Blog

Open Call: Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Ice Sculp­ture Show

Dec 20, 2022 2:34 pm

New York City-based artists and artist teams are invit­ed to sub­mit ideas for an ice sculp­ture, to be com­plet­ed at the sec­ond annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Ice Sculp­ture Show on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 18, 2023. Ice sculp­ture com­pe­ti­tions and exhi­bi­tions have a long his­to­ry around the world but are not typ­i­cal­ly seen on a grand scale in New York City — and are often lim­it­ed to artists who spe­cial­ize in ice carv­ing. The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Ice Show strives to democ­ra­tize this pop­u­lar activ­i­ty, trans­form­ing it into one open to all artists regard­less of dis­ci­pline and pre­vi­ous experience.

Ten pro­pos­als will be select­ed to com­pete by a dis­tin­guished jury of New York City-based cul­tur­al lead­ers. Select­ed artists or teams will receive an award of $2,000 to par­tic­i­pate, will be pro­vid­ed with tools and pro­duc­tion mate­ri­als, and will be matched with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er from Okamo­to Stu­dio to com­plete the work on the day of the event. An ice carv­ing ori­en­ta­tion for all select­ed artists and teams will take place pri­or to the event at Okamo­to Stu­dio. The dead­line to sub­mit pro­pos­als is Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 17, 2023.

Announce­ment date: Tues­day, Decem­ber 20, 2022
Dead­line to apply: Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 17, 2023
The dead­line to sub­mit pro­pos­als has been extend­ed to Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 20, at 11:59pm.
Event date: Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 18, 2023

Click here to apply online.

Host­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts in part­ner­ship with Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) and with the expert guid­ance of Okamo­to Stu­dio, the show is an excit­ing one-day event where vis­i­tors will be able to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing, enjoy music and warm drinks, and vote on their favorite works for the ​“People’s Choice Award,” pre­sent­ed to the fan favorite.

About the Pre­sent­ing Organizations

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 com­mis­sions, an annu­al Orga­ni­za­tion in Res­i­dence pro­gram in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, and free pub­lic pro­grams and events in part­ner­ship with a wide range of cross-dis­ci­pli­nary NYC cul­tur­al organizations.

Found­ed as Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, LMCC serves, con­nects, and makes space for artists and com­mu­ni­ty. Since 1973, LMCC has been the cham­pi­on for inde­pen­dent artists in New York City and the cul­tur­al life force of Low­er Man­hat­tan. Curat­ed and pre­sent­ed by LMCC, The Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island is an incu­ba­tor for cre­ative exper­i­men­ta­tion and a gath­er­ing space to engage in dia­logue. Work devel­oped and pre­sent­ed at The Arts Cen­ter focus­es on sus­tain­abil­i­ty and equity.