More than 90 people, including representatives from arts organizations across Suffolk County, honored retired Islip Arts Council Executive Director Lynda Moran at a gathering in East Islip on Oct. 13.
Suffolk County Legislators Trish Bergin and Steven Flotteron paid tribute to Moran at the retirement dinner at Shandon Court.
In her nearly 19 years as executive director of the Islip Arts Council (IAC), founded in 1974, Moran has tirelessly advocated for the arts.
Moran, who retired as of June 30, took over the helm from founder Lillian Barbash in October 2007 and went on to expand the organization’s programming beyond classical music.
Moran, among her many accomplishments, continued an annual classical music concert at Heckscher State Park and in 2009 brought the Teeny Awards to high schools in the Town of Islip. The Teenys are high school theater’s version of the Tony Awards, celebrating the top high school actors, singers and backstage personnel.
“It’s one of my babies,” Moran said. “I just love every minute.”
“Before the Teeny Awards were created, high school theater performers rarely received the same recognition as athletes,” Waldo Cabrera, the Islip Arts Council’s board president, said.
Cabrera further added that Moran also worked to bring IAC programming to new audiences, partnering with organizations including El Teatro Rodante Hispanico and the NAACP and creating programming around Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History month.
“She helped build an arts community that feels like family,” said Linda Weingarten, who succeeded Moran as IAC executive director. “If I had to describe her in one word, it would be ‘tenacious.’ She’d go to bat for anything she believed in.”
Moran rarely missed a concert, a play opening or a gallery showing.
“Anyone who’s involved in the arts knows Lynda,” Cabrera said.
Moran also worked to bring arts programming to unconventional venues like historic homes and local churches. She oversaw IAC’s move from Islip Town-owned space at Brookwood Hall in East Islip to larger quarters at South Shore Mall in Bay Shore. The space has grown to include an art gallery, studio space and a bookstore featuring books written by members of the Long Island Authors Group.
Prior to joining IAC, Moran chaired the board of directors of Splashes of Hope, a Huntington-based nonprofit, for 10 years.
Moran said she won’t be slowing down in retirement.
“My days are filled with so many different things,” Moran said at her retirement celebration. “I’m being pulled in so many different ways by so many different organizations on the North Fork and in Islip.”
Her impact will continue to be felt across Suffolk County.
“At the end of the day, all she ever wanted was to make the community better,” Weingarten said.
