Blog

Gov­er­nors Island Opens Call for Pro­pos­als for Inno­v­a­tive Arts, Cul­ture and Spe­cial Events in 2018 and Beyond

Dec 14, 2017 4:08 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is now accept­ing pro­pos­als for pub­lic pro­gram­ming in 2018 and beyond. Orga­ni­za­tions and event pro­duc­ers work­ing in the arts, cul­ture, edu­ca­tion and envi­ron­men­tal sci­ence are invit­ed to pro­pose indoor exhibits, per­for­mances, out­door fes­ti­vals and more for the pub­lic to enjoy dur­ing the Island’s pub­lic sea­son, which runs May 1 through Octo­ber 31.

Gov­er­nors Island’s art and cul­ture pro­gram offers an incred­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ty for orga­ni­za­tions to expand to new audi­ences and pro­duce ground­break­ing, exper­i­men­tal pro­gram­ming in one of New York City’s fastest grow­ing cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tions. A record 800,000 peo­ple vis­it­ed Gov­er­nors Island in 2017, with near­ly 75% hail­ing from New York City, mak­ing it one of the most excit­ing venues for pre­sent­ing ground­break­ing pub­lic pro­gram­ming in the City. This year, The Trust will chal­lenge pro­posers to sub­mit pro­grams and new projects that engage mean­ing­ful­ly with the Island’s unique his­to­ry, land­scape and diverse audi­ence. Site fees will be waived for qual­i­fy­ing pro­grams and events that are free and open to the public. 

“Each sea­son, Gov­er­nors Island comes alive with count­less oppor­tu­ni­ties to dis­cov­er free pro­gram­ming in the arts, his­to­ry and sci­ence, mak­ing it one of New York City’s most excit­ing cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tions” said Michael Samuelian, pres­i­dent of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“With more vis­i­tors than ever and a longer, six-month sea­son, we’re delight­ed to offer a wider plat­form for orga­ni­za­tions to show­case pro­gram­ming to a grow­ing audience”.

The Trust has a long his­to­ry of offer­ing New York City’s arts and cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty a unique plat­form for expand­ing audi­ence beyond a sin­gle neigh­bor­hood, and an oppor­tu­ni­ty to show­case work in the Island’s serene and his­toric set­tings. Through the Trust’s art and cul­ture pro­gram, over 150,000 square feet of indoor space in dozens of his­toric hous­es and 25 acres of out­door space are made avail­able free of charge to orga­ni­za­tions that cre­ate pro­gram­ming that is free and open to the pub­lic. Over 60 arts, cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions from across New York City par­tic­i­pat­ed in the pro­gram in 2017, pro­duc­ing over 80 events.

This year, for the first time, the Trust will also offer orga­ni­za­tions the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­pose indoor pro­gram­ming in Nolan Park, a col­lec­tion of charm­ing 19^th cen­tu­ry homes, for up to three sea­sons. When sub­mit­ting a pro­pos­al, orga­ni­za­tions will be invit­ed to pro­pose pro­gram­ming for a day, a week­end, mul­ti­ple weeks or sea­son-long. Pro­grams that are sea­son-long to mul­ti-sea­son will be eli­gi­ble for indoor space in one of the Nolan Park Hous­es. Short­er-term pro­grams will be eli­gi­ble for space in the near­by brick homes in Colonels Row. In addi­tion, out­door pro­grams, both free and tick­et­ed, will be eli­gi­ble for the Island’s expan­sive green spaces includ­ing the Colonels Row Lawn, Nolan Park, Play Lawn, Oval and the new­ly restored Parade Ground. 

“Gov­er­nors Island is a place like no oth­er in New York, and its posi­tion at the cen­ter of New York Har­bor pro­vides myr­i­ad paths to ques­tion, explore, and engage with the pub­lic in sus­tained and pro­found ways,” said Mered­ith John­son, the Trust’s VP for Arts and Cul­ture, ​“With the revised pro­pos­al process for 2018, and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of pre­sent­ing a pro­gram over many years, our goal is to entrench art, cul­tur­al col­lab­o­ra­tion and inno­v­a­tive prac­tice deep­er than ever before into very heart of the Island’s future.”

An appli­ca­tion, as well as addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion about host­ing pub­lic pro­grams on Gov­er­nors Island, is avail­able at gov​is​land​.org. The Trust encour­ages orga­ni­za­tions to place an empha­sis on pub­lic par­tic­i­pa­tion when propos­ing pro­grams. Pro­pos­als will be eval­u­at­ed based on fit and align­ment with the Island’s diverse and dynam­ic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming, track-record of pro­duc­ing and orga­niz­ing oth­er pro­grams and events and engage­ment with the Island as a site, includ­ing its his­to­ry, ecol­o­gy, archi­tec­ture and rela­tion­ship to New York City.

Qual­i­fy­ing pro­pos­als received between today and Jan­u­ary 31, 2018 will be informed of their accep­tance to the pro­gram with loca­tion assign­ments in mid-Feb­ru­ary. Pro­pos­als for sea­son-long or mul­ti-year pro­grams must be received by this date. After Jan­u­ary 31, pro­pos­als will be accept­ed on a rolling basis. 

The Trust will open an addi­tion­al per­mit process for mobile food ven­dors, sports field and grill reser­va­tions in ear­ly 2018. For more infor­ma­tion on spaces man­aged by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, vis­it gov​is​land​.org. For infor­ma­tion on the 22-acre Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment man­aged by the Nation­al Parks Ser­vice, vis­it nps​.gov/gois.

In 2018, Gov­er­nors Island will be open every day from May 1 through Octo­ber 31. The Island is open from 10AM to 6PM on week­days and from 10AM to 7PM on week­ends, Memo­r­i­al Day, July 4 and Labor Day.