Blog

Sep 23 1:41 pm

Guest post by Mal­colm Gore, Arborist at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island

In the Win­ter and Spring of 2022, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island con­duct­ed a sur­vey of all trees on Gov­er­nors Island to bet­ter under­stand the diver­si­ty, health, and longevi­ty of our unique urban for­est. The Trust received a grant from the New York State Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Con­ser­va­tion in 2021 to com­plete this sur­vey, and con­tract­ed Dav­ey Resource Group, a nation­al­ly respect­ed tree com­pa­ny, to con­duct the sur­vey and cre­ate a Com­mu­ni­ty For­est Man­age­ment Plan for this cru­cial canopy resource sit­u­at­ed in the mid­dle of New York Harbor. 

Why sur­vey our trees? It’s crit­i­cal that we have the full pic­ture of the Island’s tree canopy to make sure we are the best stew­ards we can be, ensur­ing our trees sur­vive — and thrive — for years to come. Gov­er­nors Island is home to almost 3,500 trees (3,496 to be exact) com­pris­ing 123 dif­fer­ent species. Of these trees, 97% are in either fair, good, or excel­lent con­di­tion — mean­ing they will con­tin­ue to pro­vide count­less ben­e­fits to the many human and non-human vis­i­tors of Gov­er­nors Island for years to come. Before div­ing into the spe­cif­ic ben­e­fits pro­vid­ed by our arbo­re­al friends, let’s take a look at the diver­si­ty of this island forest. 

Lon­don Plane Trees, with their dis­tinc­tive white bark and arch­ing branch­es, are the most plen­ti­ful tree on the Island as the 422 indi­vid­u­als rep­re­sent 12% of the total tree pop­u­la­tion on Gov­er­nors Island. They also account for a whop­ping 54% of the total leaf cov­er on the island, since most of them are mature trees that were plant­ed when Robert Moses was NYC Parks Com­mis­sion­er (while we aren’t sure the extent to which he had a say in the trees plant­ed on Gov­er­nors Island, Lon­don Plane Trees sprung up in huge num­bers across the city dur­ing this time peri­od— it seems they were his favorite tree). Hav­ing a sin­gle tree take up 12% of the canopy does come with some risk — if a new dis­ease that affect­ed Lon­don Plane Trees were to sweep through New York, Gov­er­nors Island would lose a lot of its canopy. This dis­ease risk is pre­cise­ly why the Trust is active­ly plant­i­ng many dif­fer­ent native tree species that will make our urban for­est more resilient. 

Com­ing in sec­ond are Swamp White Oaks, with 202 indi­vid­u­als that com­prise 6% of the total, fol­lowed by 150 of both North­ern Red Oaks and Riv­er Birch­es. Round­ing out the top five are the 120 Sweet­gums that call the Island home. These native tree species are vital­ly impor­tant to bird and insect pop­u­la­tions, as many types of cater­pil­lars (AKA baby bird food) feed on their leaves in the spring and summer. 

Addi­tion­al­ly, the major­i­ty of these trees are young and, as they grow and mature, will pro­vide more habi­tat and food for the pletho­ra of fau­na that vis­it the Island every year. 

Bio­di­ver­si­ty isn’t the only impor­tant thing to con­sid­er when main­tain­ing a healthy tree canopy; the age diver­si­ty of the Island’s tree pop­u­la­tion is also impor­tant. Mature trees pro­vide more habi­tat and shade, but are also riski­er giv­en their greater bulk and sur­face area to catch wind­storms. The below chart rep­re­sents the rel­a­tive age of Gov­er­nors Island’s trees as com­pared to the ide­al to sus­tain a healthy forest.

As you can see, Gov­er­nors Island’s tree canopy con­tains near­ly dou­ble the amount of rec­om­mend­ed young trees — this is large­ly due to all of the trees plant­ed with­in the last five years in the Island’s award-win­ning park space. With prop­er care and time, these young trees should devel­op into estab­lished ones as soon as 2024, and this new urban for­est will become more robust and self-sufficient. 

Cur­rent­ly, only about 91 acres of Gov­er­nors Island’s 172 acres are con­sid­ered shad­ed, and the vast major­i­ty of that is in the Island’s His­toric Dis­trict under those 422 Lon­don Plane Trees. As the young oaks, sweet­gums, and birch­es grow and mature on the South Island, more of the Island will expe­ri­ence the cool­ing ben­e­fits of tree shade, thus ensur­ing that the island becomes a place to escape the city heat in upcom­ing summers. 

Besides shade, what oth­er ben­e­fits do these 3,500 trees pro­vide for New York­ers? For one, trees are experts at remov­ing pol­lu­tion from the air. The Island’s for­est removes 1,160 pounds of air pol­lu­tants annu­al­ly, improv­ing the air qual­i­ty and lung health of peo­ple in the sur­round­ing area. The more trees in a giv­en area, the bet­ter the air qual­i­ty which trans­lates to reduced rates of asth­ma and stress, and improved cog­ni­tion.

Trees also ben­e­fit the health of the plan­et by stor­ing car­bon. The trees of Gov­er­nors Island con­tain approx­i­mate­ly 1,245 tons of stored car­bon, and every year they cap­ture and sequester an addi­tion­al 22 tons. Mature trees store more car­bon that younger ones, sim­ply because they have more sur­face area and larg­er root sys­tems. Every year, trees grow a dense net­work of small feed­er roots, made of car­bon, that will die and be turned into organ­ic mat­ter in the late fall. The larg­er the tree, the more feed­er roots they grow each year, and the more car­bon they sequester underground. 

This is just one rea­son why the Trust is ded­i­cat­ed to main­tain­ing the health and longevi­ty of as many mature trees as pos­si­ble, and is tak­ing steps to reduce the upper canopy of at-risk trees so their roots sys­tems can con­tin­ue to cap­ture and store car­bon for many years to come. 

In addi­tion to stor­ing car­bon, trees can help mit­i­gate the effects of cli­mate change by reduc­ing storm dam­age and runoff. Tree roots act as giant sponges, soak­ing up vast quan­ti­ties of water that could quick­ly turn into tox­ic runoff, and the canopy inter­cepts del­uges of rain that would oth­er­wise hit the ground with force and cause com­paction or flash floods. On Gov­er­nors Island, the canopy pre­vents up to 378,000 gal­lons of runoff annu­al­ly, improv­ing the soil of our park space and pre­vent­ing pol­lu­tants from con­t­a­m­i­nat­ing New York Harbor.

All the data result­ing from this sur­vey is incred­i­bly valu­able to the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, as it will help inform deci­sions on tree plant­i­ng, park main­te­nance, con­struc­tion projects, and pro­gram­ming events. The 3,500 trees on Gov­er­nors Island are a vital resource to the peo­ple of New York, and the Trust is com­mit­ted to ensur­ing that this cru­cial urban for­est remains healthy and resilient for many years to come. To learn more about urban forests and trees, come to Gov­er­nors Island on Octo­ber 15 for our City of For­est Day event — includ­ing a spe­cial vol­un­teer activ­i­ty and a tree walk­ing tour around the Island. Click here to learn more and register.

Sep 19 1:23 pm

Sep­tem­ber 19 – 25, 2022, marks the four­teenth annu­al Cli­mate Week NYC, the biggest glob­al cli­mate event of its kind — an entire week ded­i­cat­ed to tak­ing action in the face of cli­mate change to ensure a bet­ter, more sus­tain­able future. Orga­nized by The Cli­mate Group in con­junc­tion with the Unit­ed Nations Gen­er­al Assem­bly and the City of New York, this year’s pro­gram­ming cen­ters around the theme ​“Get­ting it Done.” 

The week is packed full of events — both vir­tu­al and in-per­son — held by a host of lead­ing cli­mate orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing some Gov­er­nors Island part­ners and ten­ants. Check out the full sched­ule of events online at cli​mate​week​nyc​.org.

Whether it’s through mon­u­men­tal pub­lic art com­mis­sions that engage direct­ly with the cli­mate cri­sis, the cli­mate solu­tions lit­er­al­ly built into the Island’s award-win­ning, 43-acre park, or the vibrant com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants and part­ner orga­ni­za­tions lead­ing cli­mate work in inno­v­a­tive and equi­table ways, Gov­er­nors Island is a hub for cli­mate edu­ca­tion, arts, cul­ture, and oth­er pro­gram­ming every week of the year. We look for­ward to fur­ther expand­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for edu­ca­tion and research, encour­ag­ing pub­lic engage­ment in the cli­mate cri­sis, incu­bat­ing equi­table solu­tions, and grow­ing NYC-based green jobs through the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island. Vis­it gov​is​land​.org/​c​l​imate to learn more about this vision and fol­low along with us on social media all week long for a look into every­thing that helps make Gov­er­nors Island a sus­tain­able community.

Aug 25 1:07 pm

NYC’s ado­les­cent and youth pop­u­la­tion has had to endure so many chal­lenges over the past two years; spend­ing a great amount of time indoors and try­ing to adjust to the ever-chang­ing (and increas­ing­ly com­mon) hybrid mod­els of school, work, and recre­ation­al pro­grams. Because of this, The Friends of Gov­er­nors Island part­nered again with Futures and Options to pro­vide a hands-on, expe­ri­en­tial, and pri­mar­i­ly out­door intern­ship that pro­vides interns with valu­able work and life expe­ri­ences that they can car­ry with them through their pro­fes­sion­al and edu­ca­tion­al pur­suits. This sum­mer, the Friends wel­comed a team of eight high school-aged interns that served as Island Ambas­sadors, offer­ing their skillsets to improve the Vis­i­tor Ser­vices operations.

Futures and Options is a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that part­ners with New York’s busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty to pro­vide career and intern­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties for under­served youth. With their exten­sive career readi­ness pro­grams, the interns that come from Futures and Options come equipped with train­ing and edu­cat­ion, pro­vid­ing Gov­er­nors Island with a valu­able and diverse work­force. Interns have reap­plied to come work on Gov­er­nors Island for mul­ti­ple sum­mers in a row, as our Island Ambas­sador Intern­ship is very well-liked and sought after amongst our cohorts each year.

The FGI Island Ambas­sador Intern­ship is a holis­tic sum­mer pro­gram that empha­sizes growth in pub­lic out­reach, com­mu­ni­ty build­ing, and eco­log­i­cal explo­ration and preser­va­tion. Through­out the five weeks, interns relate to the thriv­ing Island com­mu­ni­ty of artists, farm­ers, envi­ron­men­tal­ists, his­to­ri­ans, (and more!) to explore their career inter­ests and deep­en their com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills. 

As a team, the interns serve as the core Vis­i­tor Ser­vice cohort on week­ends, inter­fac­ing with the pub­lic reg­u­lar­ly while run­ning our Wel­come Cen­ter shops. On week­days, they sup­port the Island’s many cor­po­rate events and preser­va­tion efforts, from the his­tor­i­cal build­ings to plant life, and get to know the diverse orga­ni­za­tions that call Gov­er­nors Island home. Addi­tion­al­ly, the interns had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to staff some of the Island’s unique art instal­la­tions, such as the May Room, and were encour­aged to fos­ter rela­tion­ships with the oth­er orga­ni­za­tions in res­i­dence on the island, such as Beam Cen­ter, the West Harlem Art Fund, and Bil­lion Oys­ter Project.

Each year, The Friends of Gov­er­nors Island pro­vides new oppor­tu­ni­ties for these young pro­fes­sion­als. In addi­tion to meet­ing a week­ly require­ment of in-the-field vis­i­tor ser­vice expe­ri­ence, the interns attend­ed a career devel­op­ment work­shop focus­ing on resume build­ing, inter­view skills, and finan­cial lit­er­a­cy host­ed by the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island staff, along with off-Island net­work­ing events.

Over the course of the sum­mer, the 2022 interns pro­vid­ed near­ly 1,000 hours of direct ser­vice and helped thou­sands of vis­i­tors. While gain­ing pro­fes­sion­al work and ser­vice expe­ri­ence is para­mount for our interns, build­ing mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions with indi­vid­u­als on the Island and in the city they call home is also impor­tant to them as they gain con­fi­dence social­ly after endur­ing such iso­lat­ing times.

Stay tuned for infor­ma­tion on Fall intern­ship opportunities!

Aug 22 9:33 am

Gov­er­nors Island Arts today announced new fall pro­gram­ming from the sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence in the his­toric for­mer mil­i­tary hous­es of Nolan Park and Colonels Row, expand­ing cul­tur­al offer­ings for Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors and explor­ing themes includ­ing abo­li­tion, ori­gins of Latin Amer­i­can art, inter­sec­tions of art and tech­nol­o­gy, strug­gles for racial and gen­der equi­ty, and more. 

“Gov­er­nors Island attracts a vari­ety of vis­i­tors with its wide-rang­ing Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram­ming and this Fall’s pieces are the epit­o­me of unique expe­ri­ences in the mid­dle of New York Har­bor,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria-Tor­res Springer. ​“I encour­age every New York­er to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island’s Nolan Park and Colonels Row, which include pow­er­ful pieces high­light­ing the arts, cul­ture, and technology.”

“As Gov­er­nors Island’s cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty con­tin­ues to grow, we are excit­ed to present even more engag­ing cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences from the more than two-dozen Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence from across the city,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“There’s no place in New York City quite like Gov­er­nors Island – from our acces­si­ble recre­ation­al expe­ri­ences to our stun­ning, eco­log­i­cal­ly inno­v­a­tive land­scapes, to one of the most diverse col­lec­tions of cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences to be pre­sent­ed in one place – I encour­age all New York­ers to hop on the fer­ry and take advan­tage of all the Island has to offer this fall.” 

“The Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram rep­re­sents a pow­er­ful cross-sec­tion of per­spec­tives from around New York City, and we are thrilled for vis­i­tors to be able to expe­ri­ence the expand­ed pro­gram offer­ings for the fall months,” said Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“These new offer­ings put into prac­tice the mis­sion of Gov­er­nors Island Arts, engag­ing with the most press­ing issues of our time and respond­ing to the Island’s unique envi­ron­ments, while fur­ther con­nect­ing the artis­tic hub on Gov­er­nors Island to the city­wide arts and cul­tur­al community.” 

Reflect­ing the diver­si­ty of New York City in one cul­tur­al hub, Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram presents dynam­ic, acces­si­ble, free pro­gram­ming to Island vis­i­tors each year. 2022 Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence include 4heads, Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House, Art­Crawl Harlem, Beam Cen­ter, Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, BronxArt­Space, Bronx His­pan­ic Festival/​New York Latin Amer­i­can Art Tri­en­ni­al, the Cli­mate Muse­um, Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons, Flux Fac­to­ry, Har­vest­works, KODA, MoCA­DA, NARS Foun­da­tion, New Art Deal­ers Alliance, New York Vir­tu­al Vol­cano Obser­va­to­ry, Nation­al Acad­e­my of Design, NYC Audubon, NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab, Pratt School of Architecture’s GAUD Pro­gram, Swale, Tri­an­gle Arts, and the West Harlem Art Fund. 

See below for a sched­ule of upcom­ing free exhi­bi­tions and pub­lic pro­grams, with more to be announced in the com­ing weeks at www​.gov​is​land​.org.

BronxArt­Space: Artist Res­i­den­cy & Open Studios

Sep­tem­ber-Octo­ber

Colonels Row Build­ing 407A

BronxArt­Space is a com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tion com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing local and often under-resourced artists, fos­ter­ing projects that engage vital social, edu­ca­tion­al, and polit­i­cal con­cerns. On Gov­er­nors Island, BronxArt­Space will host their annu­al artist res­i­den­cy for sev­en Bronx-based artists along­side open stu­dios Sep­tem­ber 24 – 25 and Octo­ber 29 – 30.

Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Prisons

August 20-Octo­ber 30

Colonels Row Build­ing 410A

Found­ed in 2013, Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons works to change the way peo­ple who have been through the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem are viewed by soci­ety as a whole. By exhibit­ing and sell­ing art­work cre­at­ed behind prison walls, they engage Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors with issues relat­ed to the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, serv­ing as a reminder that there are human beings behind each piece. Join for an open­ing recep­tion on August 27 from 5 – 7pm.

New York Latin Amer­i­can Art Tri­en­ni­al 2022 (NYLAAT) pre­sent­ed by the Bronx His­pan­ic Festival

August 29-Novem­ber 16

Colonels Row Build­ing 405B

New to Gov­er­nors Island is the 2022 New York Latin Amer­i­can Art Tri­en­ni­al (NYLAAT), pre­sent­ed under the umbrel­la of the Bronx His­pan­ic Fes­ti­val at eight loca­tions through­out New York City. This year’s theme, Abya Yala: Struc­tur­al Ori­gins, explores pre-Columbian, African, and Euro­pean influ­ence and the com­pul­sive changes on Latin Amer­i­can art brought along with the con­tem­po­rary era. NYLAAT 2022 on Gov­er­nors Island will fea­ture the work of 10 artists on dis­play through the fall.

NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab: feel rub­ble

Sep­tem­ber 10-Octo­ber 30

Colonels Row Build­ing 403

feel rub­ble assem­bles his­toric mul­ti­me­dia works by Bev­er­ly Buchanan and Bet­ty Beau­mont, along with a site-respon­sive sculp­tur­al inter­ven­tion by Gabriela Salazar. Join for an open­ing par­ty on Sep­tem­ber 10 from 4 – 7pm.

Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House

Nolan Park Build­ing 15

The Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House will present sev­er­al free pub­lic arts pro­grams through­out the fall, includ­ing staged read­ings, open rehearsals, and per­for­mances from Chatha/​Choctaw, Creek, and Delaware Native Amer­i­can per­former, writer, direc­tor, and actor Nichol­son Bil­ley; Mohawk actress, direc­tor, and writer Danielle Gray; LeAnne Howe, Mar­la Carl­son, and Muriel Miguel. 

Flux Fac­to­ry

Colonels Row Build­ing 404A

Free, artist-led pub­lic pro­grams at Flux Sat­ur­days, held on the last Sat­ur­day of each month through the end of Octo­ber – includ­ing per­for­mances, exhi­bi­tions, open stu­dios, work­shops, and more.

Har­vest­works: Flu­id — an art and tech exhibition

August 27-Octo­ber 30

Nolan Park Build­ing 10B

Through tech-focused art­works, Flu­id brings togeth­er artists work­ing in a vari­ety of media includ­ing recy­cled elec­tron­ics, web-VR, and immer­sive sound and image instal­la­tions. Bring­ing atten­tion to the flu­id rela­tion­ships between human, ani­mal, and machines, each work explores these issues through the lens of the artist. 

KODA: Mil­dred Bel­tré: Work­ing to get there

August 12-Sep­tem­ber 18

Colonels Row Build­ing 404B

Through her agit­prop work and poet­ic ges­tures, Mil­dred Bel­tré gen­er­ates desire and invites imag­i­na­tion to dream with eyes open wide. Work­ing to get there takes its title from pre-fig­u­ra­tive and abo­li­tion­ist writ­ing and presents prints, draw­ings, cro­chets, and human hair instal­la­tions cre­at­ed between the years of 2002 – 2022 that rep­re­sent a pow­er­ful strug­gle for racial and gen­der equi­ty that is cru­cial to hope and joy. 

KODA x Res­i­den­cy Unlim­it­ed — The Snake & The Archive

August 20-Sep­tem­ber 10

Colonels Row Build­ing 404B

The Snake & The Archive is a col­lab­o­ra­tive research & instal­la­tion project by Stephanie Misa and queer fem­i­nist, zine-pro­duc­ing duo Mul­ti­ple Spir­its. The instal­la­tion approach­es and encoun­ters the archive — whether as sub­ject, source or con­cept, and the inter­sec­tions between them— through embod­ied and sit­u­at­ed knowl­edge and cul­tur­al­ly dis­tinct perspectives.

Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary African Dias­po­ran Art: MoCA­DA Abo­li­tion House

July 16-Octo­ber 30

Nolan Park Build­ing 7A

At MoCA­DA Abo­li­tion House on Gov­er­nors Island, mid-career artists will use their unique plat­form, space, and resources to devel­op and present projects, films, per­for­mances, and oth­er new work relat­ed to social jus­tice. High­lights include Suprema­cy Project, a group instal­la­tion address­ing sys­temic vio­lence and oppres­sion that BIPOC fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties are fight­ing to end; Protest With Art, fea­tur­ing arti­facts col­lect­ed by The All Street Jour­nal that chron­i­cle the Black Lives Mat­ter Move­ment, move­ments for hous­ing jus­tice, and men­tal health caus­es; and short film features.

NARS Foun­da­tion: NARS Satel­lite Res­i­den­cy Exhibition

Nolan Park Build­ing 5B

Sep­tem­ber 10-Octo­ber 30

Curat­ed by NARS Cura­to­r­i­al Fel­low Jes­si­ca Duby, this exhi­bi­tion fea­tures works by NARS Foundation’s Satel­lite Artists in Res­i­dence on Gov­er­nors Island, along with artist-led work­shops and open studios.

Nation­al Acad­e­my of Design: Materia/​Material

August-Octo­ber

Nolan Park Build­ing 7B

Nation­al Acad­e­my of Design is hold­ing a sum­mer res­i­den­cy for six artists in res­i­dence, along with sev­er­al open stu­dios and par­tic­i­pa­to­ry work­shops through­out the fall. 

NYC Audubon

Nolan Park Build­ing 17

August 6‑October 29

This fall, New York City Audubon will open the doors of their Gov­er­nors Island res­i­dence, invit­ing vis­i­tors inside the house to expe­ri­ence the world of urban birds in unex­pect­ed ways. In addi­tion, After­noon Bird Walks con­tin­ue every Sat­ur­day from 2 – 3:30pm.

Pratt School of Architecture’s Depart­ment of Grad­u­ate Archi­tec­ture and Urban Design (GAUD): Exper­i­men­tal Landings

Nolan Park Build­ing 14

Through Sep­tem­ber 5

This exhi­bi­tion inter­ro­gates how design­ers assert agency through the rep­re­sen­ta­tion, orga­ni­za­tion, and for­ma­tion of land. Join for a pan­el dis­cus­sion and recep­tion on Sep­tem­ber 1.

Pratt School of Architecture’s Depart­ment of Grad­u­ate Archi­tec­ture and Urban Design (GAUD): MS.Arch and MS.AUD Stu­dent Show 2022

Nolan Park Build­ing 14

Sep­tem­ber 16-Octo­ber 28

An exhi­bi­tion fea­tur­ing the work of stu­dents grad­u­at­ing from the Ms.Arch (Mas­ters of Sci­ence in Archi­tec­ture) and MS.AUD (Mas­ters of Sci­ence in Urban Design) in the sum­mer of 2022.

Swale: Metab­o­lism of Cities

Nolan Park Build­ing 11 & LMCC’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island

Novem­ber 16 – 17

An annu­al sym­po­sium that will focus on the meta­bol­ic process­es that sus­tain life and that can build or rebuild the foun­da­tions of sus­tain­abil­i­ty. Co-pre­sent­ed by Urban Soils Insti­tute NYC and NYC Soil and Water Con­ser­va­tion District.

Swale: Free Soils Test­ing Events

Nolan Park Build­ing 11

August 27 & Sep­tem­ber 17

Vis­i­tors can bring soil sam­ples from home, and Swale and NYC Urban Soils Insti­tute will test it for heavy met­als con­tent on the spot. 

West Harlem Art Fund (WHAF)

Nolan Park Build­ing 10B

Sep­tem­ber 10-Octo­ber 30

West Harlem Art Fund will present Fall Arts, a new­ly curat­ed indoor show fea­tur­ing print, design, and sculp­ture art­works by NYC area artists. This fall, WHAF will also hold mono­print­ing work­shops on Sep­tem­ber 10, Sep­tem­ber 24, Octo­ber 8, and Octo­ber 22, led by artist Red Saga­low, and out­door tap-danc­ing work­shops on Octo­ber 2 and Octo­ber 9.

In addi­tion, Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC)’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island – the first year-round home for the arts on the Island – con­tin­ues their 2022 sea­son through the fall months, with a site-spe­­cif­ic exhi­bi­tion by Amy Khosh­bin and Jen­nifer Khosh­bin, a four-chan­nel video instal­la­tion by Elis­sa Blount-Moor­­head and Brad­ford Young, a par­tic­i­pa­to­ry sculp­ture instal­la­tion by Simon Ben­jamin, and the month­ly Take Care pub­lic pro­grams series. The Arts Cen­ter is open Fri­day through Sun­day, with free admis­sion avail­able at www​.lmcc​.net.

Aug 15 3:47 pm

New York City May­or Eric Adams today announced new plans to expand the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School on Gov­er­nors Island. Dou­bling the school’s foot­print from two to four build­ings — includ­ing one that will be new­ly con­struct­ed — the plan will bring addi­tion­al class­room space and new facil­i­ties, includ­ing a pool, gym­na­si­um, and lab space to sup­port the school’s unique mar­itime and envi­ron­men­tal cur­ricu­lum. The plan is the prod­uct of a part­ner­ship between the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, the New York City Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion (DOE), and the New York City School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty (SCA).

“For many New York­ers, Gov­er­nors Island is a place to get away over the week­end. And for so many oth­ers, it is a place to learn about our world or pre­pare our city for the threats of cli­mate change,” said May­or Adams. ​“This project will give our young peo­ple the best of all worlds: a holis­tic, high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion, brand new facil­i­ties to help stu­dents learn, and access to one of our city’s gems where nature tru­ly is the classroom.”

“The Urban Assem­bly Har­bor School expan­sion will pro­vide our youth with brand-new facil­i­ties, a unique learn­ing envi­ron­ment, and expo­sure to a city trea­sure in Gov­er­nors Island,” said First Deputy May­or Lor­raine Gril­lo. ​“Thank you, May­or Adams, the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty, and all the city and com­mu­ni­ty stake­hold­ers for mak­ing this project possible.”

“Gov­er­nors Island has proven itself to be a recre­ation­al, cul­tur­al, and edu­ca­tion­al resource for over a decade in part­ner­ship with the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“We know the excep­tion­al stu­dents at the Har­bor School have bright futures, and I am excit­ed to see all they can accom­plish with state-of-the-art expand­ed space and resources.”

Expan­sion plans announced today include the con­struc­tion of a new, state-of-the-art facil­i­ty locat­ed on a site with­in the Island’s West­ern Devel­op­ment Zone. The new facil­i­ty will house a com­pe­ti­tion-sized pool to sup­port the school’s unique water-depen­dent mar­itime pro­grams, a new gym­na­si­um, and expand­ed lab­o­ra­to­ry space ded­i­cat­ed to career-tech­ni­cal train­ing and research. The new facil­i­ty will be the first new con­struc­tion build­ing locat­ed with­in a devel­op­ment zone on Gov­er­nors Island since its trans­fer from fed­er­al to local con­trol and will be a key com­po­nent of the trust’s planned mul­ti-ten­ant Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions. The con­struc­tion of the new pool, gym­na­si­um, and lab­o­ra­to­ry facil­i­ty will demon­strate bold sus­tain­able and resilient design as out­lined in the trust’s goals for the Cli­mate Cen­ter and the island’s over­all transformation. 

The School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty will also ren­o­vate Build­ing 555 — a des­ig­nat­ed land­mark build­ing orig­i­nal­ly con­struct­ed in 1938 as fam­i­ly hous­ing by the Unit­ed States Army — to sup­port 32,000 square feet of addi­tion­al class­room space. Both projects will expand the Har­bor School’s facil­i­ties on Gov­er­nors Island from two build­ings to four. The over­all expan­sion project includes cap­i­tal fund­ing sup­port from the New York City Coun­cil and the Man­hat­tan Bor­ough President’s Office.

The first year-round ten­ant on Gov­er­nors Island since its trans­fer from fed­er­al to local con­trol in 2003, the mis­sion of the Har­bor School — a DOE pub­lic high school — is to pro­vide a col­lege-prepara­to­ry edu­ca­tion built upon New York City’s mar­itime expe­ri­ence with a focus on envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship. With its part­ners — includ­ing the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project — the school devel­ops authen­tic activ­i­ties for its stu­dents on, around, and relat­ed to the water that cre­ates a sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty to the New York Har­bor and devel­op a new gen­er­a­tion of mar­itime advo­cates, enthu­si­asts, work­ers, and deci­sion-mak­ers. The Har­bor School cur­rent­ly occu­pies near­ly 80,000 square feet across two build­ings locat­ed with­in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric Dis­trict, includ­ing Build­ing 550 and the Marine and Sci­ence Tech­nol­o­gy Cen­ter, which sup­ports the school’s water depen­dent activity. 

The expan­sion of the Har­bor School comes at a trans­for­ma­tion­al moment as the trust moves for­ward, with plans to devel­op a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, which will expand part­ner­ship, learn­ing and train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents on Gov­er­nors Island. The trust is cur­rent­ly in the process of attract­ing an anchor edu­ca­tion­al and research insti­tu­tion as part of the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, a ground­break­ing ini­tia­tive designed to fur­ther New York City as a glob­al leader in efforts to respond to the cli­mate cri­sis. A key part of May­or Eric Adams’ Blue­print for New York City’s Eco­nom­ic Recov­ery, the project will sup­port the research, devel­op­ment, and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for New York City — that can be scaled and applied globally.

“The Urban Assem­bly Har­bor School is an incred­i­ble exam­ple of how a school’s cam­pus and facil­i­ties can help mold our stu­dents’ pas­sions, inter­ests, and, ulti­mate­ly, their path to eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty. Most impor­tant­ly, we lis­tened to and heard from the stu­dents, edu­ca­tors, and fam­i­lies of the Har­bor School, who advo­cat­ed for these facil­i­ty invest­ments,” said DOE Chan­cel­lor David C. Banks. ​“I look for­ward to the impact that these new and sus­tain­able facil­i­ties, includ­ing a new pool, gym­na­si­um, and lab­o­ra­to­ry, will have on this unique school com­mu­ni­ty, and thank the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for their con­tin­ued partnership.”

“For over a decade, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School has uti­lized Gov­er­nors Island and New York Har­bor as a liv­ing class­room, where stu­dents from across the five bor­oughs receive career train­ing in mar­itime and envi­ron­men­tal fields and are empow­ered to take action in the face of cli­mate change, and today’s announce­ment of an expand­ed cam­pus means more stu­dents than ever will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence its unique cur­ricu­lum,” said Clare New­man, pres­i­dent and CEO, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We’re hon­ored to have worked with May­or Eric Adams, the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty, Schools Chan­cel­lor David Banks, and the Har­bor School com­mu­ni­ty to devel­op new state-of-the-art lab­o­ra­to­ry and aquat­ic facil­i­ties here on Gov­er­nors Island, where stu­dents will gain expo­sure to real-world train­ing for jobs in the mar­itime, cli­mate, and the envi­ron­men­tal fields.”

“I am thrilled that the SCA will be able to improve and expand upon our orig­i­nal plans for the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School,” said SCA pres­i­dent and CEO Nina Kub­o­ta. ​“The col­lab­o­ra­tive effort between the SCA, DOE, and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island has led to this ter­rif­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty for the school’s unique mar­itime pro­gram­ming to serve even more New York City stu­dents as well as an addi­tion­al resource for the community.”

“The expan­sion of Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School brings to life our chancellor’s vision of reimag­in­ing the stu­dent learn­ing expe­ri­ence,” said Fred Walsh, high school super­in­ten­dent for CUNY and the Urban Assem­bly, DOE. ​“We are thrilled about the plan to expand and improve the school’s facil­i­ties, which will ulti­mate­ly expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents across the city. Stu­dents who attend the Har­bor School engage in a wide range of mar­itime- and marine sci­ence-focused career and tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion (CTE) pro­grams and work-based learn­ing, lead­ing to indus­try cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, and prepar­ing them for suc­cess­ful expe­ri­ence in col­lege or a career of their choice. As our world changes and the need for cli­mate change solu­tions evolves, this expan­sion will enrich the lives of count­less stu­dents, while prepar­ing future grad­u­ates to be at the fore­front of the field and enter the work­force pre­pared to lead. We look for­ward to see­ing the impact the expan­sion has on all of the stu­dents and fam­i­lies who join the Har­bor School Community.”

“I am proud to have long cham­pi­oned Gov­er­nors Island; it is tru­ly one of our city’s hid­den gems,” said U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jer­ry Nadler. ​“I have long sup­port­ed the Har­bor School on Gov­er­nors Island. I believe that its edu­ca­tion­al mis­sion is so impor­tant today, which is why after many years of advo­ca­cy it is great news that the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty and the city are final­ly announc­ing an expan­sion of the school and build­ing, a much-need­ed pool, gym­na­si­um, and new sci­ence labs.”

“The New York Har­bor School’s CTE pro­gram is one of the most unique in the city, and because of that, care­ful con­sid­er­a­tions must be made when devel­op­ing a space that is intend­ed to be of opti­mal ser­vice to the school com­mu­ni­ty there,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“I am extreme­ly pleased to see that SCA is act­ing on those con­sid­er­a­tions and cen­ter­ing equi­ty as it relates to a school whose mis­sion is to pro­vide robust, unique, on-water expe­ri­ences for their stu­dents and offer path­ways into mar­itime careers.”

“I am thrilled that the Har­bor School will be expand­ing its facil­i­ties and that they will final­ly get their long-await­ed swim­ming pool and gym­na­si­um,” said New York State Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh. ​“For near­ly twen­ty years, the Har­bor School has offered unique edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties to a diverse stu­dent body. Learn­ing marine biol­o­gy, sail­ing, and oth­er water­craft skills, and col­lab­o­rat­ing with the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, all pre­pare stu­dents for careers engag­ing with and being good stew­ards of our nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment — and serv­ing Gov­er­nors Island, the har­bor, and New York. The aquat­ic cen­ter will allow stu­dents to take full advan­tage of the school’s mar­itime-themed aca­d­e­mics. I am glad that the expan­sion includes addi­tion­al class­room space, giv­ing more stu­dents the chance to expe­ri­ence this excep­tion­al edu­ca­tion on Gov­er­nors Island. Thank you to the trust, the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty, Prin­ci­pal Jeff Che­tirko, the Har­bor School PTA, the stu­dents, Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1, and all of the ded­i­cat­ed advo­cates who helped make this possible.”

“I am excit­ed to see that after years of advo­ca­cy from par­ents, com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers, and elect­ed offi­cials, Har­bor School is final­ly get­ting the resources it deserves,” said New York State Assem­bly­mem­ber Yuh-Line Niou. ​“It is vital that we sup­port our CTE pro­grams and that we increase access to spe­cial­ized resources and oth­er facil­i­ties for our stu­dents. This pro­pos­al does both, and I am proud to have advo­cat­ed for these projects.”

“Since tak­ing office, we have been work­ing with the Har­bor School staff and par­ents to advo­cate for a full-sized com­pet­i­tive pool for their stu­dents,” said New York City Coun­cilmem­ber Christo­pher Marte. ​“We are so excit­ed that the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty has heard our call and com­mit­ted to cre­at­ing an incred­i­ble facil­i­ty for one of our district’s most unique pub­lic high schools. Har­bor School stu­dents have unique oppor­tu­ni­ties to grad­u­ate high school with skills that make them unique­ly qual­i­fied to work green jobs and with our water­ways. How­ev­er, the lack of access to a com­pet­i­tive-sized swim­ming pool has left a sig­nif­i­cant gap in this edu­ca­tion. The addi­tion of this pool shows the pow­er of com­mu­ni­ty activism and the will­ing­ness of the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty to work with par­ents and staff.”

“CB1 is thrilled that the Har­bor School will final­ly have their long-await­ed aquat­ics cen­ter on Gov­er­nors Island,” said Tri­cia Joyce, chair­per­son, Youth and Edu­ca­tion Com­mit­tee, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 (CB1). ​“The School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island respond­ed to PTA and com­mu­ni­ty feed­back to find a solu­tion, and the loca­tion and design of the new build­ing will make this spe­cial pro­gram for envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence and mar­itime careers on the water whole at last. We thank our elect­ed offi­cials for their tire­less sup­port of edu­ca­tion in Com­mu­ni­ty Dis­trict 1.”

“We are thrilled and excit­ed that the New York Har­bor School’s long quest for an aquat­ics cen­ter and gym will final­ly have a facil­i­ty empow­er­ing suc­cess for this spe­cial pro­gram of envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence and mar­itime careers in our city on the water,” said Nan Richard­son, chair, SEA com­mit­tee; and Amy Koza, PTA pres­i­dent, New York Har­bor School. ​“Grat­i­tude to the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty and to the chan­cel­lor for their com­mit­ment to a vision­ary future of edu­ca­tion, as well as to Con­gress­man Nadler, Coun­cilmem­ber Marte, Sen­a­tor Kavanagh, Assem­bly­mem­ber Fall, Assem­bly­mem­ber Niou, and Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Levine for their unflag­ging sup­port and belief in inno­v­a­tive learn­ing. Every sin­gle fam­i­ly and friend of Har­bor School past, present, and future, will be joy­ous at this news.”

“The Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School com­mu­ni­ty great­ly appre­ci­ates the sup­port of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the School Con­struc­tion Author­i­ty for pro­vid­ing our pub­lic school the nec­es­sary tools to meet the require­ments of our sev­en career and tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion path­ways,” said Jef­frey Che­tirko, prin­ci­pal, The Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School. ​“This invest­ment will ensure greater oppor­tu­ni­ties to pre­pare our stu­dents to pur­sue careers in the blue and green economies of the future and con­tin­ue to appre­ci­ate and pro­tect our city’s great­est nat­ur­al resources, New York Har­bor and Gov­er­nors Island. These resources will cre­ate equi­table facil­i­ties, allow­ing New York City stu­dents to learn to swim, space for phys­i­cal edu­ca­tion, and state-of-the-art facil­i­ties that will sup­port the envi­ron­men­tal work we do with the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project.”

“The Urban Assembly’s abil­i­ty to pro­vide robust work-based learn­ing and career path­ways in the mar­itime indus­try has been strength­ened by this expan­sion,” said David Adams, CEO, The Urban Assem­bly. ​“We look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing the work of devel­op­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of stew­ards and lead­ers of the New York Harbor.”

“The New York Har­bor School pro­vides fan­tas­tic, hands-on, place based edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents that are depen­dent on its loca­tion, on Gov­er­nors Island, in the cen­ter of New York Har­bor. This invest­ment by the City and the Trust for Gov­er­nor’s Island is a tes­ta­ment to over a decade of excel­lent instruc­tion and unique and excit­ing learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. All of us at Bil­lion Oys­ter Project are thrilled to see Har­bor School expand and final­ly have con­ve­nient access to a pool for dive and swim train­ing as well as much need­ed lab spaces for expand­ing Career and Tech­ni­cal Edu­ca­tion,” said Pete Mali­nows­ki, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project. 

Aug 2 11:09 am

In July 2022, Gov­er­nors Island Arts, Times Square Arts, and Cre­ative Time joint­ly announced the first pub­lic art exhi­bi­tion by Charles Gaines, The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest. This sweep­ing instal­la­tion will take place in three parts in three dif­fer­ent loca­tions over the course of three years — ­­Times Square, Gov­er­nors Island, and Cincinnati.

Chap­ter One debuted on July 13 in Times Square with two per­for­mances of Gaines’ Man­i­festos 4: The Dred and Har­ri­et Scott Deci­sion. The per­for­mance was a musi­cal inter­pre­ta­tion of the orig­i­nal text of the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court case of Dred Scott vs. San­ford, and was per­formed with a wood­wind quin­tet, piano, and tenor. The per­for­mance built upon the artist’s Man­i­festos series, in which Gaines dis­arms and draws upon his­tor­i­cal texts, unit­ing the ratio­nal, math­e­mat­i­cal, and lyri­cal struc­tures of music with the irra­tional­i­ty of vio­lence, racial ten­sions, and social injustice. 

Read the text fea­tured in the per­for­mance here, and read the full speech by Fred­er­ick Dou­glass in response to the deci­sion — which was sung by tenor Dar­i­an Clonts as the final part of each per­for­mance—here.

Roots, Chap­ter One’s sculp­tur­al instal­la­tion, also opened on July 13, and will be on view in Times Square through Sep­tem­ber 23. It fea­tures sev­en paint­ed Amer­i­can Sweet­gum trees, which his­tor­i­cal­ly grew in what is now Times Square, with their roots up to give the piece a sur­re­al and dystopi­an feel. 

Look­ing ahead, Chap­ter Two of The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest will come to Gov­er­nors Island in Octo­ber 2022. Locat­ed at the base of Out­look Hill, Mov­ing Chains will fea­ture a large kinet­ic sculp­ture instal­la­tion com­posed of nine chains. Eight of the chains will be move at the pace of New York Harbor’s cur­rents, while the ninth will move at the speed of the many ships that have passed through the har­bor through­out his­to­ry. Mov­ing Chains illu­mi­nates the exchange of peo­ple, cap­i­tal, and goods cycling between the north and south that made up the slave trade, while call­ing atten­tion to the polit­i­cal, judi­cial, and eco­nom­ic oper­a­tions estab­lished in this country’s foun­da­tion­al finan­cial sys­tem. Chap­ter Two will also include free pub­lic pro­gram­ming on Gov­er­nors Island relat­ed to the piece, stay tuned for announce­ments and updates. 

Click here to learn more about The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest.

Jul 21 9:46 am

Today, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island launched a new, dig­i­tal guide on Bloomberg Con­nects, the free arts and cul­tur­al app cre­at­ed by Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. The Bloomberg Con­nects app helps to expand Gov­er­nors Island’s acces­si­bil­i­ty for both onsite and off­site vis­its through mul­ti­me­dia fea­tures offer­ing insights into this unique land­mark in New York Harbor. 

“New York City is back, and we are spread­ing the word,” said New York City May­or Eric Adams. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is one of the real gems of our city, and this new dig­i­tal guide on the Bloomberg Con­nects app will help us share this great asset and all our city has to offer with more New York­ers and visitors.”

“We are excit­ed to part­ner with Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies to launch of this new dig­i­tal guide to Gov­er­nors Island,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Island vis­i­tors far and wide will be able to deep­en their expe­ri­ence by explor­ing this acces­si­ble library of infor­ma­tion on our trans­for­ma­tive arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming, recre­ation­al activ­i­ties and ameni­ties, his­toric build­ings, and more.” 

The new guide fea­tures in depth infor­ma­tion to enrich vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence on Gov­er­nors Island, with sec­tions that include pop­u­lar things to do and free recre­ation activ­i­ties along with a detailed map allow­ing vis­i­tors to nav­i­gate the Island dur­ing their vis­it. In addi­tion, Gov­er­nors Island Arts — the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust — fea­tures heav­i­ly in the guide, with detailed sec­tions on pub­lic art com­mis­sions dat­ing back to 2014, infor­ma­tion on the two dozen sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence in Nolan Park and Colonels Row, and fea­tures on upcom­ing events and free pro­grams. Vis­i­tors will also be able to fur­ther explore Gov­er­nors Island’s his­toric build­ings through the app, with a vir­tu­al exhib­it on the His­toric Dis­trict illu­mi­nat­ing the Island’s archi­tec­tur­al history. 

“Help­ing more peo­ple enjoy all that Gov­er­nors Island has to offer is a con­tin­u­a­tion of the work that the Bloomberg admin­is­tra­tion began 20 years ago, work­ing with our part­ners to trans­form an untapped trea­sure into one of the world’s great parks,” said Patri­cia E. Har­ris, CEO of Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. ​“Our Bloomberg Con­nects app will allow any­one with a smart phone to nav­i­gate the island, learn its his­to­ry, and enjoy all the free recre­ation­al and cul­tur­al activ­i­ties that are hap­pen­ing. There’s nev­er been a bet­ter time to explore an island that keeps offer­ing new rea­sons to visit.”

“Gov­er­nors Island is one of New York City’s most dynam­ic and fas­ci­nat­ing des­ti­na­tions — and now there is so much more to dis­cov­er here, thanks to the part­ner­ship with Bloomberg Con­nects,” said Mer­ritt Birn­baum, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This new online tool brings to life the his­to­ry, art, cul­ture, recre­ation, and sci­ence in a con­ve­nient and acces­si­ble for­mat that will be a ter­rif­ic resource for vis­i­tors. The abil­i­ty to use the map fea­ture to enrich their expe­ri­ence as they nav­i­gate the pub­lic space will be a game-chang­er for exploration.”

The Bloomberg Con­nects app is avail­able for down­load from Google Play or the App Store. Vis­i­tors can down­load and explore on-site by con­nect­ing to free Gov­er­nors Island Wi-Fi. 

Bloomberg Con­nects offers free dig­i­tal guides to cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions around the world. The app plat­form is part of Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies’ long­stand­ing com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing dig­i­tal inno­va­tion in the arts. Bloomberg Con­nects makes it easy to access and engage with arts and cul­ture from mobile devices when vis­it­ing in per­son, or any­time from any­where. With dynam­ic con­tent exclu­sive to each part­ner orga­ni­za­tion, the app pro­vides a range of fea­tures includ­ing video, audio, and text; expert com­men­tary; and way-find­ing maps. Fol­low Bloomberg Con­nects on Insta­gram, Face­book, and Twit­ter for updates on new guide launch­es, exhib­it high­lights, and more.

Jul 19 8:51 am

Gov­er­nors Island Arts announced today the launch of ​‘House Fest,’ a three-day fes­ti­val cel­e­brat­ing the incred­i­ble range of works pre­sent­ed by the sea­son­al arts, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and envi­ron­men­tal Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence on Gov­er­nors Island. From August 5 to 7, 2022, Gov­er­nors Island Arts will bring togeth­er more than 15 cul­tur­al part­ners for a week­end-long cre­ative cel­e­bra­tion in the his­toric Nolan Park and Colonels Row areas on the Island, fea­tur­ing free dance and music per­for­mances, out­door instal­la­tions, inter­ac­tive work­shops, open stu­dios, pan­el dis­cus­sions, and more.

“Gov­er­nors Island attracts New York­ers and inter­na­tion­al vis­i­tors alike with its wide-rang­ing Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence high­light­ing the arts, cul­ture, and the envi­ron­ment,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria-Tor­res Springer. ​“This weekend’s cel­e­bra­tion of these unique orga­ni­za­tions will bring even more atten­tion to the edu­ca­tion­al and cul­tur­al gems in the heart of New York Harbor.”

“Through Gov­er­nors Island Arts, we are thrilled to bring togeth­er a unique group of orga­ni­za­tions that ful­ly embod­ies the diverse cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty here in New York City,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The sin­gu­lar envi­ron­ment of Gov­er­nors Island fos­ters a cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence like no oth­er, and I encour­age all New York­ers to come out and cel­e­brate with Gov­er­nors Island Arts at House Fest this August.” 

“Each year, the Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence acti­vate Nolan Park and Colonels Row with evoca­tive arts expe­ri­ences, and we are so excit­ed to cel­e­brate this cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty with the inau­gur­al House Fest,” said Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Gov­er­nors Island Arts is priv­i­leged to have such a ded­i­cat­ed group of orga­ni­za­tions here on the Island col­lab­o­rat­ing to help bring trans­for­ma­tive, acces­si­ble pro­gram­ming to Island vis­i­tors and all New Yorkers.”

House Fest will invite col­lab­o­ra­tion between Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ two dozen sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence and a diverse ros­ter of chore­o­g­ra­phers and per­form­ers from through­out New York City, build­ing upon the cul­tur­al land­scape the pro­gram fos­ters each year in the for­mer mil­i­tary homes of Nolan Park and Colonels Row on Gov­er­nors Island.

The three-day cel­e­bra­tion will fea­ture free per­for­mances from Pigeon­wing Dance, Jer­ron Her­man, and Dance to the Peo­ple, along with free pub­lic pro­grams and acti­va­tions from Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence that include the Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary African Dias­po­ran Art (MoCA­DA), Har­vest­works, The Cli­mate Muse­um, Art­Crawl Harlem, 4heads, NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab, Tri­an­gle Arts, and more to be announced. 

Cen­tral to the weekend’s fes­tiv­i­ties is ​‘Dance Par­ty NYC’ on Sat­ur­day, August 6, a city-wide dance par­ty tak­ing place on the same night across 80 loca­tions through­out the five bor­oughs – includ­ing Nolan Park on Gov­er­nors Island. Fes­ti­val goers will dance their hearts out along­side their fel­low New York­ers, with sound­tracks pro­vid­ed by Brook­lyn Unit­ed March­ing Band, Brass Queens, DJ Agua­pan­ela Mami, and DJ Yung Mayne. Dance Par­ty NYC on Gov­er­nors Island is pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Council.

A full sched­ule of events and list of pre­sent­ing orga­ni­za­tions can be found at gov​is​land​.org/​h​o​u​s​efest, with more events to be announced in the com­ing weeks.

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, cre­ates trans­for­ma­tive encoun­ters with art for all New York­ers, invit­ing artists and researchers to engage with the issues of our time in the con­text of the Island’s lay­ered his­to­ries, envi­ron­ments, and archi­tec­ture. Since Gov­er­nors Island opened to the pub­lic in 2005, the Trust has invit­ed cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions to uti­lize its his­toric hous­es to present engag­ing pub­lic pro­grams while pro­vid­ing work­space for artists and cul­tur­al practitioners.

Through this unique Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence Pro­gram, Gov­er­nors Island Arts pro­vides a plat­form for non-prof­it groups to reach a diverse and grow­ing audi­ence of engaged vis­i­tors, where col­lab­o­ra­tion is encour­aged between par­tic­i­pat­ing orga­ni­za­tions and space is pro­vid­ed to pre­sen­ters free of charge.

Invest­ment in Gov­er­nors Island Arts advances a key com­po­nent of ​“Rebuild, Renew, Rein­vent: A Blue­print for NYC’s Eco­nom­ic Recov­ery,” the mayor’s vision for the future of the city’s econ­o­my. Over the next decade, the City and the Trust will invest in evolv­ing this sea­son­al pro­gram into year-round per­ma­nent homes for cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions on Gov­er­nors Island.

Gov­er­nors Island Arts 2022 Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence include 4heads, Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House, Art­Crawl Harlem, Beam Cen­ter, Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, BronxArt­Space, The Cli­mate Muse­um, Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons, Flux Fac­to­ry, Har­vest­works, KODA, MoCA­DA, NARS Foun­da­tion, Nation­al Acad­e­my of Design, New Art Deal­ers Alliance (NADA), New York Vir­tu­al Vol­cano Obser­va­to­ry, NYC Audubon, NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab, Pratt School of Archi­tec­ture, Swale, Syra­cuse Uni­ver­si­ty, Tri­an­gle Arts, and West Harlem Art Fund. 

House Fest 2022 is pre­sent­ed with sup­port from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Enter­tain­ment. Click here to view the full sched­ule of House Fest events. 

Jul 14 8:48 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today released two Request for Pro­pos­als (RFPs) invit­ing oper­a­tors of event, food and bev­er­age, and hos­pi­tal­i­ty venues to ground lease, rede­vel­op and oper­ate sev­er­al build­ings through­out Gov­er­nors Island’s His­toric Dis­trict. The RFPs released today build upon the Trust’s recent mile­stone of open­ing Gov­er­nors Island to the pub­lic year-round and sup­port the long-term vision to expand vis­i­tor ameni­ties while breath­ing new life into fifty land­marked for­mer mil­i­tary buildings. 

“Gov­er­nors Island has become a cul­tur­al and recre­ation­al ​‘must see’ in New York City,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria Torres-Springer. ​“Today’s RFP release is a crit­i­cal step to also make the Island a full-ser­vice hos­pi­tal­i­ty des­ti­na­tion, spurring our eco­nom­ic recov­ery through tourism and job cre­ation. I thank the Gov­er­nors Island team for their vision­ary stew­ard­ship of this unique New York City resource.”

“In the past year Gov­er­nors Island has grown tremen­dous­ly as a vibrant resource for all New York­ers, with open space now acces­si­ble year-round, an array of arts and cul­tur­al pro­grams, new ameni­ties, and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Through the release of these RFPs, we are excit­ed to make progress on expand­ing ways for New York­ers to enjoy all the Island has to offer, while fur­ther­ing our long-term com­mit­ment to breath­ing new life into our his­toric assets. We look for­ward to receiv­ing pro­pos­als from New York City’s diverse hos­pi­tal­i­ty community.”.

Through the two RFPs released today, The Trust is mak­ing avail­able up to 45,000 SF of space across five build­ings locat­ed with­in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric Dis­trict for adap­tive reuse by suc­cess­ful respon­dents. Prop­er­ties made avail­able through the RFPs include:

Build­ing 140: Request for Pro­pos­als Seek­ing Food and Bev­er­age Con­cepts and/​or Event Venues

Devel­op­ers and oper­a­tors of food and bev­er­age con­cepts and event venues are invit­ed to sub­mit pro­pos­als to ground lease, rede­vel­op, and oper­ate Build­ing 140 an approx­i­mate­ly 10,000 square-foot water­front build­ing on Gov­er­nors Island fea­tur­ing high ceil­ings, a col­umn-free inte­ri­or, and an approx­i­mate­ly 13,000-square-foot out­door water­front ter­race. Con­struct­ed in the mid-1800s as a muni­tions ware­house and used over the years as a bank and a post office, Build­ing 140 is locat­ed at Sois­sons Land­ing, Gov­er­nors Island’s pri­ma­ry fer­ry dock with 7‑minute ser­vice to Low­er Man­hat­tan, and fea­tures unob­struct­ed views of the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line, Brook­lyn Bridge, and New York Harbor.

Build­ings 1, 2, 3, and 25: Hos­pi­tal­i­ty and Vis­i­tor Amenities

Devel­op­ers and oper­a­tors of food and bev­er­age con­cepts, event and con­ven­ing spaces, overnight accom­mo­da­tions, and oth­er ameni­ty spaces are invit­ed to sub­mit pro­pos­als to ground lease, rede­vel­op, and oper­ate Build­ings 1, 2, 3, and 25 on Gov­er­nors Island. Togeth­er, the Build­ings offer approx­i­mate­ly 35,000 square feet of com­bined indoor space locat­ed with­in Nolan Park, for­mer­ly home to Com­mand­ing Officer’s quar­ters dur­ing Gov­er­nors Island’s his­to­ry as a US Army and Coast Guard Base, and today home to a grow­ing hub of arts and cul­tur­al ten­ants. Suc­cess­ful respon­dents will be locat­ed adja­cent to the Nolan Park Cul­tur­al Cam­pus, a grow­ing hub of cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions pro­vid­ing dynam­ic pub­lic pro­grams dur­ing the Island’s spring, sum­mer and fall sea­sons. Over time, the Trust plans to grow Nolan Park as a per­ma­nent, mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary arts and cul­ture cam­pus, pro­vid­ing afford­able space to cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions and attract­ing a grow­ing audi­ence of vis­i­tors expe­ri­enc­ing the Island’s arts pro­gram. Suc­cess­ful respon­dents will help com­ple­ment this unique and grow­ing cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tion with sup­port­ing amenities. 

Pro­pos­als will be eval­u­at­ed based on the Respondent’s pro­posed pro­gram and vision, includ­ing serv­ing a broad and diverse audi­ence and align­ing with the Trust’s cli­mate and sus­tain­abil­i­ty goals, team and fea­si­bil­i­ty, pro­posed terms, and qual­i­ty of design. Respons­es to both RFPs are due Octo­ber 31, 2022, by 5:00 p.m. For more infor­ma­tion or to view the full RFP doc­u­ments click here.

Gov­er­nors Island has under­gone a tremen­dous trans­for­ma­tion over the last decade, includ­ing the cre­ation of a resilient 43-acre park, a grow­ing arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram, and remark­able growth in audi­ence. The Island is home to a diverse num­ber of year-round ten­ants, includ­ing the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, the Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, Shan­dak­en Projects, Beam Cen­ter, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture, and QC NY Spa, as well as But­ter­milk Labs — a new mul­ti-ten­ant hub for coastal cli­mate solu­tions announced in Fall 2021. 

The Trust is cur­rent­ly in the process of attract­ing an anchor edu­ca­tion­al and research insti­tu­tion as part of the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, a ground­break­ing ini­tia­tive designed to fur­ther New York City as a glob­al leader in efforts to respond to the cli­mate cri­sis. A key part of May­or Eric Adams’ ​“Rebuild, Renew, Rein­vent: A Blue­print for NYC’s Eco­nom­ic Recov­ery,” the project will sup­port the research, devel­op­ment and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for New York City — that can be scaled and applied globally. 

Now open to the pub­lic year-round, Gov­er­nors Island is home to a robust cal­en­dar of free pub­lic pro­grams and events, out­door recre­ation activ­i­ties, diverse arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences, and more to explore. Vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​t​h​i​n​g​s​-​to-do for more infor­ma­tion and to view all upcom­ing events and programs.

Jun 30 8:49 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today new extend­ed hours for the area Sois­sons Land­ing, one of the best spots in the city to watch the sun­set on the hori­zon. Start­ing Fri­day, July 1, Sois­sons Land­ing will remain open late every night of the week through Octo­ber 31. Sois­sons Land­ing will be open until 10 p.m. Sun­day through Thurs­day, and until 11 p.m. Fri­days and Sat­ur­days. Vis­i­tors can enjoy deli­cious food and drink from Island Oys­ter, Taco Vista and Gitano Island, along with unique well­ness expe­ri­ences from QC NY Spa and beau­ti­ful pic­nic spots with­in the area sur­round­ing Sois­sons Land­ing in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric District. 

“There real­ly is no bet­ter place to spend a sum­mer evening than Gov­er­nors Island,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent & CEO of The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“With unpar­al­leled water­front views, deli­cious food and drinks, unique ameni­ties, and peace­ful pic­nic spots, Sois­sons Land­ing has some­thing for every­one. We are thrilled to announce these expand­ed pub­lic hours and can’t wait to wel­come our vis­i­tors to the best place to catch the sun­set in New York City.” 

Evening fer­ries to Gov­er­nors Island run from the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing in Low­er Man­hat­tan, with the last pub­lic fer­ry over to the Island depart­ing at 8:15 p.m. Sun­day through Thurs­day and 9:15 p.m. Fri­day and Sat­ur­day. The last fer­ry off of the Island departs at 10 p.m. Sun­day through Thurs­day and 11 p.m. Fri­day and Sat­ur­day. While Sois­sons Land­ing will be open until 10 p.m., all oth­er areas on Gov­er­nors Island will close at reg­u­lar­ly post­ed pub­lic hours — 10 p.m. on Fri­days and Sat­ur­days through Sep­tem­ber 3, and 6 p.m. Sun­day through Thursday. 

The Sois­sons Land­ing area includes the below ven­dors and ameni­ties, in addi­tion to rolling lawns avail­able for pic­nick­ing or tak­ing in the views. 

Taco Vista: Clas­sic Mex­i­can menu includ­ing tacos, bur­ri­tos, que­sadil­las, craft beer, and mar­gar­i­tas with a casu­al din­ing area and water­front views. Open Wednes­day through Sun­day from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Island Oys­ter: A unique out­door des­ti­na­tion for easy­go­ing sum­mer seafood, trop­i­cal cock­tails, and panoram­ic views. Open Wednes­day through Sun­day from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Gitano Island: A brand-new restau­rant and beach club from Grupo Gitano fea­tur­ing an exten­sive cock­tail menu, mod­ern Mex­i­can cui­sine, dance floors, and reg­u­lar live events. Open Sun­day through Thurs­day from 12 to 10pm and Fri­day and Sat­ur­day from 12:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

QC NY Spa: Guests can unwind with more than 20 well­ness expe­ri­ences includ­ing mas­sages, saunas, steam rooms, water ther­a­pies, and more, along with two infin­i­ty spa pools over­look­ing the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line. Open Sun­day through Thurs­day from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Fri­day and Sat­ur­day from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Vis­i­tors are encour­aged to reserve fer­ry tick­ets at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​ferry in advance of their trip, and face cov­er­ings con­tin­ue to be required on Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries. Evening fer­ries will only oper­ate to and from the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing in Low­er Man­hat­tan dur­ing the Sun­set at Sois­sons Land­ing hours.

Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, seniors 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before noon on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time.

NYC Fer­ry also serves Gov­er­nors Island week­days on the South Brook­lyn route and week­ends via a ded­i­cat­ed shut­tle from Pier 11/​Wall Street. NYC Fer­ry does not serve Gov­er­nors Island after 5:19 p.m. on week­days and 5:42 p.m. on week­ends. Vis­it ferry.nyc for more infor­ma­tion and schedules.