Emma Walton Hamilton

“And for me I think I was originally a theater person, a producer/director/actor.”

“Netflix is so amazing because they take chances. They'll take a risk, be edgy, be quirky.”

“If you wait until you're an adult to be exposed to the arts, it could seem elitist, it could seem out of reach, it could seem scary.”

“Yeah, I think the arts and literature have always been irrevocably connected. Because if you think about it, every film script, every play, every song starts as words on the page before it is ever performed or filmed or sung.”

“At a time when there is so much tension in the world - between cultures, and nations, and so forth - there is nothing that levels the playing field more than the arts.”

“When I was three years old, a nanny took me shopping and I saw large cut-outs of Mary Poppins in the store and yelled, 'That's mummy!' These women walked by and said, 'Oh how cute. That little girl thinks that Mary Poppins is her mum.'”

“We're both very passionate about the arts. Mom, of course with her arts background. I have a theater background and work with children.”

“I don't remember a time when it wasn't, when I didn't feel like the LGBTQ community was part of my life and part of reality.”

“Stay strong. Stay true to yourself and to who you are because there is community out there. It may not be in your town or perhaps even in your family, but you are wanted and you are loved and there are places in the world where you will be safe and supported.”

“I am my mother's daughter.”

“My background is in arts education and we know, absolutely for a fact, that there is no better way for kids to learn critical thinking skills, communication skills, things like empathy and tolerance. This is true across every boundary, across cultural boundaries, across socioeconomic, it's a great leveler in terms of unifying our world.”

“My husband, Steve Hamilton - an actor/producer and co-Director of the Southampton Playwriting Conference - and I had been working in the theatre in New York for many years.”

“My work in the theater began to shift more towards young audience type of work and education programs for children, arts education programs.”

“I was able to hide a lot behind 'Walton,' and found that to be quite useful.”

“I think I personally, as a writer, read differently knowing how tough it is to write, knowing how challenging it is to articulate it, to express clearly and economically and with focus and with purpose.”

“I think writing and reading are completely synergistic; not necessarily in that one has to be a good reader to be a good writer or vice versa, but that they so inform each other.”

“I have a picture of me sitting on the step of a brownstone stoop with my mom and all the Muppets around us. And Perry Como, for some reason.”

“Stony Brook is a phenomenal university and I am proud to be affiliated with it, so it is gratifying to be able to support this wonderful institution in whatever way I can.”

“The arts are the most uniquely suited to provide young people with critical-thinking skills, problem-solving, teamwork and collaboration, empathy and tolerance and compassion, looking at the other point of views.”

“We certainly had our moments when I was growing up. But the great thing was, if Mom was working on a night shoot, she'd be up making breakfast before school.”