Blog

Feb 4 4:28 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced Return­ing to Self, a free indoor gath­er­ing in hon­or of Black His­to­ry Month that cen­ters heal­ing, cre­ativ­i­ty, and col­lec­tive care, pre­sent­ed in part­ner­ship with A Safe Space Men­tor. Tak­ing place on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 28, 2026, from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island, Return­ing to Self will bring togeth­er artists, heal­ers, and edu­ca­tors for an after­noon of restora­tive expe­ri­ences that allows par­tic­i­pants to slow down, hon­or their feel­ings, and begin to return to them­selves. Work­shops and acti­va­tions include:

• Sound Bath: ​“On Gath­er­ing,” with Rena Anakwe – A ground­ing sound bath expe­ri­ence fea­tur­ing tank drums, chimes, crys­tal harp, and ocean drum, paired with read­ings inspired by Black women and femmes. Par­tic­i­pants are guid­ed through a body scan to release ten­sion and open to sound vibra­tions, clos­ing with time to reflect and gath­er. Par­tic­i­pants will receive cus­tom essen­tial oil roller­balls to sup­port their heal­ing journey.
• Hydrosols: The Heal­ing Pow­er of Plants with Adaku Utah and Oko Farms – An edu­ca­tion­al and med­i­ta­tive work­shop explor­ing hydrosols — aro­mat­ic herbal waters cre­at­ed through steam dis­til­la­tion — and their role in plant med­i­cine and self-care. Par­tic­i­pants learn how water car­ries med­i­c­i­nal and ener­getic prop­er­ties while engag­ing in hands-on explo­ration and guid­ed reflection.
• Breath & Body: A Somat­ic Explo­ration with A Safe Space Men­tor – A work­shop that begins with gen­tle breath­work to calm the ner­vous sys­tem and sup­port emo­tion­al release before flow­ing into intu­itive somat­ic move­ment. Par­tic­i­pants are invit­ed to explore free-form motion that awak­ens joy, expres­sion, and embod­ied connection.
• Type­writer Poet­ry with Dylan Gilbert and the Poet­ry Soci­ety of New York – Through­out the day, type­writer poet Dylan Gilbert will engage guests in short con­ver­sa­tions inspired by the event themes, trans­form­ing respons­es into orig­i­nal poems typed live on a type­writer for par­tic­i­pants to take home.
• Make Your Own Bou­quet with Gov­er­nors Island Nature – Using a selec­tion of sea­son­al plants and dried cut­tings, par­tic­i­pants cre­ate win­ter bou­quets cel­e­brat­ing nat­ur­al beau­ty in all sea­sons while con­nect­ing direct­ly with Gov­er­nors Island’s landscapes.
• Food and drink from Mak­i­na Café – A selec­tion of tea, cof­fee, and light bites from year-round Gov­er­nors Island ven­dor Mak­i­na Café will be avail­able to par­tic­i­pants on a first come, first served basis.

Free with RSVP (click here). Return­ing to Self is pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island in part­ner­ship with A Safe Space Men­tor, with event space gen­er­ous­ly pro­vid­ed by LMCC. 

Jan 8 11:13 am

Gov­er­nors Island Arts announced the final­ists that will com­pete in the fifth annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Ice Sculp­ture Show, set to take place on Feb­ru­ary 7, 2026, from 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. This pop­u­lar annu­al event pro­vides New York­ers with a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing set amongst the open space, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and his­toric resources and attrac­tions that Gov­er­nors Island offers year-round. The ten final­ists were cho­sen fol­low­ing an open call seek­ing designs inspired by the theme of ​“move­ment.” The select­ed final­ists will be paired with pro­fes­sion­al ice carvers from Okamo­to Stu­dio to bring their visions to life.

“What began as a win­ter exper­i­ment five years ago has grown into one of our sig­na­ture sea­son­al events, and we’re thrilled to present such a dynam­ic group of artists for this year’s show,” said Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor of Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“From bold pub­lic art to immer­sive pro­gram­ming year-round, Gov­er­nors Island offers eclec­tic and engag­ing expe­ri­ences for every type of vis­i­tor, and the Ice Sculp­ture Show is no excep­tion. Whether you’re a long­time Island fan or vis­it­ing for the first time, there’s no bet­ter way to expe­ri­ence win­ter on the Island than watch­ing mas­sive blocks of ice trans­form into stun­ning works of art live in Colonels Row.”

2026 Ice Sculp­ture Show Final­ists & Designs:

• Takashi Hara­da and Kae Sato (@studiotakashiharada): ​“Trans­bound­ary” – This design emu­lates the wild beta fish that live in the great Mekong Riv­er, evok­ing the move­ment and ener­gy of the nat­ur­al world. 

• Rhea Mar­men­ti­ni (@rheamarmentini): ​“The Free­thinker” – This design address­es real­i­ty through cre­ative think­ing with a col­lec­tion of stacked spheres that ebb and flow togeth­er, rep­re­sent­ing the idea as an ephemer­al and chang­ing concept.

• Cath­leen Luo (@catluo27.art): ​“Con­ver­gence Deity” – This design explores move­ment as both phys­i­cal motion and col­lec­tive change, with the form of human hands sym­bol­iz­ing the human abil­i­ty to take action that can make and remake the world. 

• Kris Thomas (@kristhomas.art): ​“Flight of the Yel­low-crowned Night Heron” –Depict­ing a bird in flight, this work aims to high­light the diverse ecosys­tem of Gov­er­nors Island and New York Har­bor, and the impor­tance of the work done on the Island to pro­tect and restore ecosystems. 

• Lizzy Chemel (@lil_s0uth): ​“Sacral Col­umn” – This ice design depicts the ver­te­bra from the spine of a hump­back whale, which serves as both the locus of move­ment and a rem­nant from a mam­malian ancestor.

• Zyia Zhang, Kir­il Bejoulev, Elias Grif­fin, Michael Luck Schnei­der (@volvoxlabs): ​“Hybrid Bio­ta” – This design explores move­ment through the chore­og­ra­phy of a robot­ic arm carv­ing ice, which will shape the block in ges­tures unique to the machine. The result­ing work is both process and per­for­mance, becom­ing a kinet­ic sculp­ture in its own right. 

• Sal­vador Gomes da Sil­va Fil­ho (@salvadorgomesart): ​“Not Mov­ing Back­ward” – This design explores the unset­tling beau­ty of the human body through a sculp­tur­al tor­so with its head turned back­ward, ques­tion­ing the notion that mov­ing back­ward is inher­ent­ly com­fort­able or unproductive. 

• Kari­na Man­ta (@karinamanta): ​“Busk­ing Stage” – This design cre­ates a phys­i­cal venue where a fig­ure skater will debut a per­for­mance. Busk­ing plays an inte­gral role in the cul­ture of New York City; after the skater per­forms, the sculp­ture will become a phys­i­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion of their move­ments before melt­ing away.

• Wei Xiong, Shan­shan Zhang (@xiongweiii_studio): ​“The Birth of Us” – This design, based on the clas­sic image of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, replaces the god­dess with a human baby and replaces the scal­lop shells with oys­ter shells to indi­cate the char­ac­ter­is­tics of Gov­er­nors Island and New York Harbor. 

• David Green (@dgreenco): ​“Unti­tled” – The same way a sculp­ture of a gal­lop­ing horse reflects move­ment frozen in time, this design of a break­ing wave reflects water frozen into ice. As it melts, it will give the impres­sion of the wave com­plet­ing its cycle — there­by unfreez­ing time. 

In addi­tion to real-time ice carv­ing, the Ice Sculp­ture Show will also fea­ture ice carv­ing work­shops from Okamo­to Stu­dio, a DJ set from Miss Ali­cia with sound by Kar­lala Soundsys­tem, and more activ­i­ties for vis­i­tors. Mak­i­na Café will be open in Colonels Row along­side addi­tion­al food trucks with win­ter-themed treats. The Ice Sculp­ture Show is free with RSVP at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​i​c​e​-show.

Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. dur­ing the win­ter months. Cold-sea­son activ­i­ties include Win­ter Dog Days, out­door explo­ration in the Island’s award-win­ning park, recre­ation activ­i­ties and ameni­ties includ­ing bike rentals and QC NY Spa, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art­works — includ­ing pieces by Lenka Clay­ton & Phillip Andrew Lewis, Chaka­ia Book­er, Duke Riley, Sam Van Aken, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, Sheila Berg­er, Shantell Mar­tin, and Mark Hand­forth — are on view dai­ly through­out the Island. 

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. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $5 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 11a.m. on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time. For sched­ules and tick­ets, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​ferry. NYC Fer­ry, the city’s pub­lic fer­ry ser­vice, also serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn Route dur­ing the win­ter months, with stops in Low­er Man­hat­tan and along the Brook­lyn water­front. Sched­ules and more infor­ma­tion avail­able on their web­site at www.ferry.nyc.

Dec 29 1:21 pm

This year we cel­e­brat­ed 20 years of Gov­er­nors Island serv­ing as a beloved retreat, cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tion, and inno­va­tion hub for New York­ers — and you were with us every step of the way. 

We’re proud to share Gov­er­nors Island’s 2025 Year in Review, a look back at twelve months of extra­or­di­nary open space, trans­for­ma­tive arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence, major progress in accel­er­at­ing cli­mate solu­tions, and year-round activ­i­ty here in New York Har­bor. Read on for high­lights, and click here to read the full report.

CHART­ING 20 YEARS OF PROGRESS

For more than four cen­turies, Gov­er­nors Island has been part of New York’s sto­ry.
Fol­low­ing the end of its 200 years as a mil­i­tary instal­la­tion, its future was uncer­tain: what could this extra­or­di­nary place become? Thanks to vision­ary plan­ning and invest­ment, the answer was clear — return it to the peo­ple of New York as a vibrant pub­lic place unlike any oth­er. This year we proud­ly cel­e­brat­ed 20 years of Gov­er­nors Island serv­ing as a beloved retreat, cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tion, and inno­va­tion hub for New York­ers, and took a look back at the two-plus decades that got us here. Read more →

GROW­ING A YEAR-ROUND COMMUNITY

Since 2005, Gov­er­nors Island has wel­comed near­ly 10 mil­lion indi­vid­u­als to our shores. That’s 10 mil­lion peo­ple who have come here to retreat, work, learn, eat, play, relax, explore, research, and cre­ate. We are hon­ored to cel­e­brate two decades of New York­ers and vis­i­tors from around the world dis­cov­er­ing new ways to con­nect with nature, with cul­ture, and with one anoth­er, right here in New York Har­bor. Read more →

EXTRA­OR­DI­NARY OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION

With 120 acres of open space, includ­ing a 43-acre cli­mate-resilient park, 12 acres of ath­let­ic fields, 7 miles of car-free bike paths, and unique nat­ur­al areas, Gov­er­nors Island is a remark­able resource for New York City. This year, we con­tin­ued to stew­ard our land­scapes with eco­log­i­cal hor­ti­cul­tur­al tech­niques, host­ed near­ly 95 events, and con­tin­ued to grow as a hub for year-round recre­ation. Read more →

A LEGA­CY OF TRANS­FOR­MA­TIVE ART

From immer­sive instal­la­tions and site-respon­sive per­for­mances to bold pub­lic art­works, Gov­er­nors Island has a 20-year lega­cy of invit­ing artists to exper­i­ment at a scale found nowhere else in the city. Audi­ences trav­el from across the five bor­oughs — and the world — to encounter some of New York City’s most com­pelling cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences in all sea­sons. We marked our twen­ti­eth year with the Island’s first group exhi­bi­tion, Rest/​Play, as well as sev­er­al major INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mances and an impres­sive cohort of sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence. Read more →

CRE­AT­ING A CEN­TER FOR CLI­MATE SOLUTIONS

In the five years since the City of New York and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island unveiled a vision to cre­ate a com­mu­ni­ty on Gov­er­nors Island ded­i­cat­ed to prepar­ing cities for cli­mate change, the Island has become home to a thriv­ing ecosys­tem of part­ners advanc­ing equi­table solu­tions to the cli­mate cri­sis. Through ini­tia­tives like the Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram and our grow­ing cli­mate com­mu­ni­ty on the Island, we spent 2025 work­ing to tack­le the cli­mate cri­sis head-on. Read more →

INVEST­ING IN OUR FUTURE

Since open­ing to the pub­lic in 2005, the Island has seen more than $400M in invest­ment in sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture. This year built upon decades of plan­ning, strat­e­gy, and invest­ment, with major progress made on real estate and cap­i­tal projects that will help the Island grow as a resource for the next 20 years and beyond. In 2025, we made mar­itime his­to­ry with the launch of the Har­bor Charg­er, New York State’s first hybrid elec­tric fer­ry, as well as major progress on sev­er­al key cap­i­tal projects. Read more →

Nov 17 5:14 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced the launch of its third annu­al Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge, this year cen­tered on the theme of ​“Adap­ta­tion.” This ini­tia­tive, pre­sent­ed through the Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram, offers ear­ly-stage com­pa­nies and inno­va­tors the oppor­tu­ni­ty to test and scale cli­mate prod­ucts and ser­vices in a real-world envi­ron­ment. Over 3‑to-18-month peri­ods, par­tic­i­pants receive rent-free phys­i­cal space on Gov­er­nors Island, where they gain access to valu­able tech­ni­cal sup­port, vis­i­bil­i­ty through events and mar­ket­ing, and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties designed to con­nect par­tic­i­pants with fun­ders, investors, cus­tomers, and the public. 

“Gov­er­nors Island is a true test­bed for inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that will help address real world cli­mate chal­lenges,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Over the past three years, more than two dozen com­pa­nies have been a part of this trans­for­ma­tive pro­gram, gath­er­ing data and grow­ing their ideas in a set­ting unlike any oth­er. We are proud to shine a light on their inno­va­tions and look for­ward to even more join­ing us next year.”

“Through this pro­gram, com­pa­nies are giv­en the vital resources — time, space, and funds — to grow their ideas, test and demon­strate their prod­ucts, and ulti­mate­ly scale their busi­ness­es while help­ing con­tribute to New York City’s green econ­o­my,” said Lau­ren Wang, Direc­tor of Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We look for­ward to select­ing a new cohort of pilots to con­tin­ue this excit­ing work and wel­com­ing vis­i­tors to engage with these projects next spring.” 

2026 Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge: Adaptation

The 2026 Cli­mate Solu­tions Chal­lenge seeks urban adap­ta­tion solu­tions that will help com­mu­ni­ties adapt to chal­lenges fac­ing New York City and oth­er dense urban areas, such as chron­ic flood­ing, extreme heat, and water shortages. 

The Trust seeks pilot­ing projects that offer inno­v­a­tive approach­es to improve urban build­ings, infra­struc­ture, and nat­ur­al areas for ther­mal com­fort, flood adap­ta­tion, and healthy envi­ron­ments; resilien­cy solu­tions for small busi­ness­es and non­prof­its to min­i­mize dis­rup­tions to crit­i­cal oper­a­tions; or cli­mate risk man­age­ment solu­tions, includ­ing tools for afford­able, acces­si­ble com­mu­ni­ty-scale mea­sure­ment and sensing.

Pro­pos­als are due by Jan­u­ary 21, 2026, with win­ners announced in April 2026. Click here to learn more and apply.

Since the pro­gram launched in 2023, the Trust has sup­port­ed 26 unique pilot­ing projects with diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion across busi­ness and non­prof­it sec­tors and grant­ed $277,000 to par­tic­i­pat­ing com­pa­nies. Of these par­tic­i­pants, 81% are local busi­ness­es, 38% are women-led, and 34% are minor­i­ty-led businesses.

The pro­gram has suc­cess­ful­ly opened doors to new cus­tomers, sup­pli­ers, tal­ent, investors, and pub­lic agency part­ner­ships for par­tic­i­pants, help­ing com­pa­nies, entre­pre­neurs, and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions grow their busi­ness­es and scale their solu­tions. The pro­gram is a core ini­tia­tive of the Trust’s Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, which is build­ing a com­mu­ni­ty of part­ners ded­i­cat­ed to accel­er­at­ing equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for cities.

Most recent­ly, the Trust has wel­comed four new com­pa­nies into the pro­gram through the rolling gen­er­al appli­ca­tion: Clip is pilot­ing its portable propul­sion device, which instant­ly upgrades any bike to an e‑bike; Hen­ning Larsen installed their radi­ant cool­ing shel­ter in Liggett Ter­race ear­li­er this year; Prometheus Mate­ri­als is test­ing its algae-based car­bon neg­a­tive cement replace­ment near Yan­kee Pier in part­ner­ship with The New York Cli­mate Exchange; and Zen­bul Labs is pilot­ing its mod­u­lar, auto­mat­ed aero­pon­ic farm­ing unit on the Island. For a full list of pilot­ing projects, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​ilots.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate pro­grams are sup­port­ed by Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, the Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and the New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust.

The Trust is a mem­ber of the Har­bor Cli­mate Col­lab­o­ra­tive (HCC), a joint ini­tia­tive with New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion and Brook­lyn Navy Yard Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion to grow the city’s cli­mate ecosys­tem through pilot­ing pro­grams, leas­es, work­force devel­op­ment invest­ments, and reg­u­la­to­ry wayfinding.

Oct 1 10:31 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today the return of Pump­kin Point, the wild­ly pop­u­lar annu­al pump­kin patch and fall fes­ti­val on Gov­er­nors Island. This year the event will bring thou­sands of pump­kins to the Island’s his­toric Nolan Park, trans­form­ing the space into one of New York City’s most unique pump­kin patch­es. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to pick out their own pump­kins on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 25, or Sun­day, Octo­ber 26, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

In addi­tion to the pump­kin patch, this year’s event will also include trick-or-treat­ing, music and crafts, a Fall Foliage Tree Tour for all ages, fall-themed food and drink from Island ven­dors, and more free fun for the whole fam­i­ly. Per­for­mances will include tra­di­tion­al and con­tem­po­rary folk music curat­ed by long-time Gov­er­nors Island event part­ner Porch Stomp, dai­ly per­for­mances by Hopa­long Andrew, and pup­pet the­ater by Cara’s Caterpillars. 

“Pump­kin Point is back on Gov­er­nors Island, and we invite all New York­ers to explore his­toric Nolan Park as it trans­forms into a stun­ning autumn des­ti­na­tion,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Come explore our pump­kin patch, fea­tur­ing thou­sands of beau­ti­ful pump­kins per­fect for pick­ing, tak­ing pho­tos and enjoy­ing the crisp air just min­utes from Manhattan.”

For more infor­ma­tion and for a full sched­ule of events, please vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​u​m​p​k​i​n​-​point. Any pump­kins left over from Pump­kin Point will be com­post­ed on Gov­er­nors Island by Earth Mat­ter, which runs a Com­post Learn­ing Cen­ter at the Urban Farm on Gov­er­nors Island.

Pump­kin Point is pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. Gen­er­ous sup­port for the event is pro­vid­ed by Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. Addi­tion­al can­dy sup­port is pro­vid­ed by Econ­o­my Candy.

Gov­er­nors Island is open dai­ly year-round and is acces­si­ble by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. For fer­ry sched­ules, oper­at­ing hours, and oth­er vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​l​a​n​-​y​o​u​r​-​visit.

Sep 19 3:29 pm

Call­ing all NYC-based artists and arts non­prof­its! Bring your tal­ents to Gov­er­nors Island through two dif­fer­ent open calls, released by Gov­er­nors Island Arts on Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 15, 2025. 

1. Artists are invit­ed to apply to par­tic­i­pate in the 5^th Annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Arts Ice Sculp­ture Show, to be held Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 7, 2026. Project pro­pos­als should be inspired by this year’s theme, move­ment. Cre­ative inter­pre­ta­tions wel­come, no pri­or carv­ing expe­ri­ence required! Click here to learn more and apply »
2. Arts non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions are invit­ed to apply for the sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram. Select­ed appli­cants receive free indoor pro­gram­ming space in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, open to the pub­lic week­ends each year from May-Octo­ber. Click here to learn more and apply »

Sep 4 11:51 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and The New York Cli­mate Exchange today unveiled a line­up of Cli­mate Week 2025 pro­gram­ming set for Sep­tem­ber 21 – 28, 2025, high­light­ing the Island’s grow­ing role at the fore­front of cli­mate inno­va­tion in New York City. This year’s events include dynam­ic dis­cus­sions, work­shops, cli­mate tech demon­stra­tions, guid­ed tours, art instal­la­tions, cli­mate triv­ia, film screen­ings, and more pro­grams explor­ing the inter­sec­tions between sci­ence, nature, pol­i­cy, arts, and com­mu­ni­ty. New this year from the Trust and the Exchange is Pow­er Down & Get Out­side, a day of free activ­i­ties designed to bring cli­mate con­ver­sa­tions out­doors that will fea­ture col­lab­o­ra­tions with Lat­inX in Sus­tain­abil­i­ty, the Cli­mate Men­tal Health Net­work, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty, Pratt Insti­tute, the Sci­ence Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Lab, GrowNYC, and more — encour­ag­ing con­nec­tion and action to close out the week. 

“Gov­er­nors Island has become one of New York City’s most excit­ing fron­tiers for cli­mate action, inno­va­tion, and edu­ca­tion,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Work­force and Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Adol­fo Car­rión. ​“Dur­ing Cli­mate Week, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is bring­ing togeth­er sci­en­tists, artists, edu­ca­tors, entre­pre­neurs, and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers to show what it looks like when a city embraces bold ideas to meet the chal­lenges of our time. This work will shape New York City’s resilience and green econ­o­my, and will also serve as a mod­el for cities around the world.”

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to grow as a place inspir­ing cli­mate action by bring­ing togeth­er vis­i­tors, inno­va­tors, and local and glob­al lead­ers to accel­er­ate solu­tions in a set­ting like no oth­er,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This Cli­mate Week, we’re proud to join with The New York Cli­mate Exchange and so many of our part­ners to present pro­gram­ming that not only inspires and informs but also fos­ters con­nec­tion across dis­ci­plines and com­mu­ni­ties. From hands-on work­shops to cut­ting-edge research and ground­break­ing pub­lic art, we’re cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for all vis­i­tors to help shape solu­tions to some of the most urgent chal­lenges of our time.”

“We’re build­ing the world’s most impor­tant new hub for cli­mate engage­ment on Gov­er­nors Island,” explains Steve Ham­mer, CEO of The New York Cli­mate Exchange. ​“Cli­mate Week NYC is your invi­ta­tion to be part of that trans­for­ma­tion. Whether you’re a cli­mate expert or a stu­dent curi­ous about cli­mate action, this week and this island is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet and learn from the peo­ple and solu­tions our city needs.”

Orga­nized by the Cli­mate Group, Cli­mate Week NYC runs Sep­tem­ber 21 – 28, 2025, and is the largest annu­al cli­mate event of its kind. Since open­ing to the pub­lic in 2005, the Island has grown tremen­dous­ly as a glob­al resource for cli­mate inno­va­tion, offer­ing wide­spread oppor­tu­ni­ties for research and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, Wind Sup­port NYC, and the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, among others.

In April 2023, fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process led by the Trust and the City of New York, The New York Cli­mate Exchange was select­ed as the anchor research and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion to cre­ate an inno­va­tion dis­trict on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for cities. The Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, is devel­op­ing a 400,000 SF cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs, expect­ed to open in 2029. 

Cli­mate Week NYC 2025 events on Gov­er­nors Island are orga­nized by the Trust, the Island’s com­mu­ni­ty of part­ners and ten­ants, and The Exchange and its core partners. 

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL EVENT CALENDAR »

The Trust’s cli­mate pro­grams are made pos­si­ble with the gen­er­ous sup­port of Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, the Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and the New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust.

Gov­er­nors Island is open dai­ly year-round and is acces­si­ble by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. For fer­ry sched­ules, oper­at­ing hours, and oth­er vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​p​l​a​n​-​y​o​u​r​-​visit.

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About the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is the non­prof­it cor­po­ra­tion cre­at­ed by the City of New York that is respon­si­ble for the rede­vel­op­ment and oper­a­tion of 150 acres of Gov­er­nors Island. The Trust’s mis­sion is to real­ize the full poten­tial of Gov­er­nors Island for the inspi­ra­tion and enjoy­ment of all New York­ers, demon­strat­ing a bold vision for pub­lic space. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.

About The New York Cli­mate Exchange

The New York Cli­mate Exchange (“The Exchange”) is a new non­prof­it designed to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions. By lever­ag­ing the per­spec­tives of a cross-sec­tor net­work of diverse part­ners and New York City’s glob­al influ­ence, The Exchange engages in cut­ting-edge research, deliv­ers impact­ful edu­ca­tion and train­ing, hosts world-class con­ven­ings, and scales cli­mate tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions. The Exchange is devel­op­ing a state-of-the-art cli­mate cam­pus on Gov­er­nors Island that will bring cli­mate sci­en­tists, edu­ca­tors, entre­pre­neurs, and change­mak­ers under one roof — spark­ing the col­lab­o­ra­tions and break­through ideas we need to build a sus­tain­able future. Learn more at www​.nycli​ma​te​ex​change​.org.

Aug 18 11:40 am

Click here to buy tickets

“An immer­sive expe­ri­ence, a phe­nom­e­nal exper­i­ment in form, a pagan rit­u­al.” – The Theaterkrant

“As if God were video-gam­ing on stained glass win­dows from the scrap­yard.” – The Volkskrant

Gov­er­nors Island Arts announced today the New York City pre­mière of FIRE­BIRD, the hyp­not­ic, genre-defy­ing visu­al arts per­for­mance from Ams­ter­dam-based artist col­lec­tive Tou­ki Del­phine. Fea­tur­ing an orches­tra of light made from more than 500 recy­cled car tail­lights, FIRE­BIRD will be per­formed on Octo­ber 3 – 4, 2025, at the Island’s Parade Ground. The per­for­mance, which orig­i­nat­ed in The Nether­lands in 2019, has been tour­ing through­out Europe since and has been pre­vi­ous­ly pre­sent­ed in the Unit­ed States at MASS MoCA, Utah’s Cen­ter for the Arts at Kayen­ta, and at the W.O.W. fes­ti­val in San Diego.

“We’re thrilled to bring Tou­ki Delphine’s FIRE­BIRD to New York City dur­ing this mile­stone moment for Gov­er­nors Island,” said Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and cura­tor of the INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series. ​“This work is a lumi­nous ode to rein­ven­tion and rebirth that will daz­zle the sens­es and pro­vide an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence, as well as a fit­ting cel­e­bra­tion of trans­for­ma­tion as we mark the Island’s 20^th year open to the public.” 

“When we first con­sid­ered where we would like to present the new Amer­i­can ver­sion of FIRE­BIRD, Gov­er­nors Island was at the top of the list of loca­tions in the Unit­ed States. We make art using recy­cled mate­ri­als, not only the tail­lights are recy­cled, but we’ve tak­en Stravin­sky’s rhythms and melodies and warped and recy­cled them, giv­ing the piece new life. Gov­er­nors Island not only has an inspir­ing zero-waste ini­tia­tive, but the island itself was cre­at­ed part­ly from land­fill mate­ri­als, mak­ing it seem an excel­lent match for our artis­tic wall of trash. Addi­tion­al­ly, part of the cre­ative vision of the piece is offer­ing the audi­ence the expe­ri­en­tial aspect of shed­ding or cloak­ing one’s indi­vid­ual iden­ti­ty for the length of the per­for­mance, and as a uni­form group encoun­ter­ing and reflect­ing this musi­cal mono­lith. Gov­er­nors Island, and its spe­cif­ic atmos­phere; seclud­ed and serene yet in direct prox­im­i­ty to the bustling bor­oughs of New York, we think will offer an ide­al set­ting for FIRE­BIRD, cre­at­ing a spe­cial expe­ri­ence unique to this loca­tion,” said Chris Doyle, co-artis­tic direc­tor of Tou­ki Delphine.

Inspired by com­pos­er Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 Fire­bird Suite, FIRE­BIRD pays homage to his musi­cal cre­ations with a per­for­mance cen­tered around a mas­sive wall of light designed to illu­mi­nate the dance of the fire­bird. The unique sen­so­ry jour­ney allows vis­i­tors to rev­el in the glow­ing cel­e­bra­tion and hyp­not­ic dis­play that will trans­form the Parade Ground.

The audi­ence expe­ri­ence begins upon arrival, where all tick­ethold­ers will receive shim­mer­ing metal­lic capes to don once they dis­em­bark, kick­start­ing the spec­ta­cle en route to the show. Guid­ed by the artists them­selves, this glit­ter­ing col­lec­tive will make its way to the Parade Ground — set against the dra­mat­ic Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line — where FIRE­BIRD bursts to life in a hyp­not­ic dance of syn­chro­nized light, cour­tesy of 500 recy­cled car tail­lights that have been sal­vaged from scrap­yards in the North­east­ern Unit­ed States, all set to Tou­ki Delphine’s con­tem­po­rary com­po­si­tion. Vis­i­tors will also be able to enjoy food and drinks avail­able from Island ven­dors and a post-show gath­er­ing with the artists after each performance. 

Tou­ki Del­phine is an Ams­ter­dam-based artist col­lec­tive fea­tur­ing artists Bo Koek, Rik Elst­geest, Chris Doyle, and John van Oost­rum. The col­lec­tive is a bound­ary-push­ing group of musi­cians, per­form­ers, and visu­al artists mak­ing waves nation­al­ly and inter­na­tion­al­ly with mon­u­men­tal light and sound instal­la­tions, all cre­at­ed from recy­cled mate­ri­als. Tou­ki Delphine’s work cre­ates poet­ic encoun­ters between humans and machines and is inspired by nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na, the cli­mate cri­sis and the idea of nature as a liv­ing whole.

The con­cept, music and visu­als for FIRE­BIRD are by Bo Koek, Rik Elst­geest, Chris Doyle and John van Oost­rum. The instal­la­tion con­cept is by John van Oost­rum and it is designed by Tou­ki Del­phine with assis­tance from The­un Mosk. Tick­ets to all per­for­mances are now avail­able online at www​.gov​is​land​.org.

The per­for­mance was orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed in The Nether­lands in 2019 and has been tour­ing through­out Europe since. In 2024, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with MASS MoCA, Tou­ki Del­phine built this Amer­i­can ver­sion of FIRE­BIRD using local­ly sal­vaged parts, and fol­low­ing its pre­mier at MASS MoCA, it has been shown at Cen­ter for the Arts at Kayen­ta in Utah and at the W.O.W. Fes­ti­val in San Diego. Pri­or to the group’s NYC debut on Gov­er­nors Island, the piece will be shown at Dart­mouth Col­lege, and after­wards it will head to the Momen­tary Con­tem­po­rary Art Muse­um in Arkansas. FIRE­BIRD was cre­at­ed in col­lab­o­ra­tion with MASS MoCA and sup­port­ed by the Per­form­ing Arts Fund NL. Addi­tion­al sup­port by Dutch Cul­ture USA at the Con­sulate Gen­er­al of the King­dom of the Netherlands.

FIRE­BIRD is part of a per­for­mance series on the Island titled INTER­VEN­TIONS that is curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, under the lead­er­ship of Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor of Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. Pre­vi­ous per­for­mances pre­sent­ed as part of this series include works by Modesto ​“Flako” Jimenez, Indige­nous Enter­prise, Dance Hegin­both­am, Rena Anakwe, Inua Ellams, and Lenio Kak­lea. An upcom­ing per­for­mance, del­i­cate peo­ple by Ruth Childs and Cécile Bouf­fard, will be co-pre­sent­ed by L’Alliance New York’s Cross­ing The Line Fes­ti­val and will make its North Amer­i­can Pre­mière on Gov­er­nors Island on Octo­ber 4, 2025.

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Star­dust Fund, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Car­rie Den­ning Jack­son and Dan Jack­son, the Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, the Howard Gilman Foun­da­tion, the Jerome L. Greene Foun­da­tion, and the Cowles Char­i­ta­ble Trust.

Aug 12 12:07 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island unveiled today its new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the Har­bor Charg­er, the first of its kind in New York State and a wel­come addi­tion to the Trust’s exist­ing fer­ry fleet. The arrival of the new boat coin­cides with the 20-year anniver­sary of Gov­er­nors Island open­ing to the pub­lic, as well as major recent progress in its devel­op­ment as a lead­ing des­ti­na­tion for cli­mate research and edu­ca­tion — mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in its transformation. 

The Har­bor Charg­er was named fol­low­ing a city­wide nam­ing com­pe­ti­tion that drew more than 800 sub­mis­sions from nau­ticalophiles across the five bor­oughs. The win­ning name was sub­mit­ted by David Kurnov of Brook­lyn. The $33 mil­lion craft is the first hybrid-elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in New York State, mark­ing a his­toric moment for Gov­er­nors Island and sus­tain­able mar­itime trans­porta­tion in New York State. The Har­bor Charg­er has the abil­i­ty to trav­el at speeds up to 66 per­cent faster than cur­rent fer­ries, paving the way for pas­sen­gers to reach Gov­er­nors Island even quick­er than before. 

“Twen­ty years ago, Gov­er­nors Island opened to the pub­lic for the first time, cre­at­ing a green, clean, sus­tain­able space for New York­ers to enjoy. Today, we are dou­bling down on that lega­cy with the launch of this first-of-its-kind elec­tric fer­ry,” said New York City May­or Eric Adams. ​“From the hik­ers who will vis­it the Island’s trails to the sci­en­tists who will work at its world-class Cli­mate Exchange, the Har­bor Charg­er will car­ry New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike into the future and deliv­er a safer, health­i­er city for all. Con­grat­u­la­tions to the Trust and the crew on this maid­en voyage!”

“With the Har­bor Charg­er, we are not just launch­ing a new fer­ry — we are chart­ing a course toward a clean­er, more sus­tain­able future for New York City,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Work­force and Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Adol­fo Car­rión. ​“Thanks to the City’s cap­i­tal invest­ment, this state-of-the-art ves­sel will cut hun­dreds of tons of emis­sions each year while bring­ing vis­i­tors to Gov­er­nors Island faster and more effi­cient­ly than ever. It is a mile­stone in our mar­itime his­to­ry and a major step toward build­ing more sus­tain­able and inno­v­a­tive waterways.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er join­ing our fleet of pas­sen­ger fer­ries is a momen­tous day for the Trust and for the thou­sands of vis­i­tors who enjoy what Gov­er­nors Island has to offer every sin­gle day,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We are excit­ed to pro­vide a clean­er, green­er mode of trans­porta­tion to the Island for the near­ly one mil­lion indi­vid­u­als that trav­el here each year. The Har­bor Charg­er will car­ry pas­sen­gers smooth­ly across the har­bor, wel­com­ing repeat vis­i­tors and first timers from around the world.” 

“The hybrid-elec­tric Har­bor Charg­er is a mod­el for clean­er and green­er trans­porta­tion in New York City and across the coun­try,” said Ali­cia Glen, Chair of the Board of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The Har­bor Charg­er will serve Gov­er­nors Island’s vis­i­tors and grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of mis­sion-dri­ven ten­ants and part­ners for decades to come, all while reduc­ing emis­sions in the har­bor. I am proud to have been part the Trust’s efforts in deliv­er­ing trans­for­ma­tive invest­ments like the Har­bor Charg­er in order to real­ize Gov­er­nors Island’s full potential.”

“Gov­er­nors Island’s new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry is exact­ly the type of game-chang­ing trans­porta­tion we need to con­tin­ue dri­ving down emis­sions in New York.” said Gov­er­nor Kathy Hochul. ​“I encour­age New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike to take advan­tage of this clean­er, green­er option to explore our beloved Gov­er­nors Island.”

“Invest­ing in our pub­lic trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture is crit­i­cal to boost­ing our econ­o­my and expand­ing New York­ers’ access to research and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties,” said U.S. Sen­a­tor Kirsten Gilli­brand. ​“I was proud to help secure a $7.5 mil­lion grant through the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture for the Har­bor Charg­er, and I remain com­mit­ted to fight­ing for more fed­er­al resources to improve the effi­cien­cy and sus­tain­abil­i­ty of New York City’s ferries.”

“All hands on deck, the Har­bor Charg­er is final­ly here!” said U.S. Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Charles Schumer. ​“When I helped write and pass the Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law and the Infla­tion Reduc­tion Act, this sort of new, clean-ener­gy trans­porta­tion was exact­ly what I had in mind. That’s why I was so proud to deliv­er $7.5 mil­lion to help fund elec­tric charg­ing infra­struc­ture that will sup­port the Har­bor Charg­er as it fer­ries count­less New York­ers and tourists to and from Gov­er­nors Island, one of the crown jew­els of New York’s pub­lic park space. Not only is the Har­bor Charg­er faster and clean­er than the dirty diesel fer­ry it’s replac­ing, it will also help advance the mis­sion of the Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Exchange, an unprece­dent­ed invest­ment in a job-cre­at­ing, clean­er-ener­gy future for New York City. Anchors aweigh!” 

“The Har­bor Charg­er is more than just a fer­ry. It’s a mod­el for sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture that con­nects our com­mu­ni­ties while cut­ting car­bon emis­sions and cre­at­ing 21^st-cen­tu­ry jobs,” Con­gress­man Dan Gold­man. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is lead­ing the way toward a green­er, more resilient future for New York City, and I’m proud to have helped secure $7.5 mil­lion in fed­er­al fund­ing for the project. I com­mend the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for their bold vision, and I look for­ward to see­ing this remark­able ves­sel serve New York­ers for gen­er­a­tions to come.” 

“Gov­er­nors Island is tru­ly one of our city’s hid­den gems, and it has hard to believe that this is the 20^th sea­son that it will be open to the pub­lic,” said U.S. Rep. Jer­ry Nadler. ​“I am hon­ored that I worked on reac­quiring the island from the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, and that New York­ers today have this won­der­ful park in the cen­ter of the har­bor to play, explore and relax in. It is tru­ly an incred­i­ble one-of-a-kind New York attraction.”

“20 years ago, Gov­er­nors Island opened to the pub­lic, and now it’s mak­ing his­to­ry again by intro­duc­ing the state’s first hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry. As Gov­er­nors Island attracts increas­ing­ly more vis­i­tors, their jour­neys will be faster and green­er thanks to the Har­bor Charg­er,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“The Har­bor Charg­er is the most recent exam­ple of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s long­stand­ing and extra­or­di­nary lead­er­ship in cli­mate innovation.

“I am excit­ed to cel­e­brate the Har­bor Charg­er as the newest addi­tion to the Gov­er­nors Island fer­ry fleet. As we look for inno­v­a­tive ways to revi­tal­ize the invalu­able resource that is New York City’s har­bor, this ves­sel rep­re­sents our shared goals of sus­tain­able design and acces­si­bil­i­ty of our water­ways,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Christo­pher Marte. ​“This is an excit­ing step for Gov­er­nors Island and our City, and just anoth­er way to invest in and pre­serve Gov­er­nors Island as a unique pub­lic green space for future generations.”

“As we con­tin­ue to reimag­ine Gov­er­nors Island as a place for learn­ing, com­mu­ni­ty, and cli­mate action, access becomes more impor­tant than ever. The Har­bor Charg­er deliv­ers on that need with tech­nol­o­gy that not only improves the jour­ney, but also reflects our shared respon­si­bil­i­ty to reduce emis­sions and build a more sus­tain­able city,” said Assem­bly­man Charles D. Fall 

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to lead the charge toward a more sus­tain­able future, and now that includes how New York­ers get there. The Har­bor Charg­er not only speeds peo­ple to the Island faster, but also reduces emis­sions and offers a qui­eter, clean­er ride with this next-gen­er­a­tion sus­tain­able fer­ry design. said Thank you to the Trust for chart­ing a course toward more sus­tain­able tran­sit on the City’s water­ways and for enhanc­ing access to one of our most cher­ished pub­lic spaces,” said Tam­my Meltzer, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 Chair

“Con­rad Ship­yard is deeply hon­ored to have part­nered with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island to build and deliv­er the Har­bor Charg­er to the peo­ple of New York City. This fer­ry is a vital link con­nect­ing New York­ers to one of their most trea­sured pub­lic spaces. At Con­rad Ship­yard, we under­stand the respon­si­bil­i­ty that comes with build­ing infra­struc­ture that serves the pub­lic, and we approached this project with the same com­mit­ment to safe­ty, qual­i­ty, and integri­ty that has defined our com­pa­ny for decades. Work­ing with the Trust has been excep­tion­al. Their vision for reli­able, safe trans­porta­tion to Gov­er­nors Island aligns per­fect­ly with our val­ues of deliv­er­ing ves­sels that oper­a­tors can depend on day after day, sea­son after sea­son. We’re proud to sup­port New York City’s mar­itime infra­struc­ture and look for­ward to see­ing the Har­bor Charg­er serve the com­mu­ni­ty for many years to come,” said John­ny Con­rad, Exec­u­tive Chair­man of Con­rad Shipyard.

“We are proud to con­tin­ue our sup­port of The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island in their pur­suit of clean­er marine trans­porta­tion in New York Har­bor. EBDG’s team of marine engi­neers and design­ers pro­vid­ed con­tract design and then act­ed as own­er’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive through­out con­struc­tion of the new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the Har­bor Charg­er. This ves­sel is a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of col­lab­o­ra­tion — between the Trust, Con­rad Ship­yard, Siemens Ener­gy and a ded­i­cat­ed group of indus­try part­ners. Togeth­er, we’ve helped bring a sus­tain­able and beau­ti­ful­ly designed fer­ry to life,” said David Turn­er, Project Man­ag­er, Elliott Bay Design Group.

“Equipped with our hybrid propul­sion sys­tem, bat­tery stor­age and real-time con­trol plat­form, this ves­sel will be reli­able, high­ly effi­cient and pro­duce sig­nif­i­cant­ly few­er emis­sions. And we have laid the foun­da­tion for ful­ly elec­tric oper­a­tion in the future. The com­bi­na­tion of these inno­va­tions will make for a clean­er, smoother ride and, hope­ful­ly, a won­der­ful vis­it to Gov­er­nors Island,” said Rich Voor­berg, Pres­i­dent of Siemens Ener­gy for North America.

“The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry is a per­fect exam­ple of the real-world impact of uni­ver­si­ty research and devel­op­ment. This achieve­ment fur­ther demon­strates how New York City is a crit­i­cal hub of sus­tain­able, effi­cient and cost-effec­tive tech­nol­o­gy.” said Andrea Gold­smith, Pres­i­dent of Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty. ​“This clean trans­porta­tion solu­tion rep­re­sents the type of inno­v­a­tive think­ing and pio­neer­ing that Stony Brook’s stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, researchers and indus­try part­ners bring to The Exchange – where aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence meets urgent cli­mate chal­lenges. The unveil­ing of the Har­bor Charg­er is the lat­est Gov­er­nors Island mile­stone paving the way to advance cli­mate action and pos­i­tive change that will impact com­mu­ni­ties across New York and beyond.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry exem­pli­fies the low-car­bon solu­tions we’re eager to show­case when The Exchange opens its doors,” said Stephen Ham­mer, CEO of The New York Cli­mate Exchange. ​“The con­tin­ued invest­ment in sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture on and around Gov­er­nors Island sig­nals shared com­mit­ment to mak­ing this his­toric loca­tion a cat­a­lyst for cli­mate inno­va­tion – where vis­i­tors will expe­ri­ence cut­ting-edge solu­tions and engage with world-class research and edu­ca­tion programming.”

“Home to The New York Cli­mate Exchange, Gov­er­nors Island is already shap­ing into a hub for world-class cli­mate inno­va­tion, and reduc­ing emis­sions with a new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry will sig­nif­i­cant­ly advance the Island’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty work,” said New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (NYCEDC) Pres­i­dent & CEO Andrew Kim­ball. ​“NYCEDC knows that New York­ers love their fer­ries, and the unveil­ing of the Har­bor Charg­er marks a mon­u­men­tal mile­stone in cre­at­ing a clean­er, more sus­tain­able har­bor for future gen­er­a­tions to come.”

“The Har­bor Charg­er is proof that New York can lead the way in build­ing a clean­er, health­i­er future while keep­ing our city mov­ing. As the first hybrid-elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in the state, it’s not just a mile­stone for Gov­er­nors Island — it’s a mod­el for how we can cut emis­sions, improve air qual­i­ty, and advance cli­mate inno­va­tion right here in our own har­bor. NYL­CV applauds the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for show­ing what’s pos­si­ble when we invest in sus­tain­able trans­porta­tion that ben­e­fits both peo­ple and our clean ener­gy future,” said Julie Tighe, Pres­i­dent of the New York League of Con­ser­va­tion Voters. 

“Since the found­ing of the Gov­er­nors Island Alliance in 1995, RPA has sup­port­ed the rede­vel­op­ment of the island from an old mil­i­tary out­post to one of the pre­mière recre­ation­al and event spaces in New York City,” said Tom Wright, Pres­i­dent and CEO of Region­al Plan Asso­ci­a­tion (RPA). ​“Today, we cel­e­brate the launch of the Har­bor Charg­er, New York State’s first hybrid-elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry. This new addi­tion to the fer­ry fleet coin­cides with the Island’s 20^th year open to the pub­lic, as well as major recent progress in its devel­op­ment as a lead­ing cen­ter for advanc­ing cli­mate research, edu­ca­tion, and inno­va­tion. Today marks anoth­er mile­stone in the island’s con­tin­ued trans­for­ma­tion as a vital resource and ameni­ty for all res­i­dents of the tri-state region.”

The Har­bor Charg­er trav­eled up the East­ern Seaboard from Louisiana, where it was built at the Con­rad Ship­yard in Mor­gan City over the course of two weeks this spring. The fer­ry has a capac­i­ty of up to 1,200 pas­sen­gers and 30 vehi­cles for Island deliv­er­ies and ser­vices and boasts an increased cruis­ing speed of 10 – 12 knots. It will replace the diesel-pow­ered Lt. Samuel S. Coursen — the Trust’s cur­rent vehi­cle and pas­sen­ger fer­ry that was com­mis­sioned by the U.S. Army in 1956 and has been in con­tin­u­ous use ever since. Lat­er this year, the Lt. Samuel S. Coursen will retire from service. 

The Har­bor Charg­er is equipped with Siemens Energy’s BlueDrive Eco diesel-elec­tric propul­sion sys­tem, their Blue­Vault advanced bat­tery-based solu­tion, and Eco­MAIN — a tech­nol­o­gy plat­form that enables the oper­a­tor to con­stant­ly mon­i­tor this state-of-the-art equip­ment. The hybrid propul­sion sys­tem reduces air pol­lu­tion by allow­ing the boat’s sys­tems to tog­gle between three modes: zero-emis­sions, bat­tery-only pow­er, and bat­tery assist­ed hybrid with diesel back­up. The bat­tery-assist­ed hybrid mode will reduce car­bon diox­ide emis­sions by near­ly 600 tons annu­al­ly, allow­ing the Trust to make ground­break­ing progress on its net-zero emis­sions goals. 

Once shore­side charg­ing facil­i­ties are installed, which are cur­rent­ly in the design phase, the ves­sel will reduce emis­sions by an addi­tion­al 800 tons annu­al­ly. Thanks to sup­port from Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, and Con­gress­man Gold­man, the Trust secured $7.5 mil­lion in fed­er­al infra­struc­ture fund­ing from the US Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port the shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture, enabling the Har­bor Charg­er to reach ful­ly elec­tric oper­a­tions once installed. The rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture is cur­rent­ly in design.

The Har­bor Charg­er was designed by Elliot Bay Design Group (EBDG) and required more than 465 tons of steel, rough­ly equiv­a­lent to 11 sub­way cars, to con­struct. The vessel’s enhanced maneu­ver­ing capa­bil­i­ties uti­lize Schot­tel azimuthing thrusters fea­tur­ing 360-degree steer­ing. The boat also fea­tures mod­ern ameni­ties, a low­er-lev­el ADA-acces­si­ble lounge, and restrooms on each lev­el. This is the sec­ond fer­ry boat EBDG has designed for the Trust — the pas­sen­ger-only GOV­ER­NORS 1, built by Blount Boats, went into ser­vice in 2019. 

Over the past two decades, the Island has grown tremen­dous­ly as a glob­al resource for cli­mate inno­va­tion, offer­ing wide­spread oppor­tu­ni­ties for research and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, Wind Sup­port NYC, and the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs, among oth­ers. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange was select­ed as the anchor research and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion to cre­ate an inno­va­tion dis­trict on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for cities. The Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, is devel­op­ing a 400,ooo SF cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs. Con­struc­tion is expect­ed to begin in 2026. 

Jul 25 1:43 pm

Post by Amy Wang, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion & Pub­lic Affairs Intern at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. 

From my van­tage point, high up on Dis­cov­ery Hill, the cab­in appears seclud­ed and pri­vate, its eggshell tip just peek­ing through the canopy of trees. The climb itself felt like a small rev­e­la­tion — tall grass­es brush­ing against my legs, the path open­ing wider as the sky stretched above. The tem­per­a­ture shift­ed as I reached the top — hot and burn­ing, the kind of sun that press­es down, dry and constant.

But I think to myself, no wor­ries. A rest stop—a cab­in.

When I arrived, I looked around the shed, inspect­ing it for an entry but found none. I knocked, but there was no echo from the inside. It becomes clear, to my dis­ap­point­ment, that the cab­in only appears like a sanc­tu­ary, but it isn’t a real home. Where there should be hol­low space to house some­one, there is sol­id fill instead, and where­as the win­dows should offer a glimpse in, they pro­trude out instead. The house is invert­ed, inside out. 

Nat­u­ral­ly, I turn my atten­tion back to the out­side with­out any option to go in. Into the daz­zling har­bor, the con­spic­u­ous har­bor of the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty, the vast­ness of the city sky­line from the high­est peak of the Island, I real­ize that I didn’t lose any­thing but gained much. Turned out, per­haps loss and abun­dance were two sides of the same coin, and my reflec­tion dis­placed my orig­i­nal dis­ap­point­ment. Under­neath the back­drop of the steel and glass, I also real­ize that the city is nev­er so far away, escape is nev­er tru­ly real, but that is actu­al­ly okay. The promise of retreat con­jured up by my own expec­ta­tions final­ly breaks free and with that, apart. The cab­in grad­u­al­ly feels more and more out of place now – uncanny. 

Uncan­ny is exact­ly what artist Rachel Whiteread intend­ed when she cre­at­ed the instal­la­tion. By plac­ing this pic­turesque con­cept on top of a hill, over­look­ing the har­bor, but then deny­ing entry into the house, she invites – or more forces– view­ers to look out­wards as a means of look­ing inwards at their own con­tra­dic­tions. She invites deep­er intro­spec­tion into the sub­tle, uncon­scious needs inhab­it­ing our own neg­a­tive spaces. What I dis­cov­ered on my trek was not what I orig­i­nal­ly expect­ed, but arguably even more mean­ing­ful; I was look­ing for space, but end­ed up find­ing per­spec­tive instead. 

Walk­ing down again, I sud­den­ly remem­ber a fact that I heard in my ear­li­er days on the Island: That the Island has lay­ers of nat­ur­al and arti­fi­cial, just like the cab­in, a seem­ing­ly nat­ur­al con­cept, amidst so much fruit shrubs and monarch but­ter­flies end­ed up being a man­made enti­ty, built unnat­u­ral­ly. Turns out, the land of the Island is part­ly made from the debris of the 4, 5, 6 sub­way lines and it was from this urban wreck­age to green space, I had longed for a moment of ​“escape.”

But I have tran­scend­ed beyond this bound­ary: Gov­er­nors Island puts the human in nature and more than being just nat­ur­al or arti­fi­cial, it is art. The art in artifi­cial is shaped, curat­ed, inten­tion­al, and gen­uine. But most of all, it is welcoming. 

My friends are at the bot­tom of the hill wait­ing for me. Well, how was it? They asked, but I replied, I didn’t find it. It would’ve been sweet, but…

What I found was not an escape, but a return; not soli­tude, but pres­ence; not a place to hide, but a rea­son to come back down the hill— to you, to this, and to the art of being a part of some­thing, and not apart from it. 

Cab­in is pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts, and is locat­ed on Dis­cov­ery Hill. Click here to view all Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic artworks. 

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Star­dust Fund, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Car­rie Den­ning Jack­son and Dan Jack­son, the Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, the Howard Gilman Foun­da­tion, the Jerome L. Greene Foun­da­tion, and the Cowles Char­i­ta­ble Trust.