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The East Hampton Center for Contemporary Art - a sanctuary for non-commercial, complicated art and the people who made it - has closed after the death of its major benefactor.
The 6-year-old, artist-run gallery closed Friday, said director Jennifer Cross, after losing its support from the Susan Levin Tepper Foundation. Tepper, a painter and member of a wealthy family, provided about 80 percent of the center's $220,000 yearly operating budget until she was diagnosed as having cancer and pulled back her support from the center, as well as other groups, Cross said.
She died Feb. 18, but the center was notified in October that it would lose its funding, Cross said. The center, which is on Newtown Lane in East Hampton, engaged in other fund-raising, including an emergency pledge drive that began in January, but efforts fell short.
"We attempted to show work that was more challenging and perhaps non-commercial . ....