Why Art & Soul Hamptons draws visitors to Southampton for a full weekend of Black art, culture, community and the Hamptons experience.
The Hamptons summer calendar is packed with galas, openings, dinners, concerts and parties. Most events last a few hours. You arrive, mingle, take a few pictures, enjoy the evening and go home. Art & Soul Hamptons asks you to do something different. It asks you to stay.
That may be one of the reasons Art & Soul Hamptons continues to resonate with people who are willing to travel from across the country for an entire weekend in Southampton. Founder Yaya Reyes created a curated Hamptons experience where art, food, history, music, film, wellness and community unfold over three days. She also intentionally caps the guest list, giving attendees enough space and time to fully experience what has been planned.
The Experience Is the Point
We have become accustomed to events being measured by how many people can fit into a room. Art & Soul Hamptons takes a different approach. Limiting attendance changes the experience. You begin recognizing people you met the night before. A quick introduction on Friday may turn into a longer conversation on Saturday. By Sunday, you could find yourself having brunch with someone who was a complete stranger when the weekend started.
The word “curated” is important when describing Art & Soul Hamptons. The festival is not simply curating art. It is curating an experience. This year’s festival moved guests throughout Southampton, including the Southampton Arts Center, Southampton African American Museum, Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, 75 Main and Southampton Inn. Each stop offered something different while remaining connected to the larger weekend.
Come for the Weekend, Not Just the Party
Friday night could easily stand on its own as a great summer event, but that would miss the point. Come for the weekend, not just the party. The experience is designed to unfold over three days, giving guests a reason to stay in Southampton, explore the community and experience more of what the Hamptons has to offer.
Opening night at the newly reimagined Southampton Arts Center set the tone for Art & Soul Hamptons. The outdoor grounds created a relaxed atmosphere where guests could move around, experience ARTBOii’s exhibition, enjoy food and drinks, listen to music and actually have conversations.
The culinary tasting was definitely a highlight, featuring Chef Cheryl Grigg, Chef Sakari Smithwick, Chef Leighton Murdock, Chef Doug Gee and the Long Island Shucking Truck. I had a few favorites. The pulled pork and grits were delicious, the tacos from Armona Culinary were another standout, and Chef Doug Gee’s carrot cake was memorable.
The experience continued with a Wine Stylings tasting presented by certified sommelier, wine educator and author Charles Springfield, assisted by Lea Williams of Let’s Talk Wine. New England Sweetwater sponsored the sipping experience. Wellness and beverage activations included a juice bar from The Nourish Spot, a Bloody Mary Mix Bar from K Bloody Mary Mix, non-dairy Thai iced tea from PAIJA Tea Co. and a seamoss bar from Love You More Seamoss.
Music also helped set the mood. Flutist Dwayne Kerr performed live, while Kurt Leggard photographed the red carpet experience. Guests later gathered for a screening of Crossroads, followed by a film talkback. The evening shifted back to music with Hamptons local favorite Rum Punch Mafia.
Even the swag bags became part of the Art & Soul Hamptons experience. There was a lot happening throughout the night, but it never felt like too much. Guests could explore at their own pace, stop for a conversation and decide what they wanted to experience next. That balance is exactly what made opening night work.
Nothing Was Stopping This Party
Saturday gave Art & Soul Hamptons a completely different challenge. It rained all day, and plans had to change. Anyone who attends or produces summer events in the Hamptons knows that weather can quickly change everything. The rain changed the logistics, but nothing was stopping this party. The pivot actually led to one of my favorite experiences of the weekend.
Saturday evening brought Art & Soul Hamptons inside the Southampton African American Museum, where we experienced artist Damien Davis’ exhibition, Hedges and Edges. Davis took us into the history and cultural importance of the Black barbershop, not simply as a place to get a haircut, but as a place where people gathered, exchanged information, talked politics, built relationships and found community. The location made the experience even more powerful because the Southampton African American Museum occupies a building that was once a Black barbershop.
Black Culture Is Already Part of Hamptons History
Before viewing Davis’ work, guests heard Brenda Simmons, co-founder of the Southampton African American Museum, share stories about Black families and businesses that helped shape the East End. She spoke about families who came from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia for work and opportunity. They worked on farms and in local industries, opened businesses, raised families and created communities.
Brenda also shared the story of her father, Noah T. Simmons, and the Cottage Inn in East Hampton. Her family history opened another window into the Black social and entertainment scene that existed here decades ago. Hearing those stories before seeing Davis’ work gave the exhibition even more meaning and reinforced something that Art & Soul Hamptons illustrates so well. Black culture is not being brought to the Hamptons as though it has never existed here. Black culture is already part of Hamptons history.
They Are Purchasing an Experience
People traveled from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Atlanta, Florida, Seattle and other parts of the country for Art & Soul Hamptons this year. They are not simply purchasing admission to an event. They are purchasing an experience. For someone visiting the Hamptons for the first time, Art & Soul offers an entry point that looks different from the version of the Hamptons often seen on television or social media.
- The Hamptons lifestyle, with beautiful spaces, great food, cocktails, music and summer parties.
- The Shinnecock Indian Reservation, through a private visit to Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio.
- The Southampton African American Museum, connecting visitors to Black history on the East End.
- Black artists and entrepreneurs, whose work and businesses are intentionally centered throughout the weekend.
- Local history, including stories that many visitors, and even some residents, may not know.
- Real conversations and connections, made possible by a smaller, intentionally capped guest list.
- Community, which ultimately ties the entire Art & Soul Hamptons weekend together.
The vendors, sponsors and gift bags were also part of the Art & Soul Hamptons experience. Throughout the weekend, guests were introduced to businesses across food, wine, spirits, beauty, wellness and lifestyle, including New England Sweetwater, The Nourish Spot, PAIJA Tea Co., Love You More Seamoss and K Bloody Mary Mix. The VIP gift bags extended that experience beyond the weekend with products from brands including Miss Jessie’s, Stanley 1913 x NEST, Tea Forté, Cambridge Chemists, Purpose Jewelry, Brownkind, Bespoke Flowers and many others. What I appreciated was that these partnerships did not feel separate from the event. They were incorporated into the Art & Soul Hamptons experience, giving attendees an opportunity to discover new products and businesses while giving participating brands direct access to an engaged audience. That is another part of the curation that works. You leave with more than a gift bag. You leave having discovered businesses, artists, food and experiences that you may continue supporting long after the weekend is over.
That combination gives Art & Soul Hamptons visitors a fuller picture of Southampton. Guests are also staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, visiting local businesses and spending several days discovering the East End. The cultural experience becomes an economic one as well, something Southampton African American Museum co-founder Brenda Simmons has also highlighted when discussing the festival’s impact on the village.
A Different Kind of Luxury
Art & Soul Hamptons also made me think about what luxury really means. In the Hamptons, luxury is often associated with exclusivity. Maybe luxury is also having enough space to enjoy where you are, meeting an artist and having time to hear the story behind the work, sitting down for brunch with people you met the night before, or spending three days discovering a community instead of racing from one event to another.
The capped guest list is an important part of the experience. There is a difference between being exclusive simply for the sake of exclusivity and intentionally limiting attendance so people can participate. Yaya has created an environment where guests are not simply standing in a crowd watching an experience happen around them. They become part of it.
By Sunday, Something Has Changed
A three-day Art & Soul Hamptons experience creates something a single event cannot. It creates time. Friday is about meeting people. Saturday gives you an opportunity to reconnect. By Sunday, relationships have started to form. The weekend concluded with the Bubble & Bloom Brunch benefiting the Southampton African American Museum, bringing the experience back to culture, history and community.
Five years into Art & Soul Hamptons, Yaya Reyes seems to understand what many people are looking for when they travel. They still want beautiful spaces, great food, music and fun, but they also want experiences that feel worth their time. They want to discover something, meet people, learn something and leave with stories they can take home.
That is why Art & Soul Hamptons works. It gives people a reason to come to the Hamptons for more than a party. It invites them to stay for the weekend, experience Southampton, discover Black history, support artists and businesses, make connections and enjoy themselves along the way.
Art & Soul Hamptons is not simply selling an event. It is curating a Hamptons experience that people want to come back to.
Real Talk. Real People. Real Experiences.
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