The Watermill Center and LongHouse Reserve have chosen the same week to announce leadership appointments. Charles Chemin, a French-American director who collaborated with the center’s late founder Robert Wilson, has been named artistic director of the Watermill Center, and Lara Sweeney, who has held leadership positions at the Children’s Museum of the East End, will be the new executive director at LongHouse.
Mr. Chemin, whose career spans theater, dance, and opera, began his 33-year-long collaboration with Wilson as an actor. He became co-director and dramaturg of more than 20 Wilson works since 2009, among them “Mary Said What She Said” with Isabelle Huppert, “PESSOA” with Maria de Medeiros, and “Krapp’s Last Tape,” in which he directed Wilson in his solo performance. He has served as artistic director of the Watermill Center’s International Summer Program since 2020.
Beyond his work with Wilson and the center, Mr. Chemin’s own directorial work has been presented across Europe and internationally, from experimental dance-theater works and devised performances to operatic stagings.
“Robert Wilson created the Watermill Center as a place where artists are given the rarest resources: space, time, and trust,” said Mr. Chemin. “Stewarding his legacy is both an honor and a responsibility. My commitment is to carry the singularity of Wilson’s vision, while expanding the center as a living laboratory that continues to inspire artists to experiment, to take risks, and to imagine new forms for the future.”
Ms. Sweeney has more than two decades of fund-raising and nonprofit management experience. She first came to the children’s museum in 2012 as the director of development, and assumed the co-president’s role in 2022. During her tenure she helped to increase the operating budget, augment annual visits, and launch a visiting artist program. Most recently she led efforts to complete a multimillion dollar capital campaign.
“This is a full-circle moment for me in many ways,” said Ms. Sweeney. “My husband and I were married at LongHouse Reserve in 2005. Twenty years later, I have the opportunity to help carry out LongHouse’s mission at one of the East End’s most beloved spaces — it’s a dream come true. I am honored to work alongside the Board of Trustees on exciting projects, including opening the home of Jack Lenor Larsen to the public and ensuring that LongHouse continues to thrive. This is a community sanctuary, where art and nature exist together in thoughtful dialogue.”
“We are very fortunate to have Lara Sweeney become our next executive director,” said Louis Bradbury, the venue’s president. “Her exceptional abilities in financial and administrative management, as well as her broad programmatic experience, make her the perfect person to lead our bright future.”
In yet another leadership change, the Children’s Museum of the East End has announced that Liz Bard, formerly co-president with Ms. Sweeney, has been named the museum’s executive director.
