Governors Island Winter Ice Sculpture Show

Host­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts in part­ner­ship with Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island, and with the expert guid­ance of Okamo­to Stu­dio, the show is an excit­ing one-day event where vis­i­tors will be able to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing, enjoy music and warm drinks, and vote on their favorite works for the ​“People’s Choice Award,” pre­sent­ed to the fan favorite.

Event Sched­ule
12pm: Carv­ing starts
2pm: Carv­ing ends
2:30pm: Awards Cer­e­mo­ny
3 – 5pm: Post-show recep­tion, open to all!

Ice sculp­ture com­pe­ti­tions and exhi­bi­tions have a long his­to­ry around the world but are not typ­i­cal­ly seen on a grand scale in New York City — and are often lim­it­ed to artists who spe­cial­ize in ice carv­ing. The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Ice Show strives to democ­ra­tize this pop­u­lar activ­i­ty, trans­form­ing it into one open to all artists regard­less of dis­ci­pline and pre­vi­ous experience. 

This year’s show will fea­ture DJ sets from Red Corvette and DJ Sav­age curat­ed by Half Moon, an inde­pen­dent music and media com­pa­ny that cov­ers and rein­forces emerg­ing cul­ture around the world through radio, events, edi­to­r­i­al, and edu­ca­tion­al work­shops with head­quar­ters in New York City and Los Ange­les. In addi­tion to food and drink avail­able from year-round Gov­er­nors Island ven­dor Lit­tle Eva’s, food trucks oper­at­ed by Black-owned busi­ness­es Ms. Spudz and GG’s Fish & Chips will be fea­tured dur­ing the event in hon­or of Black His­to­ry Month.

The esteemed jury pan­el that select­ed entrants and will select sev­er­al win­ners includes: Jonathan Gar­den­hire, Assis­tant Direc­tor of Indi­vid­ual Giv­ing at MoMA PS1; Natasha Logan, Deputy Direc­tor of Cre­ative Time; Shin­taro Okamo­to, Founder/​Creative Direc­tor of Okamo­to Stu­dio, artist José Par­lá, and artist Duke Riley.

About the Pre­sent­ing Organizations

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the pub­lic arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, cre­ates trans­for­ma­tive encoun­ters with art for all New York­ers, invit­ing artists and researchers to engage with the issues of our time in the con­text of the Island’s lay­ered his­to­ries, envi­ron­ments, and archi­tec­ture. Gov­er­nors Island Arts achieves this mis­sion through tem­po­rary and long-term pub­lic art com­mis­sions, an annu­al Orga­ni­za­tion in Res­i­dence pro­gram in the Island’s his­toric hous­es, and free pub­lic pro­grams and events in part­ner­ship with a wide range of cross-dis­ci­pli­nary NYC cul­tur­al organizations. 

Found­ed as Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, LMCC serves, con­nects, and makes space for artists and com­mu­ni­ty. Since 1973, LMCC has been the cham­pi­on for inde­pen­dent artists in New York City and the cul­tur­al life force of Low­er Man­hat­tan. Curat­ed and pre­sent­ed by LMCC, The Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island is an incu­ba­tor for cre­ative exper­i­men­ta­tion and a gath­er­ing space to engage in dia­logue. Work devel­oped and pre­sent­ed at The Arts Cen­ter focus­es on sus­tain­abil­i­ty and equity.