The first half of 2026 for Greenport’s North Fork Arts Center (211 Front St., Greenport, 631-477-8600) has been filled with a lot of “new.”
NFAC has a new ADA-compliant elevator — as well as accessible bathrooms and seating — an HVAC system, a piano, and, perhaps the biggest change of all, a new executive director.
Alison Omens is taking over for founder Tony Spiridakis, and she already has her eyes set on the future. Spiridakis is taking a back seat to focus on some other endeavors, including his upcoming movie Hello Darkness, but is staying on as chairperson of the board of directors.
“I could see how right the choice was because she’s so detailed, she’s so good with people, she’s so organized and absolutely so intelligent,” Spiridakis says. “It’s really scary when you have to turn that over, but I think we all felt that doing this this way was the absolute best thing for the organization, and it has been.”
Ms. Omens, 41, grew up just outside of San Diego. She attended Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., where she majored in American Government and Politics.
She then packed her bags and moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked in media relations and public affairs for 12 years. She made a mid-career decision in 2014 when she completed a one-year master’s program in public administration at Harvard’s Kennedy School.
For nearly the next two years she joined the political spectrum, serving as an advisor for private sector engagement to Secretary of Labor Tom Perez in the Obama Administration. There, she collaborated with business leaders and organizations to promote and embrace leading strategies around inclusive capitalism and the future of work.
“I got to put together all of these dialogues on the role of the private sector in creating good jobs and working in the community,” she says. “It was just everybody trying to do good work, and I loved it.”
After the 2017 election she wanted to step away from politics, so she moved to Brooklyn and began working for JUST Capital, where she spent nine years, eventually being named president.
The organization conducts large surveys to learn what people think about business practices and values, helping identify which measures of performance matter most to the public.
Omens loved working at the national level, but she started to feel disconnected. She had never worked for the community she lived in, so she was looking for that change.
She and her husband, Nikos, bought a house in Greenport in 2020 — wearing N95 masks in the height of COVID — and lived in the village part-time until moving in full-time in summer 2025. Through a mutual friend, she met Spiridakis the winter before, and the two got to talking, planning their first event together in April 2025.
“I suggested doing a dinner for him for NFAC. It’s called a Jeffersonian Dinner, which sounds very highfalutin,” she says. “It’s basically asking everyone a question that brings people together, like, ‘what is your first memory of art?’ or, ‘what was your first experience with art?’”
She and Spiridakis got closer following the dinner, with Omens staying more in touch and more involved in the center. Then, in May 2025, Omens’ husband had a medical crisis, leaving the two hospital-bound for three months.
She remembers sitting in the hospital room, looking at social media and seeing all of the events that were going on at NFAC. Seeing the posts got her even more excited about what could be done and what they could do together.
When they got home from the hospital, she got a call from Spiridakis saying he wanted her to be more involved.
“It felt very meaningful to me at a time when I was looking for ways to be in the community that wasn’t this awful thing that happened,” Omens says. “It allowed me to imagine how I could show up here in ways that were true to myself and build something really cool together.”
Omens officially joined the NFAC team in January, learning the ropes and getting up to speed. Her first official day as executive director was May 15, when the new $500,000 renovations were unveiled.
Talks to take over happened rather organically, and when the opportunity arose she was excited and nervous at the same time.
“The potential of NFAC means that it would be irresponsible not to question if I’m the right person for that,” Omens says. “But I love Greenport, I love community, and I know how to run organizations. I know that this is a community that wants to create things together, and so it felt like a really amazing opportunity to try.”
On the flip side, Spiridakis’ response was pure excitement.
“I am so thrilled to see somebody of her caliber understanding and making great choices to make sure that we’re going to have fun as a community at the arts center,” he says. “I’m lucky I’ll get to work with her and help her to succeed. I think everybody’s really ready to help her succeed, and we all know she’s going to succeed.”
Omens is gearing up for NFAC’s summer offerings for kids, including an improv class she’s looking forward to. She’s also looking for ways to expand what the center offers to make it even more of a year-round commodity.
She feels they’ve only scratched the surface.
“I’m really excited to figure out what kind of programming brings people in the doors, not just here, but more broadly regionally, year-round,” Omens says. “We need exciting things to come here for. I’m much more interested in trying and failing at some things than not trying. I’m very excited to see what works here.”
