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2017 Sea­son Announced on Gov­er­nors Island

Apr 5, 2017 4:38 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island (The Trust) today announced its 2017 pub­lic sea­son. With an ear­ly open­ing, New York­ers will be able to expe­ri­ence the spring sea­son for the first time in one of New York City’s most beau­ti­ful pub­lic spaces. Build­ing off an event­ful 2016 sea­son with a record-break­ing 600,000 vis­i­tors, the Island will be acti­vat­ed with more pro­gram­ming and recre­ation­al activ­i­ties than ever. A diverse array of arts, cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions, as well as brand new recre­ation­al activ­i­ties will offer some­thing for vis­i­tors of all ages. Gov­er­nors Island opens to the pub­lic on Mon­day, May 1 and will be open every day through Octo­ber 1.

“Gov­er­nors Island is a trea­sure for the whole city, and an incred­i­ble mag­net for cul­ture and inno­va­tion,” said May­or Bill de Bla­sio. ​“We’re excit­ed to kick off anoth­er great sea­son and ear­ly open­ing for all New York­ers to enjoy.”

“A vis­it to Gov­er­nors Island is the eas­i­est way to get away, and an extend­ed sea­son is our first step towards year-round acti­va­tion with more oppor­tu­ni­ties to relax, play, learn and dis­cov­er the jew­el of the Har­bor”, said Michael Samuelian, pres­i­dent of The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“I invite every New York­er to enjoy spring­time for the first time on Gov­er­nors Island. From grilling, cycling and loung­ing to explor­ing the arts and learn­ing how to com­post, we have some­thing for every­one this year”.

Arts and cul­ture are the heart and soul of Gov­er­nors Island, and vis­i­tors will have the chance to explore more exhibits and pro­grams than ever from both new orga­ni­za­tions and famil­iar faces. Long­stand­ing Island ten­ant Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) returns with an excit­ing array of arts pro­gram­ming at LMC­C’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island, includ­ing a solo exhi­bi­tion with artist Kamee­lah Janan Rasheed, three Open Stu­dios events show­cas­ing works by their artists-in-res­i­dence, and the annu­al Riv­er To Riv­er Fes­ti­val fea­tur­ing MOAT, a per­for­mance and instal­la­tion by Jodi Mel­nick and The Set Up: Island Ghost Sleep Princess Time Sto­ry Show, a series of per­for­mances by lead artists Wal­ly Car­dona and Jen­nifer Lacey.

Island favorites cel­e­brat­ing 10 years of pro­gram­ming include 4heads with their annu­al art fair and sea­son-long children’s edu­ca­tion pro­grams in Colonels Row, the African Film Fes­ti­val Fam­i­ly Fun Day and the Sculp­tors Guild’s Cur­rent­ly 80, curat­ed by John Yau, includ­ing work by 50 of its present mem­bers in wood, clay, steel, stone, bronze, fab­ric, neon, paper, instal­la­tions, and dig­i­tal multi-media.

New art groups include the Stat­en Island based Labyrinth Arts Col­lec­tive Face to Face: Imag­ine Thy­self, an inter­ac­tive week­end of mask mak­ing, por­trait tak­ing and cel­e­bra­tion of indi­vid­u­al­i­ty. The Pub­lic Works Depart­ment will present Sanc­tu­ary Cities, a glob­al per­for­mance art project link­ing five cities along 17^th cen­tu­ry Dutch trade routes and explor­ing our inter­con­nect­ed his­to­ries against the back­drop of con­tem­po­rary issues.

Edu­ca­tion and explo­ration con­tin­ues to be a key part of the Gov­er­nors Island expe­ri­ence. This year, the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project will show­case the impor­tance of oys­ters to our local water­ways in a sea­son-long exhi­bi­tion in Nolan Park. The New York His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety cel­e­brates NYC and the Women’s Suf­frage Move­ment through a teen-curat­ed exhi­bi­tion com­mem­o­rat­ing the 100-year anniver­sary of New York State grant­i­ng women the right to vote. Vis­i­tors with a green thumb and a love for ani­mals can vis­it the Island’s Urban Farm on week­ends start­ing on May 27. GrowNYC will show­case the grow­ing, har­vest­ing and cook­ing of veg­eta­bles grown in their teach­ing gar­den. Earth Mat­ter will con­tin­ue to share meth­ods of mak­ing com­post, includ­ing how chick­ens and goats help ensure that there is no waste wast­ed on Gov­er­nors Island.

New spe­cial events include the Island’s first ever free Holi Hai Spring Col­or Fes­ti­val on open­ing week­end, where atten­dees will cel­e­brate diver­si­ty through play­ing with col­ors, danc­ing and music. The New York Tran­sit Muse­um will take a trip down mem­o­ry lane with the Vin­tage Bus Bash on the Island, no bus fare required. Return­ing favorites include FIGMENT’s week­end of play­ful par­tic­i­pa­to­ry art, the icon­ic Jazz Age Lawn Par­ty, Fam­i­ly Fun Day host­ed by the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island, Pinknic, the Brook­lyn Music Fes­ti­val and City of Water Day.

For a full list­ing of our sea­son announce­ments, read the press release, and vis­it our https://​gov​is​land​.com/​e​ventspage.

See you on the ferry!