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Gov­er­nors Island opens its annu­al call for pro­pos­als for indoor pro­grams and exhi­bi­tions for the 2020 season

Oct 16, 2019 10:59 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island has opened its annu­al call for pro­pos­als for free indoor exhi­bi­tion space, open to artis­tic, cul­tur­al, envi­ron­men­tal and edu­ca­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions for the 2020 pub­lic sea­son. Space inside over two dozen his­toric for­mer offi­cers’ homes will be offered to non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions propos­ing free pub­lic pro­grams, includ­ing art and edu­ca­tion­al exhi­bi­tions, per­for­mances, work­shops, screen­ings, talks and more. 

“Each sea­son, arts and cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions from across New York bring Gov­er­nors Island’s his­toric dis­trict to life with ground­break­ing and exper­i­men­tal arts, envi­ron­men­tal and edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming for all ages,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Gov­er­nors Island pro­vides an unfor­get­table venue for cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions and non-prof­its to present work in front of a high­ly engaged, diverse pub­lic audience.” 

With a grow­ing num­ber of vis­i­tors of all ages from across New York, the Unit­ed States and abroad, Gov­er­nors Island offers an unprece­dent­ed oppor­tu­ni­ty for arts, envi­ron­men­tal, cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions to reach the pub­lic in a sin­gu­lar set­ting. In 2019, 30 orga­ni­za­tions pre­sent­ed exhibits, work­shops, per­for­mances and talks, and host­ed artists-in-res­i­dence in the his­toric hous­es of Nolan Park and Colonels Row, once home to mil­i­tary offi­cers and their fam­i­lies dur­ing Gov­er­nors Island’s near­ly two-cen­tu­ry his­to­ry as a mil­i­tary base. These homes dat­ing from the late nine­teenth cen­tu­ry pro­vide mul­ti­ple rooms of var­i­ous sizes, often across two floors, that can be used for instal­la­tions, exhi­bi­tions, artist stu­dios, inti­mate per­for­mance venues or spaces for small work­shops and edu­ca­tion­al programs. 

“Gov­er­nors Island has the rare com­bi­na­tion of unpar­al­leled his­toric space, rich ecol­o­gy and an ever grow­ing local, nation­al and inter­na­tion­al audi­ence at the cen­ter of our country’s largest metrop­o­lis,” said Mered­ith John­son, VP of Arts and Cul­ture at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty is the heart of New York City, and we are thrilled to be able to share the Island’s unique resources with lead­ing cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions from across the city.” 

Propos­ing orga­ni­za­tions will present free pub­lic pro­gram­ming dur­ing the hours of 11am to 5pm on week­ends dur­ing the pub­lic sea­son (May 1 – Octo­ber 31, 2020). Orga­ni­za­tions who apply are encour­aged to pro­pose pro­grams that empha­size diverse pub­lic par­tic­i­pa­tion and engage­ment. Pro­pos­als will be eval­u­at­ed based on the over­all qual­i­ty of the pro­posed pro­gram; fit and align­ment with the Island’s dynam­ic arts, cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al pro­gram­ming; track-record of con­cep­tu­al­iz­ing, pro­duc­ing and orga­niz­ing oth­er pro­grams and events; com­mit­ment to con­nect­ing with diverse audi­ences; and engage­ment with the Island as a site, includ­ing its his­to­ry, ecol­o­gy, archi­tec­ture and rela­tion­ship to the rest of New York City. The appli­ca­tion and addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion on host­ing indoor pro­grams is avail­able at gov​is​land​.org/​p​e​rmits.