Sep 11 8:54 am

“All avail­able boats…This is the Unit­ed States Coast Guard…Anyone want­i­ng to help with the evac­u­a­tion of Low­er Man­hat­tan report to Gov­er­nors Island.”

Each year on Sep­tem­ber 11, we hon­or the hun­dreds of mariners who answered Lt. Michael Day’s fate­ful call. In hon­or of the 25^th Anniver­sary, we are proud to share this sto­ry of how Gov­er­nors Island played a qui­et, yet impor­tant role in the recov­ery efforts on the day of the attacks — just one exam­ple of extra­or­di­nary acts of ser­vice and courage from across the City and beyond. On the morn­ing of Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001, 150 dif­fer­ent ves­sels – mer­chant ships, fire­boats, char­ter boats, tug­boats, pas­sen­ger fer­ries, and even the Stat­en Island Fer­ry – helped herd half a mil­lion peo­ple out of Low­er Man­hat­tan to safe­ty. This extra­or­di­nary feat, dubbed the ​“9/11 Boatlift,” is wide­ly con­sid­ered to be the largest civil­ian mar­itime evac­u­a­tion in his­to­ry, even larg­er than Dunkirk.

Addi­tion­al archival infor­ma­tion about this day can be found in Smith­son­ian Mag­a­zine and at the Sea­port Muse­um, which holds a rare first­hand record of this extra­or­di­nary response: ​“9÷11 Water Evac­u­a­tion,” 90 min­utes of video footage doc­u­ment­ing the evac­u­a­tion of Low­er Man­hat­tan by water.

Pho­to cour­tesy of the New York City Police Department/​NYC Munic­i­pal Archive

Sep 3 11:21 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and The New York Cli­mate Exchange have unveiled the line­up for Cli­mate Week 2026 pro­gram­ming set for Sep­tem­ber 20 – 27, 2026, high­light­ing the Island’s grow­ing role at the fore­front of cli­mate inno­va­tion in New York City. This year’s events include dis­cus­sions, work­shops, per­for­mances, cli­mate tech demon­stra­tions, guid­ed tours, art exhi­bi­tions, a cli­mate pep ral­ly, and more pro­grams explor­ing the inter­sec­tions between sci­ence, nature, tech, pol­i­cy, advo­ca­cy, art, and community. 

“Cli­mate Week is a shin­ing exam­ple of what we’re grow­ing here on Gov­er­nors Island — an inno­va­tion des­ti­na­tion where work, edu­ca­tion, research, cre­ativ­i­ty, and play all hap­pen side by side,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This year, we’re proud to join with The New York Cli­mate Exchange and all of our part­ners to present pro­gram­ming that shows the many ways cli­mate issues touch all our lives and fos­ters con­nec­tion across both dis­ci­plines and communities.”

“This week is a pre­view of what’s com­ing: lead­ers from busi­ness, gov­ern­ment, acad­e­mia, and com­mu­ni­ties in the same room, build­ing the con­nec­tions and part­ner­ships that will define The New York Cli­mate Exchange on Gov­er­nors Island for decades to come,” said M. San­jayan, CEO of The Exchange. ​“Cli­mate Week shows what’s pos­si­ble when peo­ple con­vene with pur­pose — our cam­pus on Gov­er­nors Island will make that pos­si­ble every day, not just one week a year.”

Orga­nized each year by the Cli­mate Group, Cli­mate Week NYC runs Sep­tem­ber 20 – 27, 2026, and is the largest annu­al cli­mate event of its kind. Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing solu­tions that can be scaled glob­al­ly, mak­ing it a nat­ur­al set­ting for the many events tak­ing place dur­ing Cli­mate Week. Its unique water­front envi­ron­ment com­ple­ments an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors; oppor­tu­ni­ties for edu­ca­tion, research, and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate solu­tions — includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, NYU Gal­latin Wet­Lab, and the soon-to-open But­ter­milk Labs.

The Trust and the New York City Mayor’s Office have devel­oped a vision to cre­ate the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, an ini­tia­tive on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, was select­ed as the initiative’s anchor insti­tu­tion fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process. The Exchange will devel­op a $700-mil­lion cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs, expect­ed to open in 2029. 

Cli­mate Week NYC 2026 events on Gov­er­nors Island are orga­nized by the Trust, the Island’s com­mu­ni­ty of part­ners and ten­ants, and The Exchange and its core part­ners. A full sched­ule of events and pre­sent­ing orga­ni­za­tions can be found below and online at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​c​l​i​m​a​t​e​-week.

Gov­er­nors Island is open dai­ly year-round and is acces­si­ble by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. For fer­ry sched­ules, oper­at­ing hours, things to do, and oth­er vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s Cli­mate pro­grams are sup­port­ed by Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust, and Anonymous.

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and Riv­ian Foundation.

Aug 3 12:51 pm

On Sun­day, July 19, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island host­ed a large-scale pub­lic screen­ing of the FIFA World Cup final match, with Spain and Argenti­na hold­ing steady at 0 – 0 through extra time, where Spain took the vic­to­ry. Immersed with­in the stun­ning back­drop of the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line on the Island’s his­toric Parade Ground, Rooftop Films boast­ed a large day­time screen with sound by Kar­lala Soundsys­tem and a DJ set by Khalil, with inter­na­tion­al food ven­dors lin­ing the edges of the field, high­light­ing the diverse her­itage of New York City.

Fans flocked to the Island from all five bor­oughs for the out­door watch par­ty, dubbed ​“The People’s Final” by May­or Zohran Mamdani’s office. That Sat­ur­day brought beau­ti­ful weath­er, with clear skies, tem­per­a­tures around 80 degrees and a breeze off the water. With acti­va­tions from I Am CaribBE­ING, Project 96, Down­town Unit­ed Soc­cer Club, Cobra March­ing Band & Majorettes, plus a ​“Match Day Mani” pop-up, there was some­thing for everyone.

In addi­tion to the large-scale view­ing par­ty, which like most events on Gov­er­nors Island was free and open to the pub­lic, water­front restau­rants Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg and Taco Vista host­ed screen­ings. When Spain won, cheers could be heard Island-wide. On the idyl­lic fer­ry ride home aboard the Har­bor Charg­er, New York’s first hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, the cher­ring con­tin­ued as the announce­ment came over the loud­speak­er: ​“Wel­come to the Gov­er­nors Island ferry”. 

Gov­er­nors Island and The May­or’s Office were proud to host this his­toric event, and wish to thank all of our part­ners who made it pos­si­ble, includ­ing Down­town Unit­ed Soc­cer Club, I Am CaribBE­ING, Project 96, Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, Threes Brew­ing, Mak­i­na Café, Lit­tle Eva’s, Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca, Kim­chi Taco Truck, Cobra March­ing Band, Khalil, DYCD NYC, and Kar­lala Soundsystem. 

Pho­to by Nas’­tas­sia Simpson

Jul 23 7:30 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island released a Request for Expres­sions of Inter­est (RFEI) on July 23, 2026, for the revi­tal­iza­tion of two his­toric build­ings on the Island, Build­ing 324 and Build­ing 330. The RFEI invites ideas from prospec­tive part­ners for the revi­tal­iza­tion of these his­toric assets, bring­ing them back into active, year-round use. The Trust is seek­ing respons­es that pro­pose arts and cul­tur­al, recre­ation­al, or oth­er pub­lic-fac­ing uses. The two adja­cent build­ings are locat­ed with­in the Gov­er­nors Island His­toric Dis­trict in an area becom­ing a major hub of activ­i­ty and invest­ment – steps away from one of the Island’s two pri­ma­ry fer­ry ter­mi­nals at Yan­kee Pier, and adja­cent to the future New York Cli­mate Exchange cam­pus. Orig­i­nal­ly con­struct­ed as a YMCA recre­ation cen­ter and a movie the­ater, respec­tive­ly, the build­ings fea­ture soar­ing ceil­ings and open floor plans. 

The com­plete RFEI can be viewed on the Trust’s web­site at www​.gov​is​land​.org/RFP.

“The for­mer YMCA and Fort Jay The­ater his­tor­i­cal­ly stood as cul­tur­al anchors of Gov­er­nors Island, and we’re thrilled to present a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to breathe new life into these icon­ic build­ings,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We’re seek­ing vision­ary part­ners with bold ideas for cul­tur­al, recre­ation­al, and pub­lic-fac­ing uses that can turn untapped poten­tial into vibrant spaces for every­one to enjoy.”

Build­ing 324 was con­struct­ed in 1926 and is a two-sto­ry, 26,000-square-foot Neo-Geor­gian brick build­ing that served as the Army YMCA for much of the Island’s mil­i­tary his­to­ry. The facil­i­ty his­tor­i­cal­ly housed a large audi­to­ri­um, an above-ground pool, and squash courts, host­ing per­for­mances and pro­vid­ing recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for ser­vice­mem­bers sta­tioned on the Island. The Trust is cur­rent­ly final­iz­ing design on an approx­i­mate­ly $7 mil­lion dol­lar invest­ment into the building’s enve­lope and struc­tur­al ele­ments to ready it for its next chapter.

Build­ing 330 was built in 1937 under the super­vi­sion of the Army Motion Pic­ture Ser­vice. The build­ing, also known as the Fort Jay The­atre, is an approx­i­mate­ly 10,000 square-foot, sin­gle-sto­ry the­ater with 750 seats, a bal­cony, a soar­ing 20-foot-high ceil­ing in the main the­ater vol­ume, and ele­ments of 1930s-era Art Deco archi­tec­tur­al detail­ing at the prosce­ni­um and ceil­ing. An exte­ri­or tick­et booth under a columned entrance por­ti­co is in view of the Parade Ground. Used inter­mit­tent­ly since the Coast Guard’s 1996 depar­ture for exhi­bi­tions and per­for­mances includ­ing in part­ner­ship with Cre­ative Time, No Longer Emp­ty, and Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, the theater’s seats are still in place, and the build­ing retains much of its orig­i­nal character. 

Respon­dents to the RFEI may include either or both build­ings in their sub­mis­sions. The spaces also include poten­tial out­door space offer­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty for respon­dents to incor­po­rate entry plazas and out­door pro­gram­ming spaces that engage the pub­lic while enhanc­ing and com­ple­ment­ing indoor activities.

With near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors, year-round fer­ry access, and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and com­mer­cial ten­ants, Gov­er­nors Island offers an unmatched plat­form for pro­gram­ming and ameni­ties that are pub­lic-fac­ing, cre­ative­ly ambi­tious, and reflec­tive of New York City at its best. The Trust seeks Respon­dents with the vision and capac­i­ty to revi­tal­ize these his­toric struc­tures, with an empha­sis on arts, cul­tur­al, recre­ation­al, and oth­er pub­lic uses.

As described in the RFEI, pro­pos­als should adhere to the Trust’s sus­tain­abil­i­ty and resilien­cy design guide­lines, includ­ing full build­ing elec­tri­fi­ca­tion. The Trust will host vir­tu­al infor­ma­tion ses­sions on August 5 and August 19, 2026; site vis­its on August 12, August 26, and Sep­tem­ber 9, 2026; with ques­tions due in writ­ing by Sep­tem­ber 16, 2026, and final sub­mis­sions due by Octo­ber 26, 2026. 

Jul 8 11:00 am

New York­ers are invit­ed to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final on the big screen on July 19

Island to host free match screen­ings, soc­cer clin­ics, pick-up games, and more lead­ing up to the final match — includ­ing offer­ings from Taco Vista, Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, and Project 96

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced Island-wide watch par­ties, activ­i­ties, and events — includ­ing a free final match watch par­ty — cel­e­brat­ing the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Gov­er­nors Island. The acti­va­tions are designed to bring New York­ers of all back­grounds togeth­er to share the col­lec­tive joy of the game, cel­e­brate the city’s mul­ti­cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ties, and cre­ate last­ing mem­o­ries in one of NYC’s most icon­ic out­door pub­lic spaces.

“We’re so excit­ed to join this glob­al cel­e­bra­tion that reflects the diver­si­ty, ener­gy, and spir­it that make New York City extra­or­di­nary,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is unique­ly posi­tioned to bring peo­ple togeth­er, and we can’t wait to wel­come vis­i­tors, our part­ners, and all New York­ers to gath­er on the Island to cel­e­brate the world’s biggest sport­ing event with food, com­mu­ni­ty, crafts, oppor­tu­ni­ties for play, and — of course — the final match on the biggest screen possible.”

The cel­e­bra­tions will cul­mi­nate in The People’s Final on Sun­day, July 19, 2026, from 1PM to 6PM. Immersed with­in the stun­ning back­drop of the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line on the Island’s his­toric Parade Ground, the event will fea­ture a large-scale pub­lic screen­ing of the final match in part­ner­ship with Rooftop Films, soc­cer clin­ics and open play oppor­tu­ni­ties, live DJs and spe­cial per­for­mances, fam­i­ly-cen­tered activ­i­ties, and inter­na­tion­al food ven­dors high­light­ing the diverse her­itage of New York City. Event part­ners include Down­town Unit­ed Soc­cer Club, I Am CaribBE­ING, Project 96, Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, Threes Brew­ing, and more to be announced. The People’s Final is pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island with sup­port from the New York City Mayor’s Office. 

Addi­tion­al events lead­ing up to The People’s Final from Island ven­dors, part­ners, and ameni­ties include month­ly P96 Play Days with Project 96 and watch par­ties at Taco Vista and Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg. For ven­dor hours, reser­va­tions, and more, vis­it the Gov­er­nors Island website. 

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, and the Riv­ian Foundation.

GET­TING TO GOV­ER­NORS ISLAND

Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on Gov­er­nors Island, with sea­son­al week­end ser­vice from Pier 6 in Brook­lyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook through Novem­ber 1, 2026. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets are $5 for adults, with free fer­ry ser­vice avail­able for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults, NYCHA res­i­dents, IDNYC hold­ers, mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Week­end fer­ries before 11AM are free for all vis­i­tors. The Trust recent­ly announced increased fer­ry ser­vice for the 2026 peak sea­son, with fer­ries run­ning every 15 min­utes from the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing dur­ing peak trav­el times — includ­ing week­ends, hol­i­days, and week­day morn­ing rush hour. 

The Trust also offers free fer­ry fares for non­prof­it and com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, youth camps, and senior cen­ters. To inquire about group vis­its, orga­ni­za­tions may email groupvisits@​gov­is­land.​org.

In addi­tion, NYC Fer­ry serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly via the South Brook­lyn Route and the sea­son­al Gov­er­nors Island shut­tle. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it the NYC Fer­ry web­site, www.ferry.nyc.

Jun 10 3:00 pm

A new sculp­tur­al instal­la­tion com­mis­sioned by More Art in part­ner­ship with the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project and Gov­er­nors Island Arts

On View: July 30 – Novem­ber 30, 2026 • West­ern Prom­e­nade, Gov­er­nors Island, New York 

More Art is thrilled to announce the open­ing of The Oys­ter, a mon­u­men­tal out­door sculp­tur­al com­mis­sion by inter­na­tion­al­ly rec­og­nized Mohawk artist Alan Michel­son (Six Nations of the Grand Riv­er). The work will be on view on Gov­er­nors Island from July 30 through Novem­ber 30, 2026. 

Pre­sent­ed as part of More Art’s 2026 ini­tia­tive Refram­ing 1776: Land, Water, and the Work of Repair, The Oys­ter responds to the nation’s 250^th anniver­sary through Indige­nous per­spec­tives and envi­ron­men­tal his­to­ries. Devel­oped in part­ner­ship with Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, and co-pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the instal­la­tion ref­er­ences pre-colo­nial Lenape oys­ter mid­dens — vast accu­mu­la­tions of shells reflect­ing long his­to­ries of habi­ta­tion, stew­ard­ship, and rec­i­p­ro­cal rela­tion­ship in the region. 

Part land­form, part amphithe­ater, The Oys­ter invites vis­i­tors to gath­er with­in and around the work and to reflect on the inter­wo­ven his­to­ries of extrac­tion, trade, nour­ish­ment, dis­place­ment, and envi­ron­men­tal change embed­ded in the har­bor itself. The piece recalls Indige­nous geo­glyphs and shaped shell mid­dens, while its con­struc­tion draws direct­ly on the log­ic of reef build­ing, in par­tic­u­lar the gabion and recy­cled-shell struc­tures employed by Bil­lion Oys­ter Project. 

Encir­cling the sculp­ture, a large-scale text instal­la­tion paint­ed in pur­ple and white gath­ers reflec­tions on oys­ters drawn from lit­er­a­ture, his­to­ry, ecol­o­gy, and pop­u­lar cul­ture. The text also incor­po­rates con­tri­bu­tions from stu­dents at New York Har­bor School and mem­bers of the Gov­er­nors Island com­mu­ni­ty, while the paint­ed text’s palette ref­er­ences wampum — shell beads his­tor­i­cal­ly used by Lenape and oth­er East­ern Wood­lands nations in sacred cul­tur­al exchanges. 

Fol­low­ing the pro­jec­t’s close, ele­ments of the sculp­ture will be returned to New York Har­bor as part of local reef restora­tion efforts, extend­ing the life of the art­work as liv­ing marine infra­struc­ture. The Oys­ter asks us to engage with the par­al­lel era­sures of Indige­nous life­ways and oys­ter ecolo­gies in the har­bor, while point­ing toward the pos­si­bil­i­ty of restora­tion and renewal. 

About the Artist 

Alan Michel­son is a cel­e­brat­ed New York-based Mohawk artist, cura­tor, writer, and mem­ber of Six Nations of the Grand Riv­er. For more than three decades, he has cre­at­ed site-respon­sive works in sculp­ture, video, instal­la­tion, and pub­lic art that engage place, mem­o­ry, and sup­pressed his­to­ries through both Indige­nous and West­ern cul­tur­al forms. 

The Knowl­edge Keep­ers, his acclaimed major pub­lic com­mis­sion, stands at the Hunt­ing­ton Avenue entrance of the Muse­um of Fine Arts, Boston. Oth­er cur­rent projects include Hanödaga:yas (Town Destroy­er): Reflect at the new Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty Art Muse­um. Major pub­lic works include Man­tle (2018), a per­ma­nent mon­u­ment hon­or­ing Vir­gini­a’s Native nations locat­ed on the grounds of the Thomas Jef­fer­son-designed Vir­ginia State Capi­tol in Richmond. 

His writ­ings have appeared in Aper­ture, Frieze, and Octo­ber, and his work was recent­ly fea­tured on Art21. His work is held in the col­lec­tions of the Whit­ney Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art, the Smith­son­ian Amer­i­can Art Muse­um, and the Nation­al Gallery of Cana­da, among oth­ers. Michel­son is co-founder and co-cura­tor of Indige­nous New York, the influ­en­tial series orga­nized with the Vera List Cen­ter for Art and Politics. 

Land Acknowl­edge­ment

We acknowl­edge that The Oys­ter is sit­u­at­ed on Pag­gank (“Nut Island”), now known as Gov­er­nors Island, with­in Lenape­hok­ing, the ances­tral home­land of the Lenape peo­ple, whose con­nec­tions to the waters of New York Har­bor extend deep into the past. 

Oys­ters and their shells were an impor­tant part of Lenape cul­ture, and the shell mid­dens once found through­out the area attest to gen­er­a­tions of Indige­nous pres­ence and rela­tion­ships with these waters. Formed through the accu­mu­la­tion of shells over time, these mid­dens embod­ied long­stand­ing rela­tion­ships between Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties and the liv­ing abun­dance of the har­bor — rela­tion­ships pro­found­ly dis­rupt­ed by colonization. 

By return­ing atten­tion to the oys­ter as both eco­log­i­cal engi­neer and cul­tur­al anchor, The Oys­ter invites reflec­tion on his­to­ries embed­ded in the har­bor land­scape and on the Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties whose con­nec­tions to these waters con­tin­ue today. 

Jun 2 10:14 am

Per­formed out­doors for the first time, my tongue is a blade is a dura­tional move­ment work in and around a spin­ning mir­rored struc­ture, ques­tion­ing the lim­its of atten­tion and test­ing the strength of our bonds

Pre­sent­ed as part of Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series and co-pre­sent­ed by LMC­C’s Riv­er to Riv­er Festival

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, presents sweat vari­ant​’s my tongue is a blade June 19 & 20 at Colonels Row, Gov­er­nors Island. sweat vari­ant, the col­lab­o­ra­tion between Okwui Okpok­wasili and Peter Born, asks in this three-hour move­ment per­for­mance-prac­tice: How do we hold and trans­mit mem­o­ry through a series of ongo­ing and inti­mate embod­ied entan­gle­ments? How do we design an ongo­ing web of psy­chic and phys­i­cal connection?

Sup­port­ed by a dynam­ic son­ic score designed by Peter Born, my tongue is a blade sees five per­form­ers (Okwui Okpok­wasili, Bria Bacon, Kris Lee, AJ Wilmore, and Ny Opong) com­mit to remem­ber­ing one anoth­er, hold­ing one anoth­er, bear­ing one anoth­er, and sus­tain­ing the world that con­tains them. One per­former shapes a dis­tinct phys­i­cal lan­guage and then is joined by anoth­er with whom they share it. Inhab­it­ing this move­ment, they dance as one — until the first departs, and the one who remains moves on, haunt­ed by their absence. A new part­ner joins, and the trans­mis­sion continues.

A spin­ning mir­rored struc­ture (pro­duc­tion design by Peter Born) serves as the cen­ter­piece of this work and blurs the thresh­old between the observ­er and the observed. With this reflec­tive frame­work, my tongue is a blade folds the out­side world inward (for the first time ever now in out­door space, cre­at­ing a spin­ning reflec­tion of Colonels Row) and projects the inte­ri­or prac­tice out­ward, invit­ing the audi­ence to wit­ness this shared prac­tice and to res­onate with­in it.

Say the artists, ​“When we built this inside, pre­vi­ous­ly, in a church, inte­ri­or court­yard hall and an opera house, it felt like cre­at­ing a room with­in a room. Now, we are curi­ous to see if doing it out­doors will allow us to cre­ate an ​‘out­side with­in the out­side’ through the structure’s mir­rored reflections.”

A foun­da­tion­al con­cept of the work’s sound­scape is the idea of acoustic con­flu­ence: the jux­ta­po­si­tion of dis­tinct yet sub­tle vari­a­tions of sound which con­verge at mutu­al points of con­tact. my tongue is a blade removes the rhyth­mic pre­dictabil­i­ty of the down­beat in con­ven­tion­al song­writ­ing to allow per­form­ers to trav­el with­in a land­scape of their phys­i­cal imagination. 

my tongue is a blade is part of this year’s INTER­VEN­TIONS series, Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary per­for­mance series curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. INTER­VEN­TIONS presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for the imme­di­ate envi­ron­ment. The per­for­mance is co-pre­sent­ed as part of LMCC’s 25^th Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val, a sum­mer pub­lic arts fes­ti­val cel­e­brat­ing artis­tic and cre­ative diver­si­ty, and pre­sent­ing live art and instal­la­tion in pub­lic spaces and in part­ner­ship with lead­ing insti­tu­tions in Low­er Manhattan.

my tongue is a blade​’s dra­maturg is Kather­ine Pro­fe­ta.

About sweat vari­ant

sweat vari­ant is the col­lab­o­ra­tive prac­tice of Okwui Okpok­wasili and Peter Born. Since 1996, they have been work­ing at the inter­sec­tion of dance, the­ater, and visu­al art to make chal­leng­ing and rig­or­ous work that reaf­firms that which has been deemed mar­gin­al as the true cen­ter through the explo­ration of Black inte­ri­or­i­ty. Okpok­wasili and Born are inter­est­ed in build­ing a spec­ta­cle of rad­i­cal inti­ma­cy, in which both per­form­ers and audi­ence are acknowl­edged as being locked in a mutu­al gaze. They hope to acti­vate a space that allows the audi­ence to ques­tion who they are look­ing at, and how they are look­ing. Okpok­wasili and Born have cre­at­ed the Bessie Award-win­n­ing pent up: a revenge dance and Bronx Goth­ic. The lat­ter con­tin­ues to tour inter­na­tion­al­ly, most recent­ly to the 2024 Milan Tri­en­nale. Oth­er per­for­mances include let slip, hold sway, adaku, part 1: the road opens, Adaku’s Revolt, swal­low the moon, Sit­ting on a Man’s Head, and poor people’s TV room, which also toured the US. Their work has been fea­tured inter­na­tion­al­ly, includ­ing at the Berlin Bien­nale, the Young Vic, and the Tate. Recent works include instal­la­tions in the exhi­bi­tions Grief and Griev­ance, Art and Mourn­ing in Amer­i­ca at the New Muse­um (NYC), Witch­hunt at the Ham­mer Muse­um in Los Ange­les, and Sex Ecolo­gies at Kun­sthall Trond­heim in Nor­way. poor people’s TV room (solo) instal­la­tion is in the Ham­mer Muse­um and Whit­ney Muse­um collections.

About Okwui Okpokwasili

Okwui Okpok­wasili (she/​her) is a Brook­­lyn-based per­former, actor, chore­o­g­ra­ph­er, and writer. Okpok­wasili has earned numer­ous acco­lades, includ­ing a 2025 Art Award from the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Arts and Let­ters, 2018 Prince­ton Uni­ver­si­ty Hod­der Fel­low­ship, a 2018 Herb Alpert Award, a 2018 Doris Duke Artist Award, and a 2018 MacArthur Fel­low­ship. Okpok­wasili was the 2015 – 2017 Randjelovic/​Stryker New York Live Arts Res­i­dent Com­mis­sioned Artist. She was the inau­gur­al artist for the Kravis Stu­dio Res­i­den­cy pro­gram at MoMA in 2022, and an artist in res­i­dence at the Brown Arts Insti­tute in 2023. She con­tin­ues to col­lab­o­rate with Ralph Lemon, Kevin Beasley, Saidiya Hart­man, and Kaneza Schaal, among oth­er artists.

About Peter Born

Peter Born (he/​him) works as a direc­tor, com­pos­er, and design­er of per­for­mance and instal­la­tion. In col­lab­o­ra­tion with Okpok­wasili, Born’s work has been fea­tured in the Berlin Bien­nale, Grief and Griev­ance: Art and Mourn­ing in Amer­i­ca at the New Muse­um, Witch Hunt at the Ham­mer Muse­um, Loop­hole of Retreat: Venice, and Sex Ecolo­gies at Kun­sthall Trond­heim, as well as per­for­mance work at The Muse­um of Mod­ern Art, New York; the Whit­ney Muse­um; MASS MoCA; the Irish Muse­um of Mod­ern Art; and ICA Boston; among oth­ers. He is the recip­i­ent of four New York Dance Per­for­mance Awards (Bessie Awards). His work as an art direc­tor and prop styl­ist has been fea­tured in video and pho­to projects with Vogue, Estee Laud­er, Barney’s Co-op, Bloom­ing­dales, Old Navy, 25 Mag­a­zine, The Wall Street Jour­nal, and No Strings Pup­pet Productions. 

Cred­its

my tongue is a blade was orig­i­nal­ly com­mis­sioned by the Irish Muse­um of Mod­ern Art as part of Take a Breath, with sup­port from the Sam Gilliam Foun­da­tion. Sup­port for sweat vari­ant is pro­vid­ed in part by the Mel­lon and Howard Gilman Foun­da­tions, as well as by the New Eng­land Foun­da­tion for the Arts’ Nation­al Dance Project with fund­ing from the Doris Duke Foundation.

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Anony­mous, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, Great Hill, and the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Sup­port for INTER­VEN­TIONS is pro­vid­ed by the NYC May­or’s Office of Media & Entertainment.

About Gov­er­nors Island Arts

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 instal­la­tions and exhi­bi­tions, an annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, and the curat­ed mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series. Learn more at www​.gov​is​land​.org/arts.

May 20 12:40 pm

Inspired by the Island’s ver­dant nat­ur­al spaces the mur­al depicts the migra­tion of birds along­side the tran­si­tions between the Island’s inhab­i­tants — from the Indige­nous Lenape peo­ple to ear­ly set­tlers to mil­i­tary per­son­nel — as the fer­ry in turn moves pas­sen­gers to and from the Island

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, debuts mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary artist Anna Valdez​’s vibrant, sym­bol­i­cal­ly intri­cate Spring Migra­tion, the first mur­al com­mis­sioned specif­i­cal­ly for a Gov­er­nors Island Fer­ry. Spring Migra­tion cov­ers an inte­ri­or wall of the Har­bor Charg­er, itself a major mile­stone as New York’s first pub­lic hybrid elec­tric ferry. 

The mur­al explores the sea­son­al rhythms and tran­sient his­to­ries of Gov­er­nors Island. From the Indige­nous Lenape peo­ple who uti­lized the land sea­son­al­ly to the ear­ly set­tlers and gen­er­a­tions of mil­i­tary per­son­nel sta­tioned here, the Island has been an ongo­ing site of tran­si­tion. Like the birds that vis­it each spring, these inhab­i­tants have played vital roles in the Island’s his­to­ry and lega­cy before mov­ing on. 

Valdez employs illus­tra­tions of birds includ­ing the non-migra­to­ry Pere­grine Fal­con and the migra­to­ry Bal­ti­more Ori­ole, Orchard Ori­ole, and Mag­no­lia War­bler, cho­sen for their beau­ty, endurance, and envi­ron­men­tal impacts. The Pere­grine Fal­con stands as a sym­bol­ic guardian of this ecosys­tem. Once near­ly extinct in the state of New York, its re-arrival feels, says Valdez, ​“like a mir­ror of the Island’s own rebirth, from a restrict­ed mil­i­tary base to a thriv­ing green space used by vis­i­tors as a place of respite as well as a cul­tur­al hub.”

The birds are set against dig­i­tal­ly manip­u­lat­ed pho­tographs of Gov­er­nors Island’s land­scapes and botan­i­cal details, invit­ing view­ers across New York Har­bor to prac­tice the act of look­ing close­ly, beck­on­ing them to find the extra­or­di­nary details with­in ephemer­al space. As Valdez describes, she used ​“both macro and micro ele­ments in the piece to cap­ture a viewer’s atten­tion both near or far. View­ers close to the piece should feel the lush abstrac­tion found with­in the vari­ety of greens and yel­lows pulling in the Island’s botany. Each bird is sized for max­i­mum impact” — with one wing span­ning more than 20 feet long.

Says Valdez, ​“While the Island holds dense lay­ers of human his­to­ry, its accen­tu­a­tion of nature has been a con­stant anchor. Cre­at­ing this mur­al began as most of my works typ­i­cal­ly do. I began by pulling from my ref­er­ence draw­ings, pho­tographs, his­tor­i­cal doc­u­ments, and found objects into a for­mat that com­mu­ni­cates an abstract tem­po­ral­i­ty. I also decid­ed to lean into the role of a fer­ry as a lim­i­nal space bridg­ing land, sea, and sky. I see my art­work trans­form­ing the ves­sel into a float­ing island, open­ing a por­tal to the des­ti­na­tion before the pas­sen­ger arrives. Ulti­mate­ly, Spring Migra­tion func­tions as a rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the social, artis­tic, geo­graph­ic nar­ra­tives to be found on the Island.”

Gov­er­nors Island Arts has con­sis­tent­ly pro­grammed trans­for­ma­tive pub­lic art­works that direct­ly engage with the Har­bor and water­front, and Spring Migra­tion now expands the Island’s artis­tic reach beyond its shores, bring­ing a thought­ful, eye-open­ing con­sid­er­a­tion of migra­tion to the jour­ney that con­nects peo­ple to it. Spring Migra­tion is a rich cen­ter­piece state­ment in a sea­son of work that med­i­tates on the theme of move­ment, explor­ing the Island as a site of arrival, depar­ture, and con­tin­u­al transformation. 

Spring Migra­tion will be on view on the Har­bor Charg­er through 2027, and joins the Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ diverse ecosys­tem of pub­lic art on dis­play through­out the Island’s open space that includes works by Sheila Berg­er, Chaka­ia Book­er, Mark Dion, Mark Hand­forth, Shantell Mar­tin, Duke Riley, Sam Van Aken, and Rachel Whiteread.

About Anna Valdez

Anna Valdez is a mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary artist who exam­ines the rela­tion­ship between objects, cul­tur­al for­ma­tion, and col­lec­tive con­scious­ness. Cre­at­ing an epic tableaux in her stu­dio, Valdez moves seam­less­ly between still life and land­scape paint­ing as she col­lects objects and makes new ones — throw­ing, fir­ing, and glaz­ing new ceram­ic ves­sels inspired by ideas for paint­ings, new plants or taxi­dermy, recent trips, or works in progress. Tog­gling between col­lec­tion, cre­ation, obser­va­tion, and fic­tion­al­iza­tion, Valdez works with sat­u­rat­ed hues and sur­pris­ing scale shifts to com­mu­ni­cate an abstract tem­po­ral­i­ty. Lay­er­ing the per­son­al with the his­tor­i­cal in dense com­po­si­tions that col­lapse fore­ground and back­ground, Valdez’s com­po­si­tions resem­ble immer­sive installations.

Valdez (b. 1985, Cal­i­for­nia, Unit­ed States) received her BA in Anthro­pol­o­gy and Art from Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Davis in 2009 and her MFA in paint­ing from Boston Uni­ver­si­ty in 2013. Her work has been exhib­it­ed nation­al­ly at venues includ­ing Crys­tal Bridges Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art in Ben­tonville, AR; North Car­oli­na Muse­um of Art in Raleigh, the Con­tem­po­rary Art Muse­um in Raleigh, and Asheville Art Muse­um, in Asheville, NC; New Britain Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art in New Britain, CT; Hashimo­to Con­tem­po­rary in San Fran­cis­co, CA and New York City, NY; David B. Smith Gallery in Den­ver, CO; and OCHI in Sun Val­ley, ID and Los Ange­les, CA. Valdez’s work has been fea­tured in pub­li­ca­tions includ­ing The New York Times, Jux­tapoz Mag­a­zine, New Amer­i­can Paint­ings, Art­sy, and Artillery Mag­a­zine. Her work is includ­ed in var­i­ous pri­vate and pub­lic col­lec­tions includ­ing the New Britain Muse­um of Amer­i­can Art in New Britain, Con­necti­cut, The Colum­bus Muse­um in Colum­bus, Geor­gia, Amer­i­can Muse­um of Ceram­ic Arts in Pomona, CA, Xiao Muse­um in Chi­na, the Phyl­lis & Ross Escalette Per­ma­nent Col­lec­tion of Art at Chap­man Uni­ver­si­ty in Orange, CA, the Microsoft Art Col­lec­tion in Seat­tle, WA, and Aritzia in Toron­to, Cana­da. Valdez cur­rent­ly lives and works in Los Ange­les, CA and Sacra­men­to, CA.

Web­site: https://​www​.annavaldez​.com/

Insta­gram: @missannavaldez

Fund­ing Credits

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Anony­mous, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, Great Hill, and the Howard Gilman Foundation.

About Gov­er­nors Island Arts

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 instal­la­tions and exhi­bi­tions, an annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, and the curat­ed mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series. Learn more at www​.gov​is​land​.org/arts.

May 14 10:17 am

A cel­e­bra­tion struc­tured around the ethos of the Per­sian Gar­den, with music, per­for­mance, sto­ry­telling, food, and bev­er­age unfold­ing across three ​“pools”, Damask Rose offers a method­ol­o­gy of care in a time of grief

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, presents Damask Rose: A Gath­er­ing, a spring cel­e­bra­tion cre­at­ed by artist Bahar Behba­hani, May 16 from 1 – 5pm in Liggett Ter­race on Gov­er­nors Island. Inspired by the tra­di­tions of Per­sian Gar­den, the work cen­ters Damask Rose, an immi­grant flo­ra from the East, and hon­ors migra­tion and hos­pi­tal­i­ty. Guid­ed by con­cep­tu­al ideas of shade, wind, immi­grant flo­ra, and dias­poric eco­log­i­cal and ances­tral knowl­edge, this gath­er­ing brings togeth­er non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, food and drink sto­ry­tellers, herbal­ists, tea prac­ti­tion­ers, musi­cians, and many oth­er like-mind­ed com­mu­ni­ties and part­ners to share a moment of joy and resilience.

Damask Rose entwines two of Behbahani’s long-ges­tat­ing cre­ative and per­son­al desires. The artist whose research-based prac­tice approach­es land­scape as a metaphor for pol­i­tics and poet­ics had long want­ed to build a Per­sian gar­den in New York as a recla­ma­tion from West­ern roman­ti­ciza­tion — empha­siz­ing the tradition’s intri­cate engi­neer­ing, hor­ti­cul­tur­al wis­dom, and spir­i­tu­al foun­da­tions. As an immi­grant who came to the coun­try know­ing no one over two decades ago, Behba­hani has like­wise aspired to throw a giant par­ty to bring togeth­er the com­mu­ni­ties that have since become her own. When Gov­er­nors Island Arts engaged her for its annu­al INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series, she saw an oppor­tu­ni­ty to sym­bol­i­cal­ly unite these two ideas. 

She says, ​“I thought my voice itself is not enough: I’ve always want­ed to invite peo­ple whose work I admire into my home, to cook, read, play, and talk togeth­er, the way we do back home. But here, no one seems to have the time to live that way. This project felt like the time I could use to invite oth­er orga­ni­za­tions and oth­er voic­es to cook this with me and bring their own knowl­edge hold­er com­mu­ni­ties and radi­ant ideas. I real­ly get ener­gy from all these part­ners who got excit­ed and brought their com­mu­ni­ties into it and went so far beyond the pro­vi­sion of resources. We put hours and hours of work into it; even a tem­po­rary gath­er­ing can have a last­ing impact.” 

On the repur­posed for­mer mil­i­tary post-turned lush site of art and exchange, she sim­i­lar­ly cre­ates a site of cel­e­bra­tion and wel­come against a back­drop of war and mil­i­ta­rized immi­gra­tion enforce­ment. Reflect­ing the phi­los­o­phy of inter­con­nect­ed pools in Per­sian Gar­dens, Behba­hani cre­ates three stages that will be simul­ta­ne­ous­ly and con­sis­tent­ly acti­vat­ed through­out the four-hour event. 

Loose­ly, one ​“pool” will cen­ter music and bev­er­age: with an Afropol­ka col­lab­o­ra­tion bring­ing togeth­er Cameroon­ian singer Kaïs­sa Doum­bè, Gambian/​Senegalese kora play­er Malang Jobarteh, and Pol­ish drum­mer Maciek Schejbal (1 – 2pm); Move­ment & Flower Mus­es, god­dess mak­ing using Japan­ese paper and paint from matcha, turmer­ic, and hibis­cus, with Kaoru Shimizu and Milād (1 – 2pm); an audi­to­ry expe­ri­ence from SAG Radio/Sasan Osk­ouei high­light­ing mix­es from Iran­ian and South West Asian and North African (SWANA) artists (2 – 3pm); The For­bid­den Spir­it, an event from SAG NYC sur­round­ing Aragh Sagi, the raisin-based dis­tilled spir­it from Iran, long banned but still present in under­ground cul­ture (3 – 4pm); and music from Imal Gnawa, the ensem­ble com­bin­ing the deep spir­i­tu­al and rhyth­mic lega­cy of Moroc­can Gnawa music and bold futur­ism, and oth­ers asso­ci­at­ed with Barza­kh Café (4 – 5pm). 

The sec­ond ​“pool” will be a site of dis­cus­sion and reflec­tion, fea­tur­ing Talk­ing Peers: Tea as Ves­sel, a tea-shar­ing acti­va­tion from Asia Con­tem­po­rary Art Forum (ACAF) (1 – 2:15pm); Braid­ing Resis­tance, a hair-braid­ing and knit­ting event from New York Kur­dish Cul­tur­al Cen­ter with a read­ing by Kur­dish poet Sama Ali (1:45 – 2:30pm); and Hikay­at: Dreamweav­ing, an event from ArteEast bring­ing togeth­er artists and spe­cial guests for a col­lec­tive dis­cus­sion weav­ing togeth­er a tapes­try of his­to­ry, mem­o­ry, and sur­vival, root­ed in a sen­so­ry explo­ration through the ves­sel of the Damask Rose (2:30 – 4pm). 

Anoth­er ​“pool” will fea­ture engage­ments for kids and par­ents: The Recon­struc­tion of (WE): Botan­i­cal Cyan­otype, a work­shop high­light­ing the bio­di­ver­si­ty of trees on Gov­er­nors Island with Natalia Nakaza­wa (1 – 2:30pm); a weav­ing work­shop that con­sid­ers the imme­di­ate real­i­ties of dis­place­ment and what peo­ple car­ry with them when they’re uproot­ed, with Cyn­thia Alber­to (1 – 2:30pm); The Daugh­ter of Api, an inter­ac­tive expe­ri­ence from Par­dis for Chil­dren engag­ing kids in a col­lec­tive rain-sum­mon­ing rit­u­al (2:30 – 4pm); and Eight-Trea­sure Tea Kids Cir­cle, an oppor­tu­ni­ty for kids to look, smell, touch, and taste the ingre­di­ents orig­i­nat­ed along the ancient Silk Road, from Tea Arts & Cul­ture (4 – 5pm).

Link­ing these areas are path­ways of green­ery that will be peri­od­i­cal­ly acti­vat­ed through­out the day, fea­tur­ing tea and curat­ed sweets from Eat Off­beat; also from Eat Off­beat, Samanak: A Rit­u­al of Sweet­ness and Strength with the Afghan women com­mu­ni­ty; offer­ings of raisins and grapes from Milād; Hafez with setar per­formed by Mani Nilchi­ani, along­side recita­tions by Sham­sy Behba­hani; From Seed to Sip, a plant­i­ng work­shop focus­ing on the ancient roots of Sekan­jabin in Per­sian cul­ture from Hor­tus Life & Jabin Bev­er­age Com­pa­ny (1 – 2:30pm); and, also from Hor­tus Life, a live flo­ral demon­stra­tion, invit­ing the com­mu­ni­ty to engage with the rose as both a cul­tur­al sym­bol and a liv­ing, sea­son­al pres­ence (3 – 4:30pm). Learn more and reserve free tick­ets online at www​.gov​is​land​.org.

The ​“pools” are out­lined by hand­wo­ven car­pets from across Iran, Moroc­co, and Afghanistan, with gen­er­ous sup­port of Ker­man­shah Rugs. Inter­spers­ing them Behba­hani has craft­ed shade-giv­ing struc­tures using cro­chet woven by her moth­er Sham­sy Behba­hani—along with Pooran Shams, Fazi­lat Hakimzadeh, Mehrnoush Jelveh, Iran­dokht Far­jad, Shahin Mazid-Aba­­di, and Abbas & Nikoo Afshar—over the last tumul­tuous months of protests, gov­ern­ment repres­sion, and the intense bom­bard­ment of the US-Israeli war on Iran. 

“I look at the event as if it’s the cro­chet my moth­er and her com­mu­ni­ty wove togeth­er,” says the artist. ​“How can I weave us togeth­er? I didn’t want a ​‘per­for­mance.’ I want­ed to feel like we’re going to my Uncle’s house and some­one knows how to play some­thing, and some­one sings, and some­one serves tea. In a moment of such heavy grief, I thought the par­ty could be one where we get togeth­er as a method of care and hospitality.”

The Damask Rose — a resis­tant flower from arid regions like mod­ern-day Syr­ia and Iran that has over cen­turies become a glob­al com­mod­i­ty as well as part of many cul­tures’ culi­nary tra­di­tions — emerges as a recur­ring sym­bol across the event’s many threads.

Damask Rose is part of this year’s INTER­VEN­TIONS series, Gov­er­nors Island Arts’ mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary per­for­mance series curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. INTER­VEN­TIONS presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for the imme­di­ate envi­ron­ment. The series will con­tin­ue June 19 & 20 with Okwui Okpok­wasili and Peter Born​’s col­lab­o­ra­tive per­form­ing arts prac­tice Sweat Vari­ant bring­ing to Gov­er­nors Island its first-ever out­door iter­a­tion of my tongue is a blade, a three-hour-long dura­tional move­ment work in and around a spin­ning mir­rored struc­ture that asks: What are the lim­its of our atten­tion and how does that test the strength of our bonds? my tongue is a blade is co-pre­sent­ed with Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) as part of their 2026 Riv­er to Riv­er Festival.

Damask Rose Pro­gram Partners

The event is a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort fea­tur­ing con­tri­bu­tions from pro­gram part­ners ArteEast, Asia Con­tem­po­rary Art Forum, Eat Off­beat, New York Kur­dish Cul­tur­al Cen­ter, Par­dis for Chil­dren, SAG NYC, Tea Arts & Cul­ture; sound part­ners Afropol­ka, Barza­kh Café, Sag Radio with per­form­ers Kaïs­sa Doum­bè, Maciek Schejbal, Malang Jobarteh, Imal Gnawa; weavers Cyn­thia Alber­to and Weav­ing Hand; hor­ti­cul­ture experts Half Hol­low Nurs­ery, Hor­tus Life. Pro­gram con­spir­a­tors: Maryam Ghor­eishi and Elaine Khuu. Botan­i­cal cyan­otype work­shop with artist Natalia Nakaza­wa. Move­ment and flower mus­es: Kaoru Shimizu and Milād. With the warmth of Ahmad Tea and Ker­man­shah Rug. Offi­cial hydra­tion part­ner: Jabin Bev­er­age Com­pa­ny. Dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ty part­ner: Nim­ruz. With sup­port from KODA and Mate­ri­als for the Arts. Damask Rose: A Gath­er­ing is made pos­si­ble through in-kind fab­ri­ca­tion sup­port through Pow­er­house Arts’ 2026 Artist Sub­sidy Pro­gram.

About Bahar Behbahani

Bahar Behba­hani is an artist and edu­ca­tor whose inter­dis­ci­pli­nary work explores mem­o­ry, era­sure, col­lab­o­ra­tion, adap­ta­bility, and the search for a sense of place. For over a decade, the Per­sian gar­den has served as a cen­tral metaphor in her prac­tice, bridg­ing per­son­al his­to­ry with wider his­to­ries of pow­er, cli­mate, and the futu­ri­ty of ances­tral knowl­edge. Her recent projects include a pub­lic com­mis­sion for the 2024 Cre­ative Time Sum­mit and par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Shar­jah Bien­ni­al 15, among oth­ers. She has received awards from Cre­ative Cap­i­tal, the Joan Mitchell Foun­da­tion, and the Pol­lock-Kras­n­er Foun­da­tion Grant. A trans­plant from the land of sun, she has adopt­ed New York as her home, where she teach­es at CUNY and cre­ates space for ques­tion­ing dom­i­nant nar­ra­tives through art and dialogue.

Fund­ing Credits

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents its pro­gram with sup­port from Cha­ri­na Endow­ment Fund, Anony­mous, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, Sur­go Foun­da­tion US, the New York State Coun­cil on the Arts (NYSCA) with the sup­port of the Office of the Gov­er­nor and the New York State Leg­is­la­ture, Rip­ple Foun­da­tion, Great Hill, and the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Sup­port for INTER­VEN­TIONS is pro­vid­ed by NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

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About Gov­er­nors Island Arts

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 instal­la­tions and exhi­bi­tions, an annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, and the curat­ed mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary INTER­VEN­TIONS per­for­mance series. Learn more at www​.gov​is​land​.org/arts.

May 13 10:14 am

Warm weath­er high­lights include open-air cul­tur­al and food fes­ti­vals, activ­i­ties hon­or­ing America250, and more

Addi­tion­al fer­ry ser­vice to Brook­lyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6 and Red Hook’s Atlantic Basin will be avail­able week­ends from May 23-Novem­ber 21

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced its sum­mer sea­son, show­cas­ing the extra­or­di­nary range of open space acti­va­tions, events, cul­tur­al offer­ings, and recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties that have made Gov­er­nors Island a beloved des­ti­na­tion for more than ten mil­lion indi­vid­u­als over the past two decades. This season’s line­up includes fes­ti­vals high­light­ing food, arts, and cul­ture; some of New York City’s most unique recre­ation­al and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties; glob­al sport­ing events; and activ­i­ties hon­or­ing America’s 250^th anniver­sary — high­light­ing the Island as a grow­ing resource for New York City.

“Gov­er­nors Island has evolved from a hid­den gem into a vibrant, year-round des­ti­na­tion that reflects the spir­it and diver­si­ty of New York City,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We are proud to con­tin­ue to offer unpar­al­leled open space, thought-pro­vok­ing arts and cul­ture, some of the city’s best culi­nary offer­ings, and a dynam­ic com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants and ameni­ties for our near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors. We encour­age all New York­ers to hop on the fer­ry and expe­ri­ence every­thing the Island has to offer this year.”

OPEN SPACE, AMENITIES, AND ATTRACTIONS

The Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly year-round, offer­ing vis­i­tors access to 120 acres of expan­sive open space just min­utes from Low­er Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. The Island’s 43-acre, award-win­ning park — rec­og­nized for its inno­v­a­tive, cli­mate-resilient design — fea­tures rolling lawns, vibrant land­scapes, and ample space for pic­nick­ing and out­door recre­ation. Ham­mock Grove’s rec­og­niz­able red ham­mocks com­ple­ment sev­er­al expand­ed path­ways nes­tled among a young urban for­est. This year marks the 10^th anniver­sary of the Hills; the South Island Park’s unique cli­mate-resilien­cy fea­ture for­ev­er trans­formed New York­ers’ rela­tion­ship with New York Har­bor. Ris­ing up to 70 feet above sea-lev­el, these icon­ic feats of engi­neer­ing offer unmatched views, inter­ac­tions with pub­lic art, bio­di­verse nat­ur­al habi­tats, oppor­tu­ni­ties for explo­ration, and more, all while serv­ing as a mod­el for sus­tain­able urban design. 

Bike rentals from Blaz­ing Sad­dles are avail­able dai­ly for vis­i­tors to explore sev­en miles of car-free paths, with Free Bike Morn­ings every week­day between 10am-12pm. The Island is also home to three CitiBike docks, locat­ed at each fer­ry land­ing and at Pic­nic Point. Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment, includ­ing Fort Jay and Cas­tle Williams, will reopen this sum­mer for both ranger-led and self-guid­ed tours. The Yard, play:groundNYC’s Adven­ture Play­ground offer­ing a unique kids-only space for imag­i­na­tion and explo­ration, is open every week­end from 12 – 4pm.

Oppor­tu­ni­ties to engage direct­ly with the research, devel­op­ment, and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions through­out the Island this sum­mer include GrowNYC’s Teach­ing Gar­den and Con­tain­er Farm, locat­ed on the Parade Ground, as well as Earth Mat­ter NY’s Com­post Learn­ing Cen­ter — both open week­ends from May to Novem­ber. Vis­i­tors can also wit­ness inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions in action via the Trust’s Cli­mate Pilot­ing Pro­gram, with a record-break­ing 17 dif­fer­ent cli­mate pilot­ing projects through­out the Island. Pilot projects will host live demon­stra­tions and work­shops through­out the peak season. 

Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC)’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island will hold per­for­mances, pub­lic pro­grams, and open stu­dios through­out the sum­mer along­side their annu­al Riv­er to Riv­er Fes­ti­val; the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture (IPA) will hold open library hours and exhi­bi­tions; Col­lec­tive Retreats is open through Novem­ber for overnight stays in their glamp­ing-style accom­mo­da­tions along with din­ner and drinks at their Sun­set Ter­race cock­tail bar and Three Peaks Lodge water­front restau­rant; and QC NY is open dai­ly with two heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, a full-ser­vice bistro, sen­so­ry saunas, a salt room, and more. 

The Trust will offer wheel­chair-acces­si­ble tram ser­vice, free and avail­able to all guests. These elec­tric acces­si­bil­i­ty vehi­cles will depart from Sois­sons Land­ing and Yan­kee Pier Fri­day through Sun­day from Memo­r­i­al Day to Labor Day, stop­ping at sev­er­al key loca­tions through­out the Island. 

EVENTS

Gov­er­nors Island remains one of New York City’s most unique loca­tions for events of all kinds. See a selec­tion of upcom­ing ear­ly sum­mer events below, with more to be announced through­out the season:

• May 16: Damask Rose: A Gath­er­ing, by Bahar Behba­hani, pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts
• May 30 & 31: Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix
• June 6 & 7: NYC Footy’s annu­al Gov­Cup tournament
• June 9: Sun­set Soirée, ben­e­fit­ting the Gov­er­nors Island Foundation
• June 10: New York City Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion Youth Cli­mate Summit
• June 13 & 14: Jazz Age Lawn Party
• June 19 & 20: my tongue is a blade, by Sweat Vari­ant, pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC)’s Riv­er to Riv­er Festival
• June 20 & 21: FAD Market
• June 20: Porch Stomp folk music festival
• June 21: The Great Nosh
• July 4: Sail4th 250 Grand Review of Tall Ships at Gov­er­nors Island
• July 18 & 19: New York City Poet­ry Festival
• July 25: Jazz by the Water
• July 25 & 26: FAD Market

FOOD VENDORS

Gov­er­nors Island is a grow­ing culi­nary des­ti­na­tion with a diverse mix of cuisines avail­able to vis­i­tors dai­ly. New offer­ings this year include pre­vi­ous­ly announced Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg, a full-scale, sea­son­al restau­rant bring­ing Pan-Amer­i­can cui­sine and an ener­getic and com­mu­nal atmos­phere to Sois­sons Land­ing, and the Theodo­ra Beach Club, Pre­sent­ed by Resy, a new din­ner series from Taco Vista, Brook­lyn-based restau­rant Theodo­ra, and media part­ner VinePair.

Return­ing ven­dors include Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny, Lit­tle Eva’s, Taco Vista, Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca, Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights, Threes Brew­ing, Sea Bis­cuit, Tokyo Drum­stick, La Newyork­i­na, Mak­i­na Café, and On Tea Road. The Food­ie Spot — a part­ner­ship with the New York City Hous­ing Author­i­ty (NYCHA)’s Office of Res­i­dent Eco­nom­ic Empow­er­ment and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty — will return to Liggett Ter­race for the sixth year in a row, spot­light­ing small busi­ness­es owned by grad­u­ates of NYCHA’s Food Busi­ness Path­ways pro­gram. Misi­pas­ta x Gov­er­nors Island, an inti­mate out­door sum­mer din­ner series pow­ered by Resy fea­tur­ing food from chef and restau­ra­teur Mis­sy Rob­bins, returns every Mon­day-Thurs­day from June 8 through August 31.

OPEN DAI­LY

• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny in the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal – Dai­ly, 7AM-2PM (open until 4pm Memo­r­i­al Day-Labor Day)
• Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny at Liggett Ter­race – Dai­ly, 9AM-5PM
• Lit­tle Eva’s – Week­days, 11AM-5PM; week­ends, 11AM-6PM
• Mak­i­na Café – Week­days, 9AM-3PM; week­ends, 10AM-4PM
• Taco Vista – Sun­day-Thurs­day, 12 – 6PM; Fri­day-Sat­ur­day, 12 – 7PM
• Three Peaks Lodge at Col­lec­tive Retreats – Din­ner dai­ly from 5 – 9PM; Sun­set Ter­race Cock­tail Bar: Week­days, 3 – 9PM; week­ends, 2 – 9PM

OPEN WEEK­ENDS AND SELECT WEEKDAYS

• Brigs Sweet Shop – Week­ends, 12 – 6PM
• Fauzia’s Heav­en­ly Delights – Week­ends, 10AM-6PM
• The Food­ie Spot – Week­ends, 9AM-5PM
• La Newyork­i­na – Week­ends, 12 – 7PM
• On Tea Road – Week­ends, 12 – 5PM
• Pizze­ria Fan­tas­ti­ca – Week­ends, 11AM-5PM
• Sea Bis­cuit – Week­ends, 12 – 7PM
• Six Coasts by Smor­gas­burg – Thurs­day, 11AM-10PM; Fri­day, 11AM-11PM; Sat­ur­day, 10AM-11PM; Sun­day, 10AM-10PM
• Threes Brew­ing – Week­ends, 11AM-6PM
• Tokyo Drum­stick – Week­ends, 11AM-5PM

GOVERNORS ISLAND ARTS

Through pub­lic art works, the annu­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence pro­gram, and pub­lic events and pro­gram­ming, Gov­er­nors Island Arts — the arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust — cre­ates trans­for­ma­tive encoun­ters with art for all New York­ers, invit­ing artists and researchers to engage with the Island’s lay­ered his­to­ries, envi­ron­ments, and archi­tec­ture. Vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/arts to view the program’s pre­vi­ous­ly announced sea­son of cul­tur­al offerings.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Gov­er­nors Island’s sum­mer hours will return begin­ning May 22, 2026. From Memo­r­i­al Day through Labor Day, the Island will remain open until 10pm Sun­day-Thurs­day and 11pm Fri­day-Sat­ur­day, with the South Island Park — includ­ing areas like the Hills, Ham­mock Grove, and Pic­nic Point — remain­ing open until dusk. 

Fer­ries oper­at­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. In addi­tion, Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries sea­son­al­ly serve two Brook­lyn loca­tions: Pier Six in Brook­lyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook. These sea­son­al routes run direct­ly to Yan­kee Pier on Gov­er­nors Island from each loca­tion every Sat­ur­day, Sun­day, and hol­i­day from May 23 through Novem­ber 1, 2026. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it the Gov­er­nors Island website.

Vis­i­tors are encour­aged to reserve fer­ry tick­ets in advance of their trip through the Gov­er­nors Island web­site. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $5 for adults. Fer­ries oper­at­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before 11am on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers on Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries at any time.

The Trust also offers free fer­ry fares for non­prof­it and com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, youth camps, and senior cen­ters. To inquire about group vis­its, orga­ni­za­tions may email groupvisits@​govisland.​org.

In addi­tion, NYC Fer­ry serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly via the South Brook­lyn Route and the sea­son­al Gov­er­nors Island shut­tle. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it the NYC Fer­ry web­site, www.ferry.nyc.

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

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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.