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Gov­er­nors Island 2025 Year in Review

Dec 29, 2025 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 →