2026-2027 Long Island Scholar Artists

The goal of the Scholar-Artist program is to honor exceptionally accomplished high school seniors September to June. Selections are made, each spring, from a pool of Long Island students. From these nominees, one monthly award winner from Nassau and one from Suffolk is chosen.

To learn more visit: http://longislandartsalliance.org/

Danielle de Masi

For Danielle de Masi of Northport High School, art is a way to express herself and be creative. She won the Huntington Tony Award for Best Makeup and Costume Design (2024) and earned Huntington Tony nominations for Best Makeup and Costume Design in a Musical (2025), Best Costume Design in a Play (2026) and Best Costume Design in a Musical (2026). She also received a Scholastic Honorable Mention (2025) and Honorable Mention for Best in Show at the Huntington Arts Council High Arts Exhibition (2026).

Danielle’s designs have appeared in Northport productions of The Little Mermaid, Shakespeare’s Dead Dudes and Dames, Once Upon a Mattress and Mamma Mia! 

At school, Danielle participates in Photography, Art, Fashion and Key clubs, Powdered Wigs and Theater Troupe, as well as the National, Thespian, STEM, Rho Kappa and English honor societies. Her creativity also reaches younger performers. Danielle designed costumes for East Northport Middle School’s The Little Mermaid Jr. and GetSMART camp’s Descendants Jr. She also sewed pillowcases for children with cancer through Ryan’s Case for Smiles.

Danielle finds inspiration in collaborating with friends and fellow performers. Art, she says, gives her a place to “relax and create” while expressing herself. She plans to study physical therapy and become a pediatric physical therapist while continuing to design for local theater and create clothing for family and friends.

Kayla Cusumano

For Kayla Cusumano of Bethpage, art has reshaped how she sees the world. “Before I started taking art seriously, I took for granted the beauty of the world,” says this Bethpage High School student. “Now... I find myself noticing all the little details, like the way the sunlight highlights the edges of clouds, the intricate patterns of tree trunks, or the almost imperceptible facial expressions that people make.” While Kayla’s art shows her the world she never noticed before, the world around her has taken note of her work. Kayla has earned the All-County Art Exhibition Achievement Award (2023-2025), was named an All-State Concert Band Alternate (2025-2026), and performed as an All-County Jazz Band saxophonist (2024 and 2026).

Kayla’s work has been shown at the All-County Art Exhibition each year from 2023 to 2025. She belongs to several national honor societies spanning art, Tri-M, math, science, and foreign language, and is involved in jazz band, pit orchestra, and marching band. Kayla also serves as Student Council president and competes on the varsity tennis and badminton teams. Her artistic contributions include painting banners for school events and parades and a mural in a teacher’s classroom, alongside saxophone quartet performances at an assisted living home and an ice-skating rink.

“Most of my inspiration comes from personal experiences and the emotions that they elicit,” Kayla says. Working primarily in realism, she gravitates toward subjects with personal meaning. Kayla plans to study industrial design in college, hopes to study abroad, and aims to build a career in the field while continuing to draw and paint traditionally as a hobby.

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