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A mes­sage on Gov­er­nors Island’s 2020 Pub­lic Sea­son from Clare New­man, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO

Apr 17, 2020 11:42 am

Dear Friends,

All of us at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island know how chal­leng­ing these unprece­dent­ed times are for New York City. As we nav­i­gate the impacts of COVID-19 on our dai­ly lives, we are remind­ed of just how impor­tant open space and cul­tur­al resources are to our com­mu­ni­ties, and how they enliv­en our city.

With a heavy heart, the Trust has deter­mined it must delay our orig­i­nal­ly planned May 1^st open­ing of the 2020 pub­lic sea­son on Gov­er­nors Island. The health and safe­ty of our vis­i­tors, staff, ten­ants, ven­dors and com­mu­ni­ty of cul­tur­al orga­ni­za­tions is our top pri­or­i­ty, and we are com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing the City’s efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. We look for­ward to soon announc­ing when we will be able to wel­come you back to the Island this year.

The Island is con­tin­u­ous­ly respond­ing to guid­ance at the Fed­er­al, State and Local lev­els, and has already imple­ment­ed the fol­low­ing measures: 

• Lim­it­ing access to Gov­er­nors Island to essen­tial staff and ten­ants only 
• Edu­cat­ing our staff, vol­un­teers, and pro­gram­ming part­ners on pre­ven­ta­tive mea­sures and social dis­tanc­ing in line with rec­om­men­da­tions by the Cen­ter for Dis­ease Con­trol and the New York City Depart­ment of Health
• Dra­mat­i­cal­ly increas­ing clean­ing pro­to­cols in com­mon areas 

Though closed to the pub­lic, we are look­ing to find new ways to con­nect New York­ers to Gov­er­nors Island’s rich his­to­ry, water­front ecol­o­gy, inno­v­a­tive land­scapes and diverse art and cul­ture, start­ing with vir­tu­al pro­gram­ming over these next few weeks for some need­ed spring­time joy. Please explore our web­site or fol­low us on Insta­gram, Face­book and Twit­ter, where we’ll be shar­ing dai­ly bloom pho­tos and dig­i­tal resources to stay con­nect­ed.

In the mean­time, we look for­ward to see­ing you on the fer­ry soon.

Clare

Clare New­man
Pres­i­dent and CEO
The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island