Opportunities for Artists

Gov­er­nors Island is home to a diverse com­mu­ni­ty of arts and cul­ture orga­ni­za­tions from across the five bor­oughs and beyond, many of which offer res­i­den­cy pro­grams and oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties for artists and cul­tur­al prac­ti­tion­ers across a wide vari­ety of fields. See arts and cul­ture orga­ni­za­tions active on Gov­er­nors Island, includ­ing through pub­lic pro­grams and res­i­den­cy pro­grams, on our Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence page.

Pic­tured above, Art­Crawl Harlem 2020 artist-in-res­i­dence Demar­cus McGaugh­ey. Pho­to by Tim­o­thy Schenck

Gov­er­nors Island Arts Pub­lic Art Com­mis­sion­ing Program

Gov­er­nors Island Arts presents a lim­it­ed num­ber of pub­lic art projects each year as part of its pub­lic art com­mis­sion­ing pro­gram. Artists and orga­ni­za­tions inter­est­ed in show­ing work on the Island as part of this pro­gram are invit­ed to con­tact the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s Arts and Cul­ture team at arts@​govisland.​org.

Fifth Annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Arts Ice Sculp­ture Show

New York City-based artists and collectives/​teams (up to four peo­ple) are invit­ed to apply to com­pete in the fifth annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Arts Ice Sculp­ture Show, to be held Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 7, 2026, on Gov­er­nors Island. Appli­cants should sub­mit project pro­pos­als that fol­low the theme of this year’s com­pe­ti­tion: Move­ment. We encour­age appli­cants to think out­side the box and share with us a cre­ative inter­pre­ta­tion of the theme in their pro­pos­als. Learn more and sub­mit a pro­pos­al here via Submittable.