information, visit oldwestburygardens.org or call 516.333.0048.
Cradle of Aviation Museum: For over a century, from the first flights by frail biplanes on the Hempstead Plains, to man’s walking on the Moon, Long Island has been on the leading edge of America’s aviation and space adventure. Long Islanders have helped transform aviation from a spectator sport to a major means of commercial transportation. We have also produced a large portion of America’s aerial arsenal in time of war. The many historic flights that transpired here, and the many aviation companies that developed here, helped make aviation the integral part of our world that it is today. This museum is proof that our dreams can come true. But what is so astonishing is that they can come true so quickly. For more information, visit cradleofaviation.org or call 516.572.4111.
The Long Island Children's Museum is the place to be for the younger set. The 40,000-square-foot museum, an anchor institution on Museum Row, features 14 hands-on exhibit galleries that demand seeing, touching and exploring. Children can discover the origins of Long Island in Sandy Island, build a skyscraper in Bricks & Sticks, stand inside a six-foot bubble in the Bubbles Gallery and tour our dedicated traveling exhibit gallery, which offers three new exhibitions annually. The museum offers special programming throughout the year and daily Early Childhood programs for the under 5 crowd. For more information on the museum and programs, please visit licm.org or call 516.224.5800.
Friends of the Arts has it all for all seasons - From Jazz to Classical to Children's to Pop - at the Planting Fields Arboretum. For more information, visit fotapresents.org or call 516.922.0061.
The Long Island Philharmonic is the only professional symphony orchestra on Long Island and the principal orchestra of Tilles Center at C.W. Post campus of Long Island University located in Nassau County. The Philharmonic's performances in Nassau and Suffolk Counties have consistently received high critical acclaim. The annual schedule of concerts includes a concert subscription series featuring world-renowned guest artists, a New Year's Eve concert, free outdoor concerts in area parks, youth concerts, in-school performances for Long Island's youth, chamber recitals featuring members of the orchestra, and other special programs. The orchestra's versatility is highlighted by performances with pop artists such as Marvin Hamlisch and James Taylor. Additionally, there is an extensive Arts-in-Education Program that reaches thousands of Long Island's children annually through several important projects. For more information, visit, liphilharmonic.com or call 631.293.2222.
Heckscher Museum of Art was dedicated in 1920 as a gift to the people of Huntington by philanthropist August Heckscher. The Museum's permanent collection, begun with art objects from August Heckscher's own collection, has grown to encompass more than 1,500 works of European and American paintings, drawings, sculpture and prints spanning the 16th century to the present. The collection is especially strong in American landscape paintings of the 19th century; early American modernist paintings and drawings; and paintings, sculpture and works on paper by contemporary Long Island artists. Educational lectures, discussions, workshops, concerts, art history series and other programs for senior citizens, other adult groups, families and children are also offered. Free Family Gallery Guides, in English and in Spanish, are available for each exhibition. The Museum's Education Department offers a participatory School Discovery program for grades K-12 encompassing artistic activities, including hands-on art making, discussions, storytelling and explorations of different reedier. Heckscher Museum of Art is located in Heckscher Park, Main Street (Route 25A) and Prime Avenue in Huntington Village. For more information, visit heckscher.org or call 631.351.3250.
Hillwood Art Museum presents a year-round schedule of temporary and permanent exhibitions that cover topics from antiquity to the cutting edge of contemporary art. The 4500 square foot Museum boasts an eclectic Permanent Collection consisting of over 4,000 objects dating from the earliest of man’s creative endeavors to contemporary art. The Museum conducts Educational Programs that includes Family Day activities, a Tuesday Evening Lecture and Performance Series, and extensive hands-on educational programs for local schools. Hillwood Art Museum is located on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, at 720 Northern Boulevard (Route 25A) in Brookville. For more information, visit liu.edu/museum or call 516.299.4073.
