! Alert

FERRY ALERT: New York Harbor will be experiencing planned closures on March 29, 2024. Because of this, Governors Island ferry service may experience delays between 11am-12pm on Friday, March 29. Times are subject to change, we apologize for any inconvenience.

FERRY ALERT: New York Harbor will be experiencing planned closures on March 29, 2024. Because of this, Governors Island ferry service may experience delays between 11am-12pm on Friday, March 29. Times are subject to change, we apologize for any inconvenience.

High­lights from the Har­bor: Gov­er­nors Island’s 2020 Year In Review

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and Friends of Gov­er­nors Island are pleased to release our 2020 Year in Review! Despite the chal­lenges of 2020, we’re proud to have deliv­ered on this mis­sion last year as Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ued to be a beloved des­ti­na­tion and essen­tial resource for all New York­ers. Our 2020 Year In Review and the post below detail some of last year’s biggest achieve­ments from Gov­er­nors Island and our com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants and part­ner organizations. 

In 2020, Gov­er­nors Island pro­vid­ed vital access to open space when New York­ers need­ed it more than ever. The Island opened with new health and safe­ty mea­sures in July to wel­come hun­dreds of thou­sands of vis­i­tors from 99% of New York’s neigh­bor­hoods. Shift­ing Brook­lyn fer­ry ser­vice to Red Hook and launch­ing tar­get­ed out­reach allowed us to reach a wider audi­ence of vis­i­tors, 40% of whom uti­lized free fer­ries. Our Hor­ti­cul­ture team and a record-set­ting num­ber of vol­un­teers cared for the Island’s 120+ acres of open space, while spe­cial events lat­er in the sea­son enlivened the Island with free music and dance per­for­mances and more. 

The Island made space for artists who need­ed it while pro­vid­ing vis­i­tors a venue to safe­ly engage with pub­lic art. The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil and 19 oth­er arts and cul­ture orga­ni­za­tions launched the Gov­er­nors Island Res­i­den­cy Ini­tia­tive last year, a new pro­gram that reded­i­cat­ed indoor spaces to pro­vide stu­dios to over 120 artists. The Ini­tia­tive pro­duced new works, inspired col­lab­o­ra­tion, and offered a crit­i­cal resource for many whose prac­tices were dis­rupt­ed by COVID-19. Vis­i­tors were also able to expe­ri­ence the Island’s stun­ning pub­lic art­works at a time when many cul­tur­al des­ti­na­tions were closed. 

We took sig­nif­i­cant steps towards our vision of mak­ing the Island a year-round des­ti­na­tion for New York­ers. In Sep­tem­ber, the Trust announced its vision to attract a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions. The Island’s year-round ten­ants includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, LMCC and the Urban Assem­bly NY Har­bor School made progress on long-term goals while adapt­ing to the chal­lenges of COVID-19. New oppor­tu­ni­ties announced last year, sup­port­ed by ongo­ing cap­i­tal improve­ments, seek to acti­vate the His­toric Dis­trict with more year-round ten­an­cies in arts, cul­ture, sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy. Four new year-round ten­ants com­ing to Nolan Park were just announced: Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, Beam Cen­ter, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture, and Shan­dak­en Projects. 

Thanks for read­ing. We’re look­ing for­ward to wel­com­ing you back in the spring. For more info, see our full 2020 Year In Review.