Beth Giacummo

Beth Giacummo is an artist, arts activist, curator, and educator who holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and an MFA in New Forms from Pratt Institute.

As an artist, she has exhibited her work both regionally and internationally in venues throughout New York, Poland, Romania, Spain, Italy, Chile, and Denmark. Her interest in blown glass and travel has led her to many cities and countries where she has had the opportunity to live, study, and participate in artist residencies in such locations as Escola d’Arts Plastique I Disseny, Spain; Pilchuck School of Glass, Seattle, Washington; Mallnitz, Austria; Bobald, Romania; the Danish School of Design, Copenhagen, Denmark; Studio Borgo, Lucca, Italy; Glaspustning Jyderup Højskole, Denmark; Valparaiso, Chile; Saltonstall, Ithaca, New York; Poland; and Sweden.

Giacummo’s public and large-scale sculptures have been exhibited in a number of local, national and international exhibits including; Solo exhibition Galeria OPK Gaude Mater, Czestochowa, Poland and as an artist included in a National Endowment for the Arts grant for “Arts Engagement in American Communities” with Dowling College; and Sculptural Interactions at Idle Hour. She has written and received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA) in support of numerous art projects and residencies.

Inspired by her own participation in artist residencies, Giacummo collaborated with co-directors Dan Lachacz and Jessica McAvoy to fundraise and organize the first New York Contemporary Art Symposium (NYCAS) in 2013 and 2015, which provided a residency on Long Island for over a dozen international artists. The goal of this Symposium was to encourage and improve the cultural exchange between artists and collaborating communities. In the fall of 2016, NYCAS hosted a special residency for artists from Chile. Giacummo collaborated with the International Meeting of Art (IMA) for its first project in New York recognizing several countries with NYCAS and the Islip Art Museum.

Wearing many hats within the art world, Giacummo’s professional experience ranges from art education, higher ed, curriculum building, curatorial work, executive museum management, academic gallery management, exhibition direction, non-profit development, grant writing, arts activism, fundraising, and international program development for artists and students.

As a local arts activist, Giacummo is proud to have served as president for the Patchogue Arts Council and a founding member since 2008, chair of graphics and promotion for the PAC MAC Festival/PAF, graphics and promotion for Arts on Terry, Patchogue Arts Council Walking Arts Tour, co- chair of the Patchogue Arts Festival, co-curator/chair of promotions for the Patchogue Arts Biennial, and chair of the Lobby Art Gallery. Over the years, she has been awarded honors including; certificates of congressional recognition and several proclamations from the state and local government in recognition of her service to the community.

In 2014, Giacummo collaborated with Loretta Corbisiero as a special topics professor for Dowling College to co-found and co- lead the College’s first art study abroad program to Lucca, Italy. Her background includes instruction, course writing, student advisement, mentoring during her time as a full- time professor of Fine Arts/Design and Art Theory/Criticism for Briarcliffe College, exhibition management as chief curator of the Briarcliffe College Gallery, all media studio instruction as assistant to the director of The Center for Visuals Arts in Blue Point, N.Y., visual arts consultant and artist residency coordinator for the East End Arts Council, and independent curator and NYFA-trained artist consultant.

Giacummo was appointed exhibition/curatorial director and senior curator at the Islip Art Museum in 2010. Dedicated to the development of arts and culture on Long Island, Giacummo created new programs and collaborative initiatives on behalf of the Islip Art Museum. Creating opportunities for collaboration between artists, collectives, and organizations on a grandscale has resulted in programs such as: IAM, a Long Island artist residency; NYFA Artist Consultations; Hit The Light and IAM Up Late after hours events; Slide Slam Series; and South Shore Arts Tour, Long Island’s largest arts tour linking Bellport to Babylon through cooperation with each town’s chambers and respective arts councils with Co-Chair Jessica McAvoy. In addition, Giacummo worked to secure financial support from national agencies like NYSCA, obtain county and private funding to continue the museum’s mission, and continued to build the reputation of an institution that spanned over 45 years.

In August of 2016, Giacummo was appointed to the position of part time gallery director for the Farmingdale State College Memorial Gallery, a position she currently holds.

As of April 2017, Giacummo proudly returned to the Patchogue Arts Council as their first executive director. Through her leadership and strategic planning the organization has redefined their space as the Museum of Contemporary Art L.I. and is considered a leading arts organization on Long Island. Their ambitious and innovative exhibitions/ events serve the entire Nassau and Suffolk communities. In 2020 ( and 2021) she curated, organized, and fundraised MoCA L.I.ghts, Long Island's first site specific projection exhibition that transformed the Village of Patchogue into an immersive open-air museum experience for 250,000+ viewers. This event utilized new media and technology and exposed the community to an underrepresented for of Contemporary Art, and utilized non-traditional platforms such as the marquee of the historic Patchogue Theatre to display digital artworks, and the facades of buildings through out the downtown to display commissioned light works.

On behalf of the arts council she has helped facilitate funding from federal and local grant entities include the Department of Education, Department of Justice regrant through SEPA Mujer, NY State Council for the Arts, Suffolk County, competitive private foundations, and corporate sponsors.

She continues her own private art-making practice with a focus on creating in residencies and opportunities outside of Long Island, in addition to selective art education opportunities.