Blog

Mar 9 9:24 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island today announced the launch of an eggs-cep­tion­al event, the Gov­er­nors Island Egg Hunt, a new spring­time cel­e­bra­tion to be held for the first time on April 8, 2023, from 10:oo a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Par­tic­i­pants will scram­ble to find the 10,000 wood­en paint­ed eggs hid­den in areas through­out the Island’s 172 acres, with Island-spe­cif­ic prizes and give­aways for the most hard-boiled egg hunters. 

The Gov­er­nors Island Egg Hunt is free for all participants…no need to shell out big bucks for a day of eggs-cel­lent fam­i­ly-friend­ly free-range fun. 

“Since open­ing to the pub­lic year-round in 2021, Gov­er­nors Island has cement­ed itself as an unmatched des­ti­na­tion for acces­si­ble all-sea­son out­door fun, and we are thrilled to con­tin­ue to expand our free year-round pro­gram­ming with the Island’s first pub­lic egg hunt,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Togeth­er with the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island, we hope you’ll hop on the fer­ry and join us for a one-of-a-kind spring­time cel­e­bra­tion in the heart of New York Harbor.”

This new event includes sev­er­al lev­els of egg hunts tai­lored to spe­cif­ic age groups, along with an Island-wide scav­enger hunt that every­one can take a crack at. The day-long cel­e­bra­tion at the Parade Ground will also include per­for­mances from Won­der­spark Pup­pets, Brook­lyn Mag­ic Shop, and more to be announced. Spring-themed arts and crafts will be fea­tured all day, and food will be avail­able for pur­chase onsite from Gov­er­nors Island ven­dors along with a beer gar­den from Gov­er­nors Island Beer Co. Vis­i­tors will also have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet and take pic­tures with the East­er Bun­ny and enjoy the hijinx of Looney Tooney the Clown. 

“The Friends of Gov­er­nors Island is thrilled to be co-host­ing New York City’s largest egg hunt on Gov­er­nors Island this spring,” said Pat­ti Davis, Inter­im Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“As our first free pub­lic pro­gram of the spring sea­son, the Egg Hunt will fea­ture activ­i­ties for all ages through­out the His­toric Dis­trict and beyond, extend­ing across our beau­ti­ful open space. The Egg Hunt is a won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to intro­duce new vis­i­tors and wel­come back old friends as we kick off a won­der­ful spring sea­son on Gov­er­nors Island.”

EVENT SCHED­ULE Events will take place on the Parade Ground unless oth­er­wise not­ed. All egg hunts are as sup­plies last. 

• 10am-4pm: Reg­is­tra­tion and giveaways 
• 10am-3pm: Island-wide scav­enger hunt
• 10am-3pm: Bub­bles with Looney Tooney the Clown
• 11am-2pm: Meet the East­er Bunny
• 11am-3pm: Arts & Crafts
• 11am & 1pm: Egg Hunt A, Parade Ground (ages 2 – 4)
• 11am & 1pm: Egg Hunt B, Parade Ground (ages 5 – 8)
• 11:30am: Won­der­spark Pup­pets pup­pet show
• 12pm: Egg Hunt C, Colonels Row (ages 9 – 13)
• 12:15 & 1:45pm: Brook­lyn Mag­ic Shop mag­ic show

The Gov­er­nors Island Egg Hunt is co-pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. 

Gov­er­nors Island’s award-win­ning park is open to the pub­lic every day, along with recre­ation activ­i­ties like bike rentals, a Com­mu­ni­ty Climb­ing Boul­der, Ham­mock Grove, The Hills, Pic­nic Point, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art com­mis­sions, includ­ing work from Duke Riley, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, and Mark Hand­forth are also cur­rent­ly on view through­out the Island. Charles Gaines’s The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest Chap­ter Two: Mov­ing Chains will reopen on Gov­er­nors Island lat­er this spring.

QC NY is open dai­ly on Gov­er­nors Island, with two heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, and a new bar and bistro. This win­ter also marks the return of Win­ter Dog Days, where dogs are allowed on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days through­out the end of April. Dogs must be leashed while on Gov­er­nors Island except for in the Week­end Win­ter Dog Park, locat­ed adja­cent to Liggett Terrace. 

Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, click here. Trust-oper­at­ed sea­son­al week­end Brook­lyn fer­ry ser­vice will return this summer.

Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults ages 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Friends of 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 dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn route, with stops in Low­er Man­hat­tan and along the Brook­lyn water­front. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it www.ferry.nyc.

Feb 23 11:59 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced the 2023 Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence, with non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions from all five bor­oughs set to expand cul­tur­al offer­ings for Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors start­ing this spring. More than two dozen orga­ni­za­tions were select­ed for this annu­al sea­son­al pro­gram, and will present free visu­al art, envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion, and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming inside his­toric for­mer mil­i­tary hous­es from May through Octo­ber 2023.

Pre­sent­ed through Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the Trust’s sig­na­ture arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram, the Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence ini­tia­tive invites non­prof­its from across the city to present engag­ing pub­lic pro­grams while pro­vid­ing work­space and artist res­i­den­cies. Through this unique pro­gram, the Trust offers non­prof­it groups the oppor­tu­ni­ty to reach a diverse and grow­ing audi­ence of engaged vis­i­tors, where col­lab­o­ra­tion is encour­aged and work­space is pro­vid­ed free of charge. Each year, more than 200 artists and researchers receive flex­i­ble, free work­space through this pro­gram. Over the next decade, the City of New York and the Trust will invest in evolv­ing this sea­son­al pro­gram into year-round per­ma­nent homes for cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions on Gov­er­nors Island, cre­at­ing a one-of-a-kind cul­tur­al cam­pus in Nolan Park.

“Each year, a dynam­ic group of non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions con­verge here on Gov­er­nors Island to present some of the most excit­ing cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences our city has to offer,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“As the Island’s cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty con­tin­ues to grow, we look for­ward to wel­com­ing more vis­i­tors than ever to direct­ly engage with the artists, exhi­bi­tions, and oth­er cul­tur­al inter­ven­tions in Nolan Park and Colonels Row.” 

“Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram and its par­tic­i­pants con­sis­tent­ly present unique, time­ly works, rep­re­sent­ing a pow­er­ful inter­sec­tion of per­spec­tives and pro­vid­ing an invalu­able cul­tur­al resource for Island vis­i­tors and all New York­ers,” said Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“With eight new non­prof­its join­ing the Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence com­mu­ni­ty this year, vis­i­tors can look for­ward to enjoy­ing a range of pub­lic pro­gram offer­ings from cross-dis­ci­pli­nary orga­ni­za­tions from every sin­gle borough.”

This year’s cohort will present pro­gram­ming in and around the his­toric hous­es of Nolan Park and Colonels Row on Gov­er­nors Island, enliven­ing these his­toric dis­tricts dur­ing the Island’s high­est vis­i­ta­tion sea­son and hold­ing 200+ free pub­lic pro­grams for Island vis­i­tors. The hous­es will be open to the pub­lic Fri­day through Sun­day from 11am to 5pm begin­ning May 5, 2023. 

The 2023 Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence are:

Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty House Man­hat­tan
https://​aich​.org/

ArtsCon­nec­tion Man­hat­tan*
https://​artscon​nec​tion​.org/

Art­Crawl Harlem Man­hat­tan
https://​art​crawl​harlem​.org/

BronxArt­Space The Bronx
http://​www​.bronxart​space​.com/

Bil­lion Oys­ter Project Man­hat­tan
https://​www​.bil​lionoys​ter​pro​ject​.org/

Escap­ing Time: Art from U.S. Pris­ons Man­hat­tan
https://​www​.escap​ing​time​.org/

Flux Fac­to­ry Queens
https://​www​.flux​fac​to​ry​.org/

KODA Brook­lyn
https://​www​.kodal​ab​.org/

Foun­tain House Man­hat­tan*
https://​www​.foun​tain​house​.org/

Har­vest­works Man­hat­tan
https://​www​.har​vest​works​.org/

The Low­er East­side Girls Club Man­hat­tan*
https://​www​.girlsclub​.org/

The Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary African Dias­po­ran Arts (MoCA­DA) Brook­lyn
https://​moca​da​.org/

New Art Deal­ers Alliance (NADA) Man­hat­tan
https://​www​.newart​deal​ers​.org/

New York Latin Amer­i­can Art Tri­en­ni­al Man­hat­tan
https://​nylaat​.org/

NYC Audubon Man­hat­tan
https://​www​.nycaudubon​.org/

Oye Group Brook­lyn*
https://​www​.oye​group​.org/

Pratt School of Archi­tec­ture Brook­lyn
https://​archi​tec​ture​.pratt​.edu/gaud

Project Bring It Home/​The Stars of Tomor­row Project, Inc. Man­hat­tan*
https://​star​soft​o​mor​row​pro​ject​.com/

Res­i­den­cy Unlim­it­ed (RU) Brook­lyn
https://​res​i​den​cyun​lim​it​ed​.org/

Stat­en Island Urban Cen­ter Stat­en Island*
https://​www​.siur​ban​cen​ter​.org/

Swale Brook­lyn
https://​www​.swalenyc​.org/

Syra­cuse Uni­ver­si­ty Stu­dio Art M.F.A. Syra­cuse, NY
https://​vpa​.syr​.edu/​a​c​a​d​e​m​i​c​s​/​a​r​t​/​p​r​o​g​r​a​m​s​/​s​t​u​d​i​o​-​a​r​t​s​-mfa/

Tai­wanese Amer­i­can Arts Coun­cil Queens*
http://​www​.taac​-us​.org/

Trans­Bor­der­Art Queens*
https://​trans​bor​der​art​.com/

West Harlem Art Fund Man­hat­tan
https://westharlem.art/

* Denotes a first-time mem­ber of the Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence program

In addi­tion, NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab (Man­hat­tan) and Cumbe: Cen­ter for African and Dias­po­ra Dance (Brook­lyn) will present free out­door pro­grams, class­es, work­shops, and events at dif­fer­ent loca­tions around the Island dur­ing the pro­gram­ming sea­son. Click here to view more infor­ma­tion about the 2023 Orga­ni­za­tions in Residence. 

Since open­ing to the pub­lic in 2005, Gov­er­nors Island has become a beloved des­ti­na­tion and cul­tur­al resource for New York City. Begin­ning in 2013, the Trust has com­mis­sioned sig­nif­i­cant per­ma­nent and tem­po­rary art­works by artists includ­ing Rachel Whiteread, Susan Philip­sz, David Brooks, Jacob Hashimo­to, Shantell Mar­tin, Duke Riley, Richard Move, Sam Van Aken, Mark Dion, and Charles Gaines. 

Gov­er­nors Island has under­gone a tremen­dous trans­for­ma­tion over the last decade, includ­ing the expan­sion of year-round pub­lic access and 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, Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, Shan­dak­en: Projects, Beam Cen­ter, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture, and QCNY, 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 select­ing 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 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.

Feb 3 2:06 pm

Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) announced today they will co-host Gov­er­nors Island’s sec­ond annu­al Win­ter Ice Sculp­ture Show. This one-of-a-kind event will take place on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 18, 2023, from 12 to 5p.m. at the Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage. The fes­tive event pro­vides New York­ers and vis­i­tors from around the world with the sin­gu­lar oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing, along­side all of the open space, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and his­toric resources and attrac­tions that the Island offers year-round.

“The annu­al ice sculp­ture show pro­vides direct sup­port for local artists and brings New York­ers anoth­er joy­ful, ephemer­al pub­lic art expe­ri­ence on Gov­er­nors Island in the win­ter months,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This unique event is one of many rea­sons to vis­it the Island dur­ing the win­ter sea­son. We can’t wait to once again wel­come vis­i­tors of all ages to come and enjoy music and warm drinks, expe­ri­ence the thrill of live ice sculpt­ing, and vote on their favorite works.” 

“Gov­er­nors Island is known as a major hub for the arts and cre­ativ­i­ty in New York City, the region and beyond, and this ice sculp­ture com­pe­ti­tion high­lights that syn­er­gy and the won­der­ful pro­gram­ming that has made the Island its home,” said Mered­ith John­son, VP of Arts & Cul­ture and Head Cura­tor for the Trust. ​“We look for­ward to wel­com­ing our artists and a curi­ous pub­lic to wit­ness the spec­ta­cle of carv­ing ice with a chain­saw, a thrill that has few rivals.” 

“We are delight­ed to part­ner with Gov­er­nors Island Arts for a sec­ond year of win­ter­time fun and com­mu­ni­ty-build­ing at the 2023 Ice Sculp­ture Event,” said Craig T. Peter­son, Pres­i­dent of LMCC. ​“Through our Open Call, we look for­ward to wel­com­ing artists from all dis­ci­plines to design one-of-a-kind sculp­tures, and con­nect­ing the pub­lic with the won­der­ful vari­eties of artis­tic expres­sion in New York City found all year long at Gov­er­nors Island.”

In late 2022, Gov­er­nors Island Arts and LMCC invit­ed New York City-based artists to sub­mit designs through an open call. Ten designs were select­ed by an esteemed pan­el of New York City cul­tur­al lumi­nar­ies and will be brought to life by the artists dur­ing this live, marathon ice sculpt­ing ses­sion. Each select­ed artist will be paired with pro­fes­sion­al ice carvers from Okamo­to Stu­dio on the day of the event. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to wit­ness this real-time ice carv­ing and vote on their favorite sculp­ture for the ​“People’s Choice Award” at the end of the event. 

This year’s show will also fea­ture DJ sets from Red Corvette and DJ Sav­age curat­ed by Half Moon, an inde­pen­dent music and media com­pa­ny that cov­ers and rein­forces emerg­ing cul­ture around the world through radio, events, edi­to­r­i­al, and edu­ca­tion­al work­shops with head­quar­ters in New York City and Los Ange­les. In addi­tion to food and drink avail­able from year-round Gov­er­nors Island ven­dor Lit­tle Eva’s, food trucks oper­at­ed by Black-owned busi­ness­es Ms. Spudz and GG’s Fish & Chips will be fea­tured dur­ing the event in hon­or of Black His­to­ry Month. The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage, includ­ing the 7,000-square foot ice skat­ing rink, sea­son­al food options, lawn games, fire pits, and more, will be open to the pub­lic through­out the day.

The esteemed jury pan­el that select­ed entrants and will select win­ners includes: Jonathan Gar­den­hire, Assis­tant Direc­tor of Indi­vid­ual Giv­ing at MoMA PS1; Natasha Logan, Deputy Direc­tor of Cre­ative Time; Shin­taro Okamo­to, Founder/​Creative Direc­tor of Okamo­to Stu­dio, artist José Par­lá, and artist Duke Riley. 

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org. Trust-oper­at­ed sea­son­al week­end Brook­lyn fer­ry ser­vice will return in Spring 2023.

Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults ages 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’s South Brook­lyn route is tem­porar­i­ly bypass­ing Gov­er­nors Island through mid-Feb­ru­ary due to planned main­te­nance. Dur­ing this time, Trust ‑oper­at­ed fer­ries con­tin­ue to run dai­ly every half hour from the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing. NYC Fer­ry rid­ers trav­el­ing to Gov­er­nors Island from Brook­lyn can take the fer­ry to Wall Street/​Pier 11 and trans­fer to Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries at 10 South Street. For more infor­ma­tion on NYC Fer­ry, vis­it www.ferry.nyc.

Jan 5 2:41 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island are excit­ed to release our 2022 Year in Review, a com­pre­hen­sive look at all of the incred­i­ble recre­ation­al resources, cul­tur­al mile­stones, cli­mate inno­va­tions, and ten­ant com­mu­ni­ty updates from the first full year that the Island was open to the pub­lic. Read on for high­lights, and thank you for mak­ing 2022 a year to remem­ber on Gov­er­nors Island. Click here to read the full report.

UNIQUE OPEN SPACE FOR EVERYONE

With 120 acres of open space, Gov­er­nors Island is known through­out New York City as an afford­able and acces­si­ble des­ti­na­tion—pro­vid­ing a year-round out­door oasis for near­ly one mil­lion vis­i­tors each year. In 2022, we wel­comed vis­i­tors from every sin­gle res­i­den­tial zip code in NYC, expand­ed fer­ry ser­vice and reached new audi­ences, pre­sent­ed a diverse cal­en­dar of events and pro­grams, and cel­e­brat­ed the Island’s land­scapes in every sea­son. Read more →

TRANS­FOR­MA­TIVE PUB­LIC ART & CULTURE

Gov­er­nors Island is one of New York City’s most dynam­ic cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tions. In 2022, the arts and cul­tur­al pro­grams pre­sent­ed by the Trust launched as Gov­er­nors Island Arts, and the pro­gram debuted two ambi­tious com­mis­sions — each years in the mak­ing — and host­ed a diverse selec­tion of sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence in Nolan Park and Colonels Row. Read more →

INNO­VA­TION IN CLI­MATE & THE ENVIRONMENT

Gov­er­nors Island is com­mit­ted to tack­ling the cli­mate cri­sis head-on through research and edu­ca­tion. 2022 saw mon­u­men­tal steps for­ward in estab­lish­ing an anchor insti­tu­tion for the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island. Year-round ten­ants also made progress on long-time goals, includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project open­ing its first pub­lic shell drop-off site in Brook­lyn and the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School announc­ing the expan­sion of its spe­cial­ty mar­itime and envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion facil­i­ties. Read more →

A THRIV­ING COM­MU­NI­TY OF TENANTS

Gov­er­nors Island is home to a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty cross-dis­ci­pli­nary ten­ants, each of which flour­ished in 2022. Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island grant­ed artist res­i­den­cies and pre­sent­ed three exhi­bi­tions, QC NY opened their unique well­ness space, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture host­ed new pro­grams and res­i­den­cies, Beam Cen­ter host­ed 400+ young New York­ers for an acces­si­ble sum­mer camp expe­ri­ence, and more. Read more →

Dec 20 2:34 pm

New York City-based artists and artist teams are invit­ed to sub­mit ideas for an ice sculp­ture, to be com­plet­ed at the sec­ond annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Ice Sculp­ture Show on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 18, 2023. Ice sculp­ture com­pe­ti­tions and exhi­bi­tions have a long his­to­ry around the world but are not typ­i­cal­ly seen on a grand scale in New York City — and are often lim­it­ed to artists who spe­cial­ize in ice carv­ing. The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Ice Show strives to democ­ra­tize this pop­u­lar activ­i­ty, trans­form­ing it into one open to all artists regard­less of dis­ci­pline and pre­vi­ous experience.

Ten pro­pos­als will be select­ed to com­pete by a dis­tin­guished jury of New York City-based cul­tur­al lead­ers. Select­ed artists or teams will receive an award of $2,000 to par­tic­i­pate, will be pro­vid­ed with tools and pro­duc­tion mate­ri­als, and will be matched with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er from Okamo­to Stu­dio to com­plete the work on the day of the event. An ice carv­ing ori­en­ta­tion for all select­ed artists and teams will take place pri­or to the event at Okamo­to Stu­dio. The dead­line to sub­mit pro­pos­als is Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 17, 2023.

Announce­ment date: Tues­day, Decem­ber 20, 2022
Dead­line to apply: Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 17, 2023
The dead­line to sub­mit pro­pos­als has been extend­ed to Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 20, at 11:59pm.
Event date: Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 18, 2023

Click here to apply online.

Host­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts in part­ner­ship with Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) and with the expert guid­ance of Okamo­to Stu­dio, the show is an excit­ing one-day event where vis­i­tors will be able to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing, enjoy music and warm drinks, and vote on their favorite works for the ​“People’s Choice Award,” pre­sent­ed to the fan favorite.

About the Pre­sent­ing Organizations

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. Gov­er­nors Island Arts achieves this mis­sion through tem­po­rary and long-term pub­lic art com­mis­sions, an annu­al Orga­ni­za­tion in Res­i­dence pro­gram in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, and free pub­lic pro­grams and events in part­ner­ship with a wide range of cross-dis­ci­pli­nary NYC cul­tur­al organizations.

Found­ed as Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, LMCC serves, con­nects, and makes space for artists and com­mu­ni­ty. Since 1973, LMCC has been the cham­pi­on for inde­pen­dent artists in New York City and the cul­tur­al life force of Low­er Man­hat­tan. Curat­ed and pre­sent­ed by LMCC, The Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island is an incu­ba­tor for cre­ative exper­i­men­ta­tion and a gath­er­ing space to engage in dia­logue. Work devel­oped and pre­sent­ed at The Arts Cen­ter focus­es on sus­tain­abil­i­ty and equity.

Nov 4 8:29 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced the Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage will open Novem­ber 17, trans­form­ing his­toric Colonels Row into a sin­gu­lar sea­son­al des­ti­na­tion for the sec­ond year in a row. The pop­u­lar Win­ter Vil­lage will include a 7,500-square foot skat­ing rink for vis­i­tors of all ages to enjoy, along with win­tery activ­i­ties, fes­tive dec­o­ra­tions, games, cold-weath­er food and drinks, and warm­ing fire pits. The rink will be open Thurs­day through Sun­day and all New York City pub­lic school hol­i­days, with addi­tion­al Win­ter Vil­lage activ­i­ties avail­able sev­en days a week. 

“We are so excit­ed to invite New York­ers and vis­i­tors to Gov­er­nors Island for the return of Win­ter Vil­lage,” said New York City May­or Eric Adams. ​“Cold weath­er doesn’t have to mean being stuck inside — it can mean ice skat­ing and sled­ding with your friends or sit­ting around a fire with your fam­i­ly. And with the return of Win­ter Dog Days, I’m sure Gov­er­nors Island will be a pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion for every mem­ber of the family.”

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to show­case its unique and uplift­ing con­tri­bu­tions to New York City’s cul­tur­al land­scape through the Win­ter Vil­lage,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“From ice skat­ing to Jen­ga to toasty drinks, there’s some­thing for every­one in the fam­i­ly at the Win­ter Vil­lage and I encour­age all New York­ers to take advan­tage of Gov­er­nors Island year-round.”

“The secret is out: Gov­er­nors Island is tru­ly a mag­i­cal place all year long, and we are so excit­ed to wel­come New York­ers back to the Win­ter Vil­lage,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“In addi­tion to some pret­ty spec­tac­u­lar skat­ing, Win­ter Vil­lage vis­i­tors will once again be able to enjoy some of the same amaz­ing food trucks, excit­ing pro­gram­ming, and stun­ning land­scapes that make Gov­er­nors Island a great place to vis­it all year long.” 

In addi­tion to the rink, the Vil­lage will fea­ture bike and sled rentals from Blaz­ing Sad­dles NYC and win­tery activ­i­ties includ­ing lawn games like corn­hole, can jam and giant Jen­ga; fire pits; win­ter arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming, and a sparkling dis­play of hol­i­day lights through­out his­toric Colonels Row. The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage will be open through Feb­ru­ary 2023. 

Expand­ing on last year’s pub­lic hours, the ice rink will be open Thurs­days and Fri­days from noon to 5:30pm and Sat­ur­days and Sun­days from 10am to 5:30pm, with event pack­ages and buy­outs avail­able dur­ing addi­tion­al hours. The rink will also fea­ture events, activ­i­ties, and ​“Free Admis­sion Thurs­days,” with admis­sion fees waived for all vis­i­tors every Thurs­day. Rink admis­sion and skate rentals can be reserved online at www​.gov​is​land​.org start­ing mid-November. 

Island ven­dor Lit­tle Eva’s will be open dai­ly at the Win­ter Vil­lage with a sea­son­al menu, com­plete with warm drinks and new takes on their clas­sic com­fort food like brats, veg­an chili, fish and chips, soups, and more. A rotat­ing series of New York City’s best food trucks, in part­ner­ship with the New York Food Truck Asso­ci­a­tion, will round out the Island’s win­ter eats. 

The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Vil­lage is pre­sent­ed with sup­port from The May and Samuel Rudin Fam­i­ly Foundation.

Gov­er­nors Island’s award-win­ning park is open to the pub­lic every day, along with recre­ation activ­i­ties like bike rentals, a Com­mu­ni­ty Climb­ing Boul­der, Ham­mock Grove, The Hills, Pic­nic Point, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art com­mis­sions, includ­ing work from Charles Gaines, Duke Riley, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, and Mark Hand­forth are also cur­rent­ly on view through­out the Island. 

QC NY Spa con­tin­ues to be open dai­ly on Gov­er­nors Island, with heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, and a new bar and bistro. This win­ter also marks the return of Win­ter Dog Days, where dogs are allowed on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days through­out the win­ter months. Dogs must be leashed while on Gov­er­nors Island except for in the Week­end Win­ter Dog Park, locat­ed adja­cent to Liggett Terrace. 

“Gov­er­nors Island is a jew­el for New York City, not just in the sum­mer months, but now year-round, ” said Con­gress­man Jer­ry Nadler. ​“Today’s announce­ment of Gov­er­nors Islands Win­ter Vil­lage invites vis­i­tors from all over the city to engage in ice skat­ing, hot choco­late by the fire and weath­er friend­ly activ­i­ties and fes­tiv­i­ties. I’m thrilled to con­tin­ue sup­port­ing Gov­er­nors Island as a dynam­ic resource for all New York­ers and I am excit­ed to see the expe­ri­ence cre­at­ed for vis­i­tors in the win­ter season.”

“I am hap­py that the Win­ter Vil­lage will be return­ing this sea­son,” said State Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh, who rep­re­sents Gov­er­nors Island. ​“New York­ers will once again have access to great food and excit­ing events for all ages, includ­ing ice skat­ing, win­ter activ­i­ties, fun games, and fes­tive dec­o­ra­tions. I encour­age every­one to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island this win­ter and enjoy this win­ter won­der­land. I applaud the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for their ongo­ing efforts to make Gov­er­nors Island a more acces­si­ble, enjoy­able, and engag­ing place to vis­it and explore.”

“Regard­less of the time of year, Gov­er­nors Island is always a must-vis­it des­ti­na­tion, and the sec­ond-annu­al Win­ter Vil­lage has some­thing for every­one. I encour­age all New York­ers to hop on the fer­ry and try one of the many win­ter­time activ­i­ties or hud­dle by the fire pits,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“Thank you to the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for being incred­i­ble stew­ards of and con­stant­ly expand­ing pub­lic access to all that the island has to offer.”

“Com­ing off the heels of pump­kin point week­end and the many oppor­tu­ni­ties to enjoy the amaz­ing canopy of fall foliage and bucol­ic nat­ur­al beau­ty of Gov­er­nors Island, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 is delight­ed to wel­come the sec­ond Win­ter Sea­son!” said Tam­my Meltzer, Chair­per­son of Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty 1. ​“We look for­ward to the pub­lic enjoy­ing the Island’s beloved open spaces glis­ten­ing with fresh snow, the amaz­ing unfet­tered har­bor and sky­line views, events and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming. Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 is thrilled that the Trust con­tin­ues to enhance the pub­lic’s access to this price­less nat­ur­al resource through sun, snow and beyond.”

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org. Trust-oper­at­ed sea­son­al week­end Brook­lyn fer­ry ser­vice will return in Spring 2023.

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 dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn route. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it www.ferry.nyc.

Oct 4 8:23 am

Cre­ative Time, Gov­er­nors Island Arts, and Times Square Arts are pleased to announce the open­ing of Mov­ing Chains on Gov­er­nors Island on Octo­ber 15, 2022, the sec­ond chap­ter of Charles Gaines’s The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest. The 110-foot kinet­ic sculp­ture acti­vat­ed by colos­sal chains rotat­ing over­head anchors a pub­lic art project that address­es the real­i­ty of sys­temic racism in the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca through embod­ied and visu­al expe­ri­ence, and pro­vides crit­i­cal his­tor­i­cal con­text on our extra­or­di­nary polit­i­cal divi­sion today. 

Announced in June 2022, Charles Gaines’s The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest is an exhi­bi­tion of mul­ti­me­dia sculp­ture, per­for­mances, and edu­ca­tion­al ses­sions that unfold in three parts across New York City and Cincin­nati, Ohio over 2022 – 23. The open­ing of Mov­ing Chains on Gov­er­nors Island fol­lows the project’s pre­mière in Times Square this July 2022 with Man­i­festos 4: The Dred and Har­ri­et Scott Deci­sion and Roots. Open­ing next, Mov­ing Chains will be on view to the pub­lic on Gov­er­nors Island in New York Har­bor from Octo­ber 15, 2022 through June 2023, before it moves to the banks of the Ohio Riv­er in Cincinnati. 

“The sec­ond chap­ter in Charles Gaines’s mon­u­men­tal The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest, Mov­ing Chains is Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ largest pub­lic art com­mis­sion to date and will pro­vide a deeply immer­sive oppor­tu­ni­ty for Island vis­i­tors and all New York­ers to engage with the com­plex his­to­ries and lega­cies of Gov­er­nors Island, New York Har­bor, and the Unit­ed States as a whole,” said Mered­ith John­son, Vice Pres­i­dent of Arts and Cul­ture and Head Cura­tor at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Gov­er­nors Island Arts is com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing trans­for­ma­tive artis­tic inter­ven­tions that encour­age New York­ers to engage with the most press­ing issues of our time, and we are hon­ored to work with Charles Gaines and our incred­i­ble part­ners to bring Mov­ing Chains to Gov­er­nors Island.”

Com­mis­sion­ing part­ner Cre­ative Time Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Jus­tine Lud­wig, elab­o­rates on the project, ​“Cre­ative Time is com­mit­ted to com­mis­sion­ing works of art on the scale of dreams that chal­lenge expec­ta­tion. Ambi­tious pub­lic art projects, like the Mov­ing Chains, allow us to fore­front dif­fi­cult ques­tions and reex­am­ine his­tor­i­cal truths. Charles Gaines has pro­vid­ed a clar­i­ty of vision, and exe­cut­ed it on a large-scale that is impos­si­ble to ignore.”

New York City wel­comes the momen­tous pub­lic art engage­ment for New York­ers and its vis­i­tors, ​“Each year, Gov­er­nors Island expands its con­tri­bu­tions to pub­lic art, cul­ture and cre­ativ­i­ty in our city,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria-Tor­res Springer. ​“I encour­age all New York­ers to take a trip out to expe­ri­ence Mov­ing Chains, Chap­ter Two of Charles Gaines’s The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest—a thought-pro­vok­ing and con­se­quen­tial sculp­ture and the Island’s largest pub­lic art com­mis­sion to date.”

For near­ly 50 years, Charles Gaines has dis­tin­guished him­self as an artist ded­i­cat­ed to the per­cep­tion of sub­jec­tive and objec­tive truths. In the artist’s first com­mis­sion of pub­lic art, in devel­op­ment for near­ly a decade, Gaines con­fronts the Amer­i­can ori­gin sto­ry — the nation’s found­ing and its expan­sion — with a series of art­works that dis­sect a nar­ra­tive rid­dled with false­hoods and omis­sions that have fur­thered the project of white suprema­cy. Trac­ing the flow of the his­tor­i­cal­ly charged rivers and ports of New York City and Cincinnati’s Ohio Riv­er, Gaines offers a mul­ti­fac­eted inter­ro­ga­tion of the dual role of the north­ern states in both main­tain­ing and abol­ish­ing slav­ery, and the endur­ing impli­ca­tions of the racial­ized sys­tems, myths, and log­ics that under­pin the nation’s eco­nom­ic and legal foun­da­tions today.

ABOUT MOV­ING CHAINS ON GOV­ER­NORS ISLAND
Open­ing Octo­ber 15, 2022

Mov­ing Chains is a mon­u­men­tal 110-foot long kinet­ic sculp­ture built from steel and sus­tain­ably har­vest­ed Sapele, com­mon­ly referred to as African Mahogany, a tree native to West Africa. Cre­at­ed by Charles Gaines with col­lab­o­rat­ing archi­tects TOLO Archi­tec­ture, the sculp­ture, which peo­ple may enter and walk through, con­tains nine cus­tom made chains weigh­ing over 1,600 pounds each run­ning its length over­head. Eight of the chains are rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the pace of the cur­rents in New York Har­bor, while a ninth cen­tral chain moves more quick­ly, recall­ing the pace of ship and barge traf­fic that has trav­eled the city’s water­ways for cen­turies. The over­all effect of the weight and motion of the chains pro­duces a rhyth­mic, undu­lat­ing loop, evoca­tive of the sounds of New York Har­bor at the entrance to the Hud­son Riv­er, known to the area’s Indige­nous res­i­dents the Lenape as Mahi­can­tuck, the riv­er that runs two ways. Start­ing dur­ing the Dutch and British occu­pa­tions, this water­way near present-day low­er Man­hat­tan would become an eco­nom­ic pil­lar of the transat­lantic slave trade and seed the sys­tem of racial cap­i­tal­ism foun­da­tion­al to the Unit­ed States. Fac­ing the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty — an inter­na­tion­al sym­bol of benev­o­lence and human rights, dis­tin­guished by the abo­li­tion­ist iconog­ra­phy of a bro­ken shack­le and chain at her right foot—Mov­ing Chains calls atten­tion to the nation’s eco­nom­ic, judi­cial, and polit­i­cal frame­works that con­tin­ue the lega­cy of slav­ery today.

To accom­pa­ny Mov­ing Chains, Cre­ative Time and Gov­er­nors Island Arts will present a con­fer­ence on abo­li­tion and the lim­its of the law on the Island this Spring 2023, recon­sid­er­ing legal and cul­tur­al def­i­n­i­tions of free­dom and the unfin­ished project of abo­li­tion. Bring­ing togeth­er an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary group of thinkers, the accom­pa­ny­ing pro­grams will ask, how can lib­er­a­tion be defined out­side of the con­fines of slav­ery and racial cap­i­tal­ism? What does free­dom look like? What tac­tics are nec­es­sary to get there? Who is lead­ing us in this work?

On the occa­sion of Mov­ing Chains, Black Gotham Expe­ri­ence, a project that reimag­ines spaces direct­ly impact­ed by the African Dias­po­ra estab­lished by artist and his­to­ri­an Kamau Ware, will offer an audio tour of the pre-colo­nial, colo­nial, and post-colo­nial pat­terns that have informed a cen­turies-long rela­tion­ship with what are known today as the East and Hud­son Rivers and New York Har­bor. Access to the tour will be avail­able through­out the path­way to Mov­ing Chains via QR code and on both the Cre­ative Time and Gov­er­nors Island Arts websites.

ABOUT THE AMER­I­CAN MANIFEST

Sit­ed with­in two key cities whose his­to­ries have shaped the iden­ti­ty of Amer­i­ca, this project invites the pub­lic to con­sid­er New York and Cincinnati’s water­ways’ in both uphold­ing slav­ery and secur­ing lib­er­a­tion, a dual­i­ty that chal­lenges reduc­tive nar­ra­tives of the his­to­ry of slav­ery in Amer­i­ca, and con­tributes to the ongo­ing dia­logue about sys­tems and cycles of racism, extrac­tion, and oppres­sion expe­ri­enced today. 

PROJECT SUP­PORT

Charles Gaines: The Amer­i­can Man­i­fest is made pos­si­ble in New York and Cincin­nati by the vision­ary sup­port of the Ford Foun­da­tion, Lam­bent Foun­da­tion Fund, a fund of Tides Foun­da­tion, the Mel­lon Foun­da­tion, VIA Art Fund, Foto­Fo­cus, The Stavros Niar­chos Foun­da­tion, Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, the Jacques and Natasha Gel­man Foun­da­tion, Mor­gan Stan­ley, Wave Pool, and mediaThe Foun­da­tion, inc. 

Major sup­port is pro­vid­ed by Hauser & Wirth, Suzanne and Bob Cochran, Marie Dou­glas, Karl Iag­nem­ma and Ann-Kris­ten Lund, Jacob and Deb­o­rah Kotzubei, Jon Nei­dich, Bob and Renee Par­sons, San­jeev Rathi, Eric Richter, Wad­dell Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion, Jed Walen­tas, Christo­pher Walk­er, Mar­garet Wang, Debi and Steven Wisch, and addi­tion­al anony­mous donors. 

We are also grate­ful for the sup­port of the Nation­al Endow­ment for the Arts (NEA); pub­lic funds from the New York City Depart­ment of Cul­tur­al Affairs (DCA) in part­ner­ship with the City Coun­cil and May­or Eric Adams; and the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of Gov­er­nor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

PROJECT TEAM

Charles Gaines’s Mov­ing Chains was devel­oped in col­lab­o­ra­tion with TOLO Archi­tec­ture, as well as numer­ous pro­duc­tion part­ners in its design and con­struc­tion includ­ing, engi­neer­ing and mechan­i­cal design by AOA; instal­la­tion and build by Tor­silieri & Sons; sound engi­neer­ing by Arup; and fab­ri­ca­tion work by Strong­hold Indus­tries and Rozell Indus­tries.

ABOUT CHARLES GAINES 

A piv­otal fig­ure in the field of con­cep­tu­al art, Charles Gaines’s body of work engages for­mu­las and sys­tems that inter­ro­gate rela­tion­ships between the objec­tive and the sub­jec­tive realms. Using a gen­er­a­tive approach to cre­ate a series of works in a vari­ety of medi­ums, he has built a bridge between the ear­ly con­cep­tu­al artists of the 1960s and 1970s and sub­se­quent gen­er­a­tions of artists push­ing the lim­its of con­cep­tu­al­ism today. Gaines lives and works in Los Ange­les. He recent­ly retired from the CalArts School of Art, where he was on fac­ul­ty for over 30 years and estab­lished a fel­low­ship to pro­vide crit­i­cal schol­ar­ship sup­port for Black stu­dents in the M.F.A. Art pro­gram. He has been the sub­ject of numer­ous exhi­bi­tions in the Unit­ed States and around the world, most notably a mid-career sur­vey at the Pomona Col­lege Muse­um of Art and the Pitzer Col­lege Art Gallery in Clare­mont CA, as well as a muse­um sur­vey of his Grid­work at The Stu­dio Muse­um, Harlem NY, and Ham­mer Muse­um, Los Ange­les CA. His work has also been pre­sent­ed at the 1975 Whit­ney Bien­ni­al and the Venice Bien­nale in 2007 and 2015. An exhi­bi­tion of his work is cur­rent­ly on long term view at Dia:Beacon in New York. In addi­tion to his artis­tic prac­tice, Gaines has pub­lished sev­er­al essays on con­tem­po­rary art, includ­ing ​‘The­ater of Refusal: Black Art and Main­stream Crit­i­cism’ (Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Irvine, 1993) and ​‘The New Cos­mopoli­tanism’ (Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Fuller­ton, 2008). In 2019, Gaines received the 60^th Edward Mac­Dow­ell Medal. He was induct­ed into the Nation­al Acad­e­my of Design’s 2020 class of Nation­al Aca­d­e­mi­cians; as well as the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Arts and Let­ters in May 2022. In Jan­u­ary 2023, Gaines will be the sub­ject of a major one per­son exhi­bi­tion of new work at Hauser & Wirth New York.

Sep 28 10:12 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island today announced the return of Pump­kin Point, a free annu­al pump­kin patch and fall fes­ti­val on Gov­er­nors Island. Locat­ed in his­toric Nolan Park, Pump­kin Point will bring over 1,000 pump­kins of all shapes and sizes to the Island’s his­toric dis­trict, trans­form­ing the idyl­lic set­ting along with its nat­u­ral­ly stun­ning fall foliage into a delight­ful­ly autum­nal escape with free pro­grams and activ­i­ties for vis­i­tors of all ages. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to pick out their own pump­kins (free with sug­gest­ed dona­tion) on the week­ends of Octo­ber 22 – 23 and Octo­ber 29 – 30, 2022, from 10am to 5pm.

“Fall is the per­fect time to come explore Gov­er­nors Island – from beau­ti­ful fall foliage to a free pump­kin patch to excit­ing pro­gram­ming, there is some­thing for every­one,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We invite all New York­ers to hop on the fer­ry and take in the chang­ing seasons!”

This year’s fes­tiv­i­ties will include plen­ty of free fall moments, pump­kin paint­ing, and craft­ing activ­i­ties all tak­ing place Octo­ber 22 – 23 and 29 – 30, as well as a rotat­ing sched­ule of spe­cial events and per­for­mances from Ris­ing Sun Per­for­mance Com­pa­ny, Won­der­Spark Pup­pets, Drag Sto­ry Hour, Brook­lyn Mag­ic Shop, Fly­ing Leap Pro­duc­tions in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Gov­er­nors Island ten­ant Beam Cen­ter, the Nation­al Park Ser­vice, and more to be announced. A full sched­ule of each weekend’s events can be found online at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​u​m​p​k​i​n​-​point. Trick or treat­ing also returns to Pump­kin Point this year on Sun­day, Octo­ber 30 — cos­tumes encour­aged. Food will be avail­able for pur­chase onsite from Gov­er­nors Island ven­dors each weekend. 

Pump­kins left over from Pump­kin Point will be donat­ed to local orga­ni­za­tions fight­ing hunger in New York City, or com­post­ed on Gov­er­nors Island by Earth Mat­ter, which runs a Com­post Learn­ing Cen­ter at the Urban Farm on Gov­er­nors Island.

“Each year, this mag­nif­i­cent free pub­lic event brings togeth­er peo­ple from all over New York City to enjoy the fall atmos­phere here on Gov­er­nors Island — one of the Island’s most mag­i­cal times,” said Dan­ny DiMari­no, Senior Man­ag­er, Vol­un­teer & Vis­i­tor Engage­ment at the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We can­not wait to wel­come vis­i­tors to pick up some pump­kins, enjoy free pro­grams, take in the crisp autumn air and chang­ing leaves, and bask in the most mag­i­cal time on Gov­er­nors Island.” 

In addi­tion to Pump­kin Point, vis­i­tors can enjoy a ros­ter of new events and activ­i­ties all month long: Gov­er­nors Island will par­tic­i­pate in For­est for All NYC’s inau­gur­al City of For­est Day with a vol­un­teer activ­i­ty and guid­ed tree walk on Octo­ber 15; Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Council’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island, open Fri­days through Sun­days through the end of Octo­ber, will hold their month­ly Take Care Series on Octo­ber 16; FAD Mar­ket will hold their final fall pop-up on Octo­ber 15 and 16; NYCRUNS will hold their annu­al Haunt­ed Island 5K and 10K race on Octo­ber 29; Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence con­tin­ue to present exhi­bi­tions and events in Nolan Park and Colonels Row through the end of Octo­ber; QC NY Spa is open dai­ly with dozens of well­ness expe­ri­ences and two large pools; and more. See a full event cal­en­dar at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​t​h​i​n​g​s​-​to-do.

Pump­kin Point is co-pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. Gen­er­ous sup­port for the event is pro­vid­ed by Nick­elodeon, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, and Intre­pid Productions. 

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.