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The Governors Island Ice Sculpture Show has been rescheduled to March 8, 2026. Click here for more info.

The Governors Island Ice Sculpture Show has been rescheduled to March 8, 2026. Click here for more info.

Blog

High­lights from the Har­bor: Gov­er­nors Island’s 2020 Year In Review

Feb 5, 2021 12:19 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and Friends of Gov­er­nors Island are pleased to release our 2020 Year in Review! Despite the chal­lenges of 2020, we’re proud to have deliv­ered on this mis­sion last year as Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ued to be a beloved des­ti­na­tion and essen­tial resource for all New York­ers. Our 2020 Year In Review and the post below detail some of last year’s biggest achieve­ments from Gov­er­nors Island and our com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants and part­ner organizations. 

In 2020, Gov­er­nors Island pro­vid­ed vital access to open space when New York­ers need­ed it more than ever. The Island opened with new health and safe­ty mea­sures in July to wel­come hun­dreds of thou­sands of vis­i­tors from 99% of New York’s neigh­bor­hoods. Shift­ing Brook­lyn fer­ry ser­vice to Red Hook and launch­ing tar­get­ed out­reach allowed us to reach a wider audi­ence of vis­i­tors, 40% of whom uti­lized free fer­ries. Our Hor­ti­cul­ture team and a record-set­ting num­ber of vol­un­teers cared for the Island’s 120+ acres of open space, while spe­cial events lat­er in the sea­son enlivened the Island with free music and dance per­for­mances and more. 

The Island made space for artists who need­ed it while pro­vid­ing vis­i­tors a venue to safe­ly engage with pub­lic art. The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil and 19 oth­er arts and cul­ture orga­ni­za­tions launched the Gov­er­nors Island Res­i­den­cy Ini­tia­tive last year, a new pro­gram that reded­i­cat­ed indoor spaces to pro­vide stu­dios to over 120 artists. The Ini­tia­tive pro­duced new works, inspired col­lab­o­ra­tion, and offered a crit­i­cal resource for many whose prac­tices were dis­rupt­ed by COVID-19. Vis­i­tors were also able to expe­ri­ence the Island’s stun­ning pub­lic art­works at a time when many cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tions were closed. 

We took sig­nif­i­cant steps towards our vision of mak­ing the Island a year-round des­ti­na­tion for New York­ers. In Sep­tem­ber, the Trust announced its vision to attract a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions. The Island’s year-round ten­ants includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, LMCC and the Urban Assem­bly NY Har­bor School made progress on long-term goals while adapt­ing to the chal­lenges of COVID-19. New oppor­tu­ni­ties announced last year, sup­port­ed by ongo­ing cap­i­tal improve­ments, seek to acti­vate the His­toric Dis­trict with more year-round ten­an­cies in arts, cul­ture, sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy. Four new year-round ten­ants com­ing to Nolan Park were just announced: Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, Beam Cen­ter, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture, and Shan­dak­en Projects. 

Thanks for read­ing. We’re look­ing for­ward to wel­com­ing you back in the spring. For more info, see our full 2020 Year In Review.

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