345,000 Visitors Enjoyed Governors Island in the 40 Day 2012 Season
Oct 16, 2012 7:04 pm
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Thank you to everyone who enjoyed arts, culture and recreation on Governors Island this season. We will see you next May![/caption] Governors Island welcomed 345,000 visitors in its 40 day 2012 public season. For those of you who were able to visit over the last several months, you know that visitors enjoyed a wide range of arts, cultural and recreational activities including the Corning Museum of Glass’ Glass Lab, the Pig Island food festival and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s graphic design exhibition. The Island was open on Saturdays, Sundays, Memorial Day and Labor Day from May 26 through September 30. The Island will re-open to the public at the end of May 2013. As previously announced, Governors Island was closed on Fridays in the 2012 season to facilitate construction of the Island’s new park and public spaces and infrastructure program. Throughout the season, Governors Island continued to attract visitors from throughout New York City and beyond. Despite being open for 19 fewer days than 2011, the average number of visitors on a public day in 2012 grew to 8,200 from 7,100 last year. On a typical day, the Island is attracting as many visitors as Ellis Island. The Trust for Governors Island welcomed the public during the 2012 season while also moving forward with its ambitious capital program. In May, Mayor Bloomberg and elected officials broke ground on the new 30 acre park and public spaces that will be completed next year. In addition, The Trust is overseeing several major construction projects that are bringing the Island’s infrastructure into the 21st century by restoring potable water, upgrading electric and telecom systems, stabilizing historic buildings and upgrading the 2.2 mile seawall and the docks that serve the Island. Dozens of organizations presented programs on the Island including those that had never before produced work here. Organizations new to the Island included the International Center of Photography, the Corning Museum of Glass, Better Living Through Math and Jalopy Theater. These joined some old visitor favorites including Storm King’s Mark di Suvero at Governors Island, which was in its second year and featured more than a dozen of the artist’s pieces in green spaces throughout the Island, the Earth Matter Compost Learning Center which introduced visitors to the Island’s newest residents, two goats named Pearl and Browser, FIGMENT’s nine hole artist designed miniature golf course and musical performances such as the alt-classical Rite of Summer series in Colonels Row. We look forward to seeing you all again next year when Governors Island re-opens on May 25, 2013.