Thursday, October 1, 2026
Photographs and art depicting the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor’s initiatives and history hang on the walls of the Sea Cliff Arts Council in an exhibit celebrating 40 years of the organization. The exhibit is on view through Sept. 25.
Coalition staff and volunteers, community members, elected officials and arts council members attended the Aug. 5 exhibit opening celebration. Lisa Cashman, the coalition’s associate director, thanked those who have worked with the organization as well as artists and photographers that contributed to the exhibit.
While the coalition celebrated its 40th anniversary at its gala last year, Cashman said members wanted to recognize the occasion in a different way in the organization’s actual 40th year.
“We wanted to have the opportunity,” she explained, “to kind of get into the history with a little more focus.”
This summer marks the first time the coalition has had an exhibit at the arts council, which primarily displays work by local artists. The photographers and artists behind the exhibit’s work are mostly coalition staff and volunteers. Poetry by the Sea Cliff Poets, who meet at the arts council each month, dedicated to Hempstead Harbor is also featured.
The collection is the arts council’s first historical exhibition. Chair Kathleen DiResta said the visual elements on display and public interest of the coalition’s work made it a good fit for the arts council.
“It’s celebrating Sea Cliff,” she said, “and it’s also sharing the beautiful imagery of the harbor over the last 40 years.”
The exhibit is on display at the arts council building at 86 Roslyn Ave. One wall of the space is dedicated to art and photography showing the history of Hempstead Harbor and the coalition’s work. In the mid-1980s, Hempstead Harbor was considered one of the most polluted harbors around Long Island because of industrial uses, like superfund sites, surrounding it.
Cashman emphasized that the coalition is still a volunteer-led organization, as it was at its inception in 1986. The wall featuring historical material includes a narrative explaining the harbor’s improving conditions over the years as the coalition worked.
“People who grew up here talked about, they wouldn’t even consider getting in the water when they were growing up,” Cashman said, “and so that really speaks to the work that went in in the early days.”
The coalition engages in several projects throughout the year. Its water monitoring program, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, runs year-round. Cleanups at Scudders Pond and around Hempstead Harbor shorelines are conducted each year and present opportunities for community members, including families, to get involved. The coalition has also participated in the International Coastal Cleanup, an effort in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy and the American Littoral Society, since 1992.
Garbage collected during the International Coastal Cleanup is catalogued, and data contributes to the world’s largest database on coastal debris. The database helps create policy around environmental practices.
“If you don’t know what is a threat to the coastal ecosystem,” Cashman said, “you can’t change.”
Other initiatives include oyster gardening each summer since 2022, where oysters are raised in cages across multiple locations in the harbor, and a new horseshoe crab monitoring program where populations and migration patterns are tracked.
DiResta said that she is excited to collaborate with the coalition and praised the organization for its work.
“All their work trying to make sure the water is clean, stays clean, continues to be clean is important work,” she added. “So, I really hope that the arts council crowd gets to learn more and appreciate the beach and the water more.”
Cashman said that she hopes the exhibit inspires people to support the coalition whether it is by volunteering, staying informed on issues or providing financial support.
“We really need the next generation of local activists to get close to the organization,” she said, “and then start to participate in whatever way is right for them.”
To learn more about the coalition, visit CoalitionToSaveHempsteadHarbor.org, and to learn more about the arts council, visit SeaCliffArtsCouncil.org.
