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Montauk has long been a destination for celebrity sightings.
Now one of its best-known resorts is giving artists something much bigger than a stage.
Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa just helped launch The Residency, a new hospitality concept that puts a guest artist in charge of shaping the resort’s atmosphere for an entire weekend. Instead of simply performing a concert or making an appearance, each artist serves as the resort’s creative director, influencing everything from the music and ambiance to food and beverage offerings and other elements of the guest experience.
The concept debuted this past weekend with Grammy Award-winning musician Wyclef Jean serving as the inaugural creative director.
“I got tired of watching great properties book great talent and end up with nothing to show for it,” Marcus Damas, creator of The Residency, told Greater Long Island. “The artist comes, the night is amazing, everybody posts, and [by] morning the hotel is the same hotel.”
Damas, founder and CEO of New York-based brand and experience company Fueled by Culture, said the idea grew from the belief that today’s travelers are looking for memorable experiences, not just luxury accommodations.
Rather than booking an artist for a single performance, Damas said The Residency hands over much of the guest experience to its creative director.
“We hand a creative the entire property — not a stage, the property,” he said. “The music in the lobby, the look, the feel, the whole mood of the place is theirs.”
For three days, Jean’s creative vision shaped the atmosphere throughout Gurney’s. While there was no traditional concert, he made a series of spontaneous musical appearances, including an impromptu rendition of “Hips Don’t Lie” during dinner and another performance around a beach fire pit.
Photo from Gurney’s by Thomas Agoglia for The Residency
“In the middle of dinner one night, he tapped his wine glass and slid into Hips Don’t Lie, no mic, no stage, just the room and him, because the moment called for it,” Damas said.
Jean embraced the role, calling the weekend “a dream come true” in an Instagram post afterward.
“Thank you for letting me use a part of my brain where I didn’t have to pick up a guitar, even though I wanted to so bad,” he wrote, underscoring that his role extended beyond entertaining guests to helping create the overall experience.
The Residency is designed to remain intentionally limited.
Rather than becoming a recurring series at Gurney’s, Damas said the platform will travel to a different landmark resort for each chapter, pairing each property with a different creative director. Only a handful of chapters are expected each year.
“The model only works if chapters stay rare,” Damas said. “I’d rather do fewer perfectly than more impressively.”
While Damas declined to reveal the next creative director or host property, he said conversations are already underway.
“The next chapter will sound nothing like the first, because that’s the point of the platform,” he said. “Each creative director makes it their own work.”
Jean also hinted that his time at Gurney’s may not be over. Reflecting on the weekend on Instagram, he told followers, “I will be back before my summer turns into winter.”
Top: Marcus Damas, founder and CEO of New York-based brand and experience company Fueled by Culture, with Wyclef Jean at Gurney’s (Credit: Thomas Agoglia for The Residency)
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