Blog

Jan 16 11:37 am

Today, Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Times Square Arts announce select­ed final­ists and jury mem­bers for Gov­er­nors Island’s third annu­al Ice Sculp­ture Show, set to take place on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 3, 2024, from 12 to 5p.m. This unique annu­al event pro­vides New York­ers and vis­i­tors from around the world with the sin­gu­lar oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing along­side the open space, and cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and his­toric resources and attrac­tions that Gov­er­nors Island offers year-round. The fes­tive win­ter event will coin­cide with the Times Square Arts’ annu­al Love in Times Square cel­e­bra­tion on Feb­ru­ary 14, 2024, which cel­e­brates Valentine’s Day with wed­dings, sur­prise pro­pos­als and vow renewals. 

The Gov­er­nors Island Ice Sculp­ture Show is pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Times Square Arts, with lead sup­port from the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. Gen­er­ous sup­port for the event is pro­vid­ed by New York Water Taxi.

This year’s esteemed jury pan­el that will select the win­ners includes cre­ative agent at large and cast mem­ber of Bravo’s The Real House­wives of New York City Jen­na Lyons, writer and edi­tor Miya Lee, Chair of the New York City Coun­cil Com­mit­tee on Cul­tur­al Affairs, Libraries, and Inter­na­tion­al Inter­group Rela­tions Coun­cil Mem­ber Chi Ossé, and Hol­lis Kam, Senior Vice Pres­i­dent of Peo­ple and Cul­ture at Times Square Alliance and decade-long ordained wed­ding offi­ciant for Love in Times Square.

2024 Ice Sculp­ture Show Finalists:

• Art Doman­tay and Rober­to Flo­res (@domantayart)  — Doman­tay is known for his fab­ri­ca­tion work on ambi­tious pub­lic art projects. . In his col­lab­o­ra­tion with Flo­res, they pro­pose a mul­ti-dimen­sion­al, kinet­ic heart sculp­ture acti­vat­ed by human touch. 

• Aziki­we Mohammed (@misterace12) — As a native New York­er, Mohammed plans to depict the noto­ri­ous King Kong, pay­ing homage to the ape’s tale as an immi­grant and his com­pli­cat­ed yet leg­endary love sto­ry with New York City.

• Kate­ri­na Sokolovskaya (@katerina.sokolovskaya.art)— For her ethe­re­al con­cept, hands and legs emerge from a cloud as two hid­den peo­ple embrace with­in it. Sokolovskaya aims to take an abstract and escapist approach to the theme of love. 

• Lloyd Fos­ter (@_lloydfoster) — Fos­ter fre­quent­ly fea­tures angels in his work, and plans to use this motif as a sym­bol of love for his art piece. Hearts will replace the angel’s wings for his ​“Love Angels” sculpture.

• Zeel­ie Brown (@zeel­iebrownlovesy­ou) — Brown pos­es a sculp­ture that reflects her focus on Black love, soul, and New York City’s nat­ur­al and archi­tec­tur­al land­scapes. The piece aims to instill passers­by with a sense of free­dom, love, and con­nec­tion to nature and place. 

• Lovie Pig­na­ta (@iLovieNY) — For her piece titled ​“Smit­ten,” Pig­na­ta depicts two cozy mit­tens with knit details touch­ing to form a heart, ref­er­enc­ing the begin­ning stages of love in the win­try months. 

• Josef Pin­lac (@Istillheartnewyork)— Two hands con­join to form a heart for Pinlac’s work — a now viral world­wide sym­bol stem­ming from Japan — in which vis­i­tors have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to step inside the frame for a spe­cial moment of love. Pin­lac is a mem­ber of Con Artist Col­lec­tive in the Low­er East Side. 

• Paras­too Aho­van (@parastooahovan) — Ahovan’s design rep­re­sents a tree in an abstract form to sug­gest the inter­con­nect­ed­ness of life and love. Each branch and leaf is sym­bol­ic of growth and life’s mean­der­ing jour­ney, while the roots delve into the rich soil of tra­di­tion and resilience.

• Aki­ra Yoshimu­ra (@akirayoshimura_) — Yoshimu­ra demon­strates his love for New York City where he met his wife and friends with an ode in the shape of the King and Queen of hearts — the Queen’s card depict­ing the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty and the King’s card don­ning a quin­tes­sen­tial NYC street vend­ing cart.

• Sal­ly Twin (@thesallybeauty)  — Twin’s ​“Game of Love” is a dynam­ic take on love and the game of shuf­fle­board, allow­ing vis­i­tors to phys­i­cal­ly inter­act with the sculpture’s playable pieces for an immer­sive experience. 

“For the third win­ter sea­son in a row we have been able to offer New York­ers and vis­i­tors a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to wit­ness live ice carv­ing and to expe­ri­ence inter­ac­tive pub­lic art right here on the Island,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The Ice Sculp­ture Show is a unique exam­ple of all the fun win­ter activ­i­ties that vis­i­tors can enjoy dur­ing the cold­er sea­son. We wel­come vis­i­tors of all ages to enjoy music and warm drinks, while expe­ri­enc­ing the thrill of carv­ing ice live with a chainsaw.”

“Gov­er­nors Island has become home to a pletho­ra of unique and engag­ing pub­lic arts pro­gram­ming, allow­ing vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence and dis­cov­er the cre­ative vision­ar­ies from all over the world that inno­vate and design on the Island,” said Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor of Arts & Cul­ture for the Trust. ​“We can­not wait to see what this incred­i­ble group of select­ed artists cre­ates and look for­ward to wel­com­ing vis­i­tors to vote on their favorite ice carved works while get­ting to expe­ri­ence a one-of-a-kind arts expe­ri­ence on the Island.” 

“We can’t wait to see the win­ning design melt hearts in Times Square and become the spark­ly and ephemer­al anchor for our super­sized cel­e­bra­tion of love on Valentine’s Day,” said Jean Cooney, VP of Arts & Cul­ture for the Times Square Alliance.

Ten final­ist artists were cho­sen and each final­ist was award­ed $2,000 and paired with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er from Okamo­to Stu­dio, where sculp­tures will be carved in a free pub­lic event on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 3, 2024, from 12 to 5 p.m. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to wit­ness this real-time ice carv­ing from 12 to 2 p.m., vote on their favorite sculp­ture for the ​“People’s Choice Award: from 2 to 2:30 p.m., and enjoy an awards cer­e­mo­ny and recep­tion from 2:30 to 5 p.m. This year’s Ice Sculp­ture show will take place in his­toric Colonels Row and will also fea­ture the district’s lawn games, fire pits, and art exhi­bi­tions, along with food and drink year-round Gov­er­nors Island ven­dor Mak­i­na Café and select addi­tion­al food trucks. 

A larg­er-scale ver­sion of the win­ning sculp­ture will then be carved and installed by Okamo­to Stu­dio in Times Square as a visu­al anchor for the district’s annu­al Valentine’s Day events, where New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike will cel­e­brate love through sur­prise pro­pos­als, wed­dings, and a vow renew­al cer­e­mo­ny on the Square’s icon­ic Red Steps. Sub­mis­sion links to be a part of the fes­tiv­i­ties are below:

• Sur­prise Proposals

• Wed­dings

• Renew Your Vows

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org. For the event on Feb­ru­ary 3, spe­cial one-day ser­vice will be pro­vid­ed from Red Hook/​Atlantic Basin and Pier 6/​Brooklyn Bridge Park to Gov­er­nors Island, with tick­ets and sched­ules to be avail­able on Gov­er­nors Island’s web­site in the days lead­ing up to the event.

Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults ages 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before noon on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time. 

NYC Fer­ry is tem­porar­i­ly bypass­ing Gov­er­nors Island for sev­er­al weeks due to planned main­te­nance. NYC Fer­ry rid­ers trav­el­ing to Gov­er­nors Island from Brook­lyn can take the fer­ry to Wall Street/​Pier 11 and trans­fer to Trust-oper­at­ed fer­ries at 10 South Street. 

Gov­er­nors Island’s award-win­ning park is open to the pub­lic every day, along with recre­ation activ­i­ties like bike rentals, a Com­mu­ni­ty Climb­ing Boul­der, Ham­mock Grove, The Hills, Pic­nic Point, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art com­mis­sions, includ­ing work from Duke Riley, Sam Van Aken, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, Sheila Berg­er, and Mark Hand­forth are also cur­rent­ly on view through­out the Island. 

This win­ter also marks the return of Win­ter Dog Days, where dogs are allowed on Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly from Decem­ber 1 through the end of April. Dogs must be leashed while on Gov­er­nors Island except for in the Win­ter Dog Park, locat­ed in Colonels Row. 

Dec 28 10:31 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island are excit­ed to release our 2023 Year in Review. From ground­break­ing arts and cul­ture to incred­i­ble events and cel­e­bra­tions to major mile­stones in cre­at­ing a hub for cli­mate edu­ca­tion and research, 2023 was an unfor­get­table year on Gov­er­nors Island, and we could­n’t have done it with­out you. Read on for high­lights, and click here to read the full report.

INNO­VA­TION IN CLI­MATE & THE ENVIRONMENT

Cities around the world are becom­ing increas­ing­ly con­front­ed with the impacts of cli­mate change. In 2023, Gov­er­nors Island made tremen­dous progress in the vision for a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, announc­ing the selec­tion of the New York Cli­mate Exchange as the ini­tia­tive’s anchor insti­tu­tion. We also made his­to­ry in New York Har­bor with the announce­ment of our new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, set­ting sail in sum­mer 2024, and launched a new plat­form to ampli­fy cli­mate action. Read more →

OPEN SPACE FOR ALL NEW YORKERS

Cities around the world are becom­ing increas­ing­ly con­front­ed with the impacts of cli­mate change. In 2023, Gov­er­nors Island made tremen­dous progress in the vision for a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, announc­ing the selec­tion of the New York Cli­mate Exchange as the ini­tia­tive’s anchor insti­tu­tion. We also made his­to­ry in New York Har­bor with the announce­ment of our new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, set­ting sail in sum­mer 2024, and launched a new plat­form to ampli­fy cli­mate action. Read more →

EXPAND­ED CUL­TUR­AL EXPERIENCES

Gov­er­nors Island is a hub for New York City’s most unique arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences. In 2023, Gov­er­nors Island Arts expand­ed its pro­gram­ming, wel­comed new pub­lic art com­mis­sions, cel­e­brat­ed an aston­ish­ing 10 months of Charles Gaines’s Mov­ing Chains, and host­ed the largest cohort ever of sea­son­al Orga­ni­za­tions in Res­i­dence in Nolan Park and Colonels Row. Read more →

A GROW­ING YEAR-ROUND COMMUNITY

Gov­er­nors Island is home to a diverse group of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants that enliv­en the Island year-round. Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil’s Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island grant­ed artist res­i­den­cies and pre­sent­ed three exhi­bi­tions, QC NY wel­comed 100,000 vis­i­tors, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture expand­ed their res­i­den­cy pro­gram­ming year-round, and more. Read more →

Dec 19 1:44 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today the arrival of the newest mem­bers of the Island’s work­ing dog team – Atlas and Reed. Atlas is a two-year-old blue mer­le bor­der col­lie, while Reed is a five-month-old bor­der col­lie pup­py. They join the Trust’s two vet­er­an bor­der col­lie employ­ees, Chip and Aspen. The four pups will work togeth­er to help con­trol the geese pop­u­la­tion on the Island and pre­vent the birds from befoul­ing pub­lic areas.

“Our beau­ti­ful lawns and pub­lic spaces would not be in the amaz­ing con­di­tion they are today with­out the efforts of our work­ing dogs,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent & CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Atlas and Reed are wel­come addi­tions to the team, and we look for­ward to watch­ing all four mem­bers of our work­ing dog team bound around our cam­pus, keep­ing us free of geese and allow­ing our vis­i­tors to enjoy our pris­tine green spaces.”

“Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff!” said Atlas and Reed, Gov­er­nors Island’s newest work­ing dogs, in a joint state­ment express­ing their col­lec­tive excite­ment about join­ing the team.

Atlas has already begun chas­ing geese on the Island sev­er­al days a week, and Reed will offi­cial­ly begin his full-time employ­ment on his first birth­day. Right now, Reed is get­ting accus­tomed to rid­ing the fer­ry back and forth, train­ing along­side his new col­leagues, and going on adven­tures. All of the work­ing dogs are res­cues; Reed, Chip, and Aspen come to Gov­er­nors Island from the Mid-Atlantic Bor­der Col­lie Res­cue, a bou­tique breed-spe­cif­ic res­cue unique­ly qual­i­fied to improve the lives of mis­placed bor­der col­lies by plac­ing them into homes match­ing the indi­vid­ual needs of each dog. You can learn more about their work by vis­it­ing https://​mabcr​.org/.

Reed is named in hon­or of the late Jim Reed, a long­time mem­ber of the Gov­er­nors Island fam­i­ly who was intri­cate­ly involved in build­ing and car­ing for the Island’s park and grounds – includ­ing ​“hir­ing” the first pack of work­ing dogs in 2015 to humane­ly keep vis­it­ing geese off of the Island’s lawns and pub­lic spaces.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island tried many dif­fer­ent meth­ods of goose con­trol and found work­ing dogs to be the most sus­tain­able, humane, and adorable solu­tion. Herd­ing dogs like bor­der col­lies make great guardians against flocks of geese. Their nat­ur­al herd­ing instincts urge them to con­trol, but nev­er to harm, large groups of geese, effec­tive­ly chas­ing the birds away. While herd­ing dogs make for a pow­er­ful goose deter­rent, geese are per­sis­tent, and so the Island’s pooches must remain ever vig­i­lant. The dogs take turns stay­ing overnight on the Island, typ­i­cal­ly mak­ing the rounds (with a human care­tak­er in tow) at dawn and dusk daily. 

You can fol­low the work of these dogs at their offi­cial Insta­gram page, @giworkingdogs.

Atlas, Reed, Chip, and Aspen aren’t the only pups who can take advan­tage of Gov­er­nors Island’s numer­ous cul­tur­al offer­ings. The Island’s Win­ter Dog Days run through April 30, 2024, with dogs wel­comed to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island every week­day with their human com­pan­ions begin­ning at 10:00 a.m. This win­ter the Island fea­tures an expand­ed off-leash dog park open dai­ly in Colonels Row with plen­ty of space for dogs to run and play out­side and maybe even chase a few geese of their own.

Dec 7 4:17 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and Gov­er­nors Island Arts announced today that it will host its inau­gur­al Win­ter Sol­stice Cel­e­bra­tion on Decem­ber 16, 2023. Come cel­e­brate the short­est day of the year and the rebirth of the win­ter sea­son with a (short) day-long fes­ti­val fea­tur­ing art instal­la­tions, per­for­mances, a scav­enger hunt, and more, all free of charge. The event will take place from 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

The Gov­er­nors Island Win­ter Sol­stice Cel­e­bra­tion will cul­mi­nate in Sal­ly Beau­ti Twin’s Sol­stice Species Sashay, a lantern parade fea­tur­ing beats by Fogo Azul — New York City’s most pow­er­ful women, trans, and non-bina­ry com­mu­ni­ty drum­line — and pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts. 

“Even the short­est day of the year is a fan­tas­tic time to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island and join us for a day of free fun for the entire com­mu­ni­ty,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent & CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This cel­e­bra­tion, kick­ing off the week of the sol­stice, will fea­ture inno­v­a­tive and provoca­tive per­for­mances and instal­la­tions along­side the tra­di­tion­al fun activ­i­ties Gov­er­nors Island is known for, and we invite all New York­ers to join us for this won­der­ful inau­gur­al event.”

Vis­i­tors com­ing to the event can enjoy food, fire pits, and games at Colonels Row, DJ sets from the Low­er East­side Girls Club, a col­lab­o­ra­tive art activ­i­ty with Red Hook Art Project, the open­ing of the House to Sky win­ter art exhi­bi­tion, a Gov­er­nors Island Nature Scav­enger Hunt, a work­shop and per­for­mance from Cora Dance, guid­ed walk­ing tours with the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island, and the open­ing of the com­mu­ni­ty-dri­ven, col­lab­o­ra­tive art instal­la­tion Pag­gank Wik (Nut Island Home).

The Sol­stice Species Sashay will take place at 3:30 p.m. The event was cre­at­ed by Sal­ly Beau­ti Twin, a trans woman artist liv­ing in New York City. Her prac­tice includes cre­ation and cura­tion of visu­al art, music, and the­ater. Her art has recent­ly been shown at Toma­to Mouse Gallery, Spring/​Break Art Fair, Mizu­ma and Kips and Stephen St Gallery. She received her arts edu­ca­tion at Tulane Uni­ver­si­ty. Sol­stice Species Sashay fea­tures Fogo Azul, New York City’s most pow­er­ful women, trans, and non-bina­ry com­mu­ni­ty drum­line. This is third in a tril­o­gy of island species cel­e­bra­to­ry parades Sal­ly Beau­ti Twin has brought to Gov­er­nors Island this year.

Pag­gank Wik (Nut Island Home) will open at 3:00 p.m. This will be a struc­ture built from a com­bi­na­tion of var­i­ous types of elm, cedar, chest­nut, and ever­greens all har­vest­ed from Gov­er­nors Island. Its design is inspired by the orig­i­nal inhab­i­tants of the Island’s ancient dwellings, known as Wig­wam. Pag­gank wik is being installed by a semi-elu­sive local sto­ry artist with the spir­i­tu­al sup­port of fel­low local artists of the First Nations/​Native American/​Indigenous com­mu­ni­ties, includ­ing a group of Elders who sparked the idea and the enthu­si­asm for learn­ing to build off the land expressed by the com­mu­ni­ty. This struc­ture is pre­sent­ed for every­one to expe­ri­ence an ancient way of liv­ing designed by orig­i­nal inhab­i­tants of this and the sur­round­ing islands and will be on view through the spring.

The House to Sky win­ter art exhib­it will open dur­ing the event and will be on view through March 30, 2024. This instal­la­tion includes sev­er­al works by Sal­ly Beau­ti Twin and oth­er col­lab­o­ra­tors, includ­ing Ben Eden, Nicole Schonitzer, Alexan­der Zev, and Chelsea Browne.

Pre­pare to get spir­it­ed away via pro­jec­tion art from Camil­la Padgitt-Coles, Giselle Ange­les, and more artists. The Pro­jec­tion Par­ty at Liggett Arch will kick off at 4:00 p.m. and will illu­mi­nate and ani­mate the arch­way and walls of his­toric Liggett Hall in the most beau­ti­ful, mov­ing, and col­or­ful ways.

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. Dur­ing the win­ter months, dogs are per­mit­ted on Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly begin­ning at 10am. Dogs require indi­vid­ual free fer­ry reser­va­tions, avail­able online. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.

Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, seniors 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before noon on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time.

NYC Fer­ry also serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn route. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it www.ferry.nyc.

Dec 1 9:48 am

New York City May­or Eric Adams today announced that New York City has been award­ed more than $10 mil­lion in U.S. Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion fund­ing to sup­port fer­ry oper­a­tions serv­ing Gov­er­nors Island and Stat­en Island. One $7.5 mil­lion grant will fund the instal­la­tion of shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture to sup­port the ful­ly elec­tric oper­a­tions of the new hybrid-elec­tric Gov­er­nors Island Fer­ry announced by May­or Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island in March 2023. The oth­er grant, for $3 mil­lion, will fund the reha­bil­i­ta­tion of a New York City Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (DOT) off­site stor­age facil­i­ty sup­port­ing ²⁴⁄₇ oper­a­tions of the Stat­en Island Ferry.

The new, hybrid-elec­tric Gov­er­nors Island Fer­ry will be the first ves­sel of its kind to pro­vide pub­lic trans­porta­tion with­in New York Har­bor, elim­i­nat­ing 800 tons of car­bon emis­sions per year. Along with the nation-lead­ing Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions com­ing to Gov­er­nors Island, anchored by the New York Cli­mate Exchange announced in April 2023, May­or Adams and the Trust are estab­lish­ing Gov­er­nors Island as a nation­al hub for green inno­va­tion. The upgrades to Stat­en Island Fer­ry infra­struc­ture fol­low the Adams administration’s agree­ment with the Marine Engi­neers’ Ben­e­fi­cial Asso­ci­a­tion — the city’s first con­tract with Stat­en Island Fer­ry licensed offi­cers since 2010 — help­ing deliv­er the reli­able, ²⁴⁄₇ fer­ry ser­vice Stat­en Islanders and all rid­ers deserve.

“New York City’s water­ways are key arter­ies for our city — and the $10 mil­lion fed­er­al invest­ment we have deliv­ered for our fer­ry sys­tems today will strength­en this smart, enjoy­able way to enjoy the ride from point A to point B,” said May­or Adams. ​“With anoth­er major win for the Stat­en Island Fer­ry, our admin­is­tra­tion is help­ing Stat­en Islanders get to work in the morn­ing and home to their fam­i­lies in the evening. At the same time, we are putting inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy to work — rein­forc­ing Gov­er­nors Island as a nation-lead­ing cen­ter of cli­mate inno­va­tion and wel­com­ing this first-of-its-kind pub­lic, elec­tric ves­sel to pro­vide clean­er air in New York Har­bor. We are grate­ful to the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion and to our fed­er­al, state, and city part­ners who joined us in advo­cat­ing for this invest­ment in New York City.”

“As we look to sig­nif­i­cant­ly scale the use of our water­ways for fun and freight, we are excit­ed to ben­e­fit from this invest­ment from the Biden admin­is­tra­tion to sup­port Stat­en Island Fer­ry oper­a­tions and intro­duce the first 100 per­cent elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in New York’s Har­bor, serv­ing trips to Gov­er­nors Island,” said Deputy May­or for Oper­a­tions Meera Joshi. ​“We appre­ci­ate the sup­port from Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, and the New York City con­gres­sion­al del­e­ga­tion in work­ing to secure funds from the Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law.”

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to grow as an unpar­al­leled resource for edu­ca­tion, open space, and resilien­cy right in the mid­dle of New York Har­bor,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment, and Work­force Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“This fed­er­al grant from the Biden admin­is­tra­tion will help bring a state-of-the-art, elec­tric fer­ry to our waters — reduc­ing emis­sions, sup­port­ing green infra­struc­ture, and fur­ther­ing New York City’s com­mit­ment to lead in the area of cli­mate resilien­cy. I thank Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, and our con­gres­sion­al del­e­ga­tion for their part­ner­ship in bring­ing fur­ther fed­er­al invest­ments to New York City.”

“As Gov­er­nors Island grows as a mod­el for sus­tain­able urban envi­ron­ments, we are proud to be able to make this crit­i­cal invest­ment that will equip New York Har­bor with its first ever elec­tric pas­sen­ger fer­ry,” said Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO Clare New­man. ​“With this grant, the shore­side charg­ing sta­tion pow­er­ing our new fer­ry will serve hun­dreds of thou­sands of vis­i­tors each year, while also cham­pi­oning envi­ron­men­tal sus­tain­abil­i­ty. We are thank­ful to the Biden admin­is­tra­tion, our part­ner May­or Eric Adams, and allies like Sen­a­tor Kirsten Gilli­brand and Sen­a­tor Chuck Schumer. Togeth­er, we will make the voy­age to Gov­er­nors Island clean­er and green­er than ever before.”

“The Stat­en Island Fer­ry is the busiest pas­sen­ger-only fer­ry ser­vice in the world — pro­vid­ing safe, reli­able, and afford­able tran­sit to near­ly 24 mil­lion pas­sen­gers each year,” said DOT Com­mis­sion­er Yda­nis Rodriguez. ​“This his­toric invest­ment from the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion will enable DOT to reha­bil­i­tate the stor­age facil­i­ty that hous­es spare fer­ry parts and dock build­ing mate­ri­als, known as Build­ing 45. This build­ing will be bet­ter equipped to sup­port effi­cient fer­ry oper­a­tions through new fenc­ing, improved lot access and drainage, upgrad­ed util­i­ties and light­ing, and renew­able ener­gy ele­ments. We thank the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion, along with Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, and the numer­ous elect­ed offi­cials and advo­cates, for their part­ner­ship in secur­ing this crit­i­cal invest­ment. It is even sweet­er know­ing this fed­er­al fund­ing will also sup­port the first-ever elec­tric pas­sen­ger fer­ry to Gov­er­nors Island.”

“Every year, tens of mil­lions of pas­sen­gers rely on the Stat­en Island Fer­ry for their dai­ly com­mutes and more, and Gov­er­nors Island wel­comes near­ly 1 mil­lion vis­i­tors,” said U.S. Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Charles Schumer. ​“That’s why I fought so hard to include these much-need­ed funds in the Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law to sup­port Gov­er­nors Island and Stat­en Island Fer­ry oper­a­tions. These fed­er­al grants pro­vide the resources need­ed to strength­en Stat­en Island Fer­ry oper­a­tions and will fund shore­side charg­ing infra­struc­ture for Gov­er­nors Island’s hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry, expand­ing access for visitors.”

“Exclu­sive­ly acces­si­ble by fer­ry, Gov­er­nors Island is a nation­al trea­sure that offers a range of unique resources that should be enjoyed by all New York­ers,” said U.S. Sen­a­tor Kirsten Gilli­brand. ​“This $7.48 mil­lion in fund­ing will allow for the con­struc­tion of crit­i­cal shore­side infra­struc­ture to enable rapid charg­ing for fer­ry ves­sels. Build­ing this infra­struc­ture will sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce emis­sions, decrease main­te­nance costs, improve reli­a­bil­i­ty of fer­ry ser­vice for pas­sen­gers, and pro­vide sig­nif­i­cant improve­ments in air qual­i­ty for res­i­dents of Low­er Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn. I am proud to announce this fund­ing and will con­tin­ue to fight to improve trans­porta­tion for pas­sen­gers and bring fed­er­al dol­lars home to New York.”

The grants were secured as part of the Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law, also known as the Infra­struc­ture Invest­ment and Jobs Act, which became law in Novem­ber 2021. Valu­able sup­port for the city’s appli­ca­tion came from Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Dan Gold­man, U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Nicole Mallio­takis, U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jer­ry Nadler, and local elect­ed offi­cials and advocates.

New York City’s first pub­lic, hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry is sched­uled to begin ser­vice between Low­er Man­hat­tan and Gov­er­nors Island in the sum­mer of 2024. The vessel’s rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture, made pos­si­ble by this cap­i­tal grant, will enable the fer­ry to oper­ate with zero-emis­sion, bat­tery-only propul­sion, which will drop emis­sions to near­ly zero. The new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry will expand access for Gov­er­nors Island’s near­ly 1 mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors and will serve the forth­com­ing Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solutions.

The ferry’s hybrid propul­sion sys­tem will reduce air pol­lu­tion by allow­ing it to tog­gle between zero-emis­sion, bat­tery-only pow­er and bat­tery-assist­ed hybrid with diesel back­up. The bat­tery-assist mode will allow the new fer­ry to reduce car­bon diox­ide emis­sions by approx­i­mate­ly 800 tons annu­al­ly. The shore­side charg­ing infra­struc­ture will be locat­ed at Sois­sons Fer­ry Land­ing on Gov­er­nors Island, with con­struc­tion antic­i­pat­ed to be com­plet­ed in 2025.

The $3 mil­lion award­ed to DOT will reha­bil­i­tate an off-site stor­age facil­i­ty, local­ly referred to as ​“Build­ing 45.” The Stat­en Island Fer­ry is the busiest pas­sen­ger-only fer­ry ser­vice in the world, car­ry­ing near­ly 24 mil­lion pas­sen­gers each year. It oper­ates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, between Stat­en Island and Low­er Manhattan.

“From trains to bus­es and now elec­tric fer­ries — the Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law is trans­form­ing how New York­ers access some of the city’s most cel­e­brat­ed attrac­tions, includ­ing Gov­er­nors Island,” said Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Nadler. ​“I applaud the addi­tion of the first 100 per­cent elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in New York Har­bor, which will serve as a tes­ta­ment to Gov­er­nors Island’s future as a hub for cli­mate edu­ca­tion, train­ing, and research. I’m proud of my work in Con­gress to mod­ern­ize and expand tran­sit ser­vice for New York­ers, and I will keep fight­ing to build on the progress we are see­ing here today.”

“From secur­ing crit­i­cal funds to mod­ern­ize our fer­ry fleet, to advo­cat­ing for a new con­tract for our fer­ry work­ers, to deliv­er­ing a grant to reha­bil­i­tate this stor­age facil­i­ty, I will con­tin­ue to keep my com­mit­ment to improve the ser­vice reli­a­bil­i­ty of the Stat­en Island Fer­ry,” said Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mallio­takis. ​“Stat­en Island is final­ly receiv­ing its fair share of fed­er­al infra­struc­ture fund­ing, and I will con­tin­ue to work with col­leagues on both sides of the aisle to fight for more fund­ing to bring our community’s infra­struc­ture into the 21^st century.”

“I am thrilled that the suc­cess of Pres­i­dent Biden’s Bipar­ti­san Infra­struc­ture Law will again direct­ly serve New York’s front­line com­mu­ni­ties. Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of fight­ing cli­mate change through clean ener­gy mar­itime trans­porta­tion,” said Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Gold­man. ​“I am also grate­ful to the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion for grant­i­ng my request for this sup­port for the Gov­er­nors Island Fer­ry elec­tri­fi­ca­tion infra­struc­ture project. Con­grat­u­la­tions to Gov­er­nors Island and the New York City Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion on this vital grant, and I look for­ward to work­ing togeth­er in the future to make our water­ways green­er and cleaner.”

“Cre­at­ing and uti­liz­ing the infra­struc­ture need­ed for New York Har­bor’s first 100 per­cent elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry is a cru­cial step towards meet­ing our ambi­tious cli­mate goals,” said New York State Sen­a­tor Andrew Gounardes. ​“I applaud the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion for rec­og­niz­ing the keen need for shore­side charg­ing infra­struc­ture in New York, and I look for­ward to see­ing our first ful­ly elec­tric fer­ry in action!”

“I am thrilled to see New York City lead­ing the way in sus­tain­able trans­porta­tion with the intro­duc­tion of the first hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry for Gov­er­nors Island,” said New York State Assem­bly­mem­ber Charles D. Fall. ​“This sub­stan­tial fed­er­al invest­ment not only enhances our city’s infra­struc­ture but also aligns with our com­mit­ment to envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship. By reduc­ing emis­sions and advanc­ing clean ener­gy solu­tions, we are tak­ing crit­i­cal steps towards a green­er future. The shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant leap for­ward in our ongo­ing efforts to reduce car­bon foot­prints and pro­mote eco-friend­ly trav­el options for New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike. I com­mend the Biden admin­is­tra­tion, May­or Adams, and our fed­er­al part­ners for their vision and com­mit­ment to trans­form­ing our city’s tran­sit sys­tem into a mod­el of sustainability.”

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to shine as an exam­ple of sus­tain­able, resilient urban life, and this invest­ment in mass tran­sit and green infra­struc­ture is a win for New York­ers, our har­bor, and our envi­ron­ment. I’m grate­ful to every col­league, ally, and advo­cate who con­tributed to secur­ing this fund­ing for a more sus­tain­able city and tran­sit sys­tem,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“The future of New York’s har­bor is increas­ing­ly green.”

“In receiv­ing this grant from the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion, New York City is tak­ing an impor­tant step towards a sus­tain­able future. Thanks to this fund­ing, we are not just improv­ing trans­porta­tion across our city — we are paving the way for car­bon-con­scious trav­el,” said New York City Coun­cilmem­ber James F. Gen­naro, chair, Com­mit­tee on Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion, Resilien­cy, and Water­fronts. ​“This project is a tes­ta­ment to our com­mit­ment to envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship and a cat­a­lyst for pos­i­tive change towards a more inter­con­nect­ed and eco-friend­ly future.”

“We are excit­ed this fed­er­al fund­ing can be put to good use to ben­e­fit not just the Low­er Man­hat­tan com­mu­ni­ty but all vis­i­tors to Gov­er­nors Island,” said New York City Coun­cilmem­ber Christo­pher Marte. ​“This is a great step towards mak­ing all pub­lic vehi­cles green­er and reduc­ing our city’s mas­sive car­bon footprint.”

“Elec­tri­fy­ing our city is a vital step in tack­ling the cli­mate cri­sis,” said New York City Coun­cilmem­ber Lin­coln Restler. ​“Thanks to sup­port from the Biden admin­is­tra­tion, Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to lead the way on sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and I am excit­ed to ride their new hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry next summer.”

“Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1 is thrilled to see such quick advance­ment of green ini­tia­tives with the inclu­sion of a rapid charg­ing sta­tion in the shore­side infra­struc­ture that will sup­port the hybrid-elec­tric fer­ries to serve Gov­er­nors Island,” said Tam­my Meltzer, chair, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1. ​“This fed­er­al invest­ment enables us to mark a piv­otal step towards reduc­ing our envi­ron­men­tal foot­print, while enhanc­ing trans­porta­tion and air qual­i­ty for our com­mu­ni­ty. Thank you, May­or Adams, for this ini­tia­tive that not only sym­bol­izes our com­mit­ment to green infra­struc­ture but also strength­ens our city’s resilience in fac­ing the chal­lenges of cli­mate change.”

“Gov­er­nors Island is an inspir­ing exam­ple for how cities around the world will adapt to cli­mate change, and with today’s announce­ment, we are show­cas­ing sus­tain­able trans­porta­tion options by mak­ing New York City’s first pub­lic fer­ry 100 per­cent elec­tric,” said Ali­cia Glen, chair, board of direc­tors, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We’re grate­ful to Pres­i­dent Biden, Sen­a­tor Schumer, Sen­a­tor Gilli­brand, and all of our gov­ern­ment part­ners in mak­ing this his­toric invest­ment a reality.”

“This piv­otal grant for shore­side charg­ing infra­struc­ture is yet anoth­er step for­ward in the tran­si­tion to renew­able ener­gy and the cre­ation of a more sus­tain­able route to Gov­er­nors Island. But more impor­tant­ly, it’s a mes­sage to the world of how seri­ous­ly our city and state take cli­mate change, and it’s a sym­bol of what’s pos­si­ble when all of us — gov­ern­ment enti­ties, elect­ed offi­cials, pol­i­cy experts, and more — work togeth­er,” said Dr. Stephen Ham­mer, CEO, The New York Cli­mate Exchange. ​“This fund­ing will empow­er thou­sands of vis­i­tors each year to access Gov­er­nors Island in a sus­tain­able way, demon­strat­ing how we can adapt to the cli­mate cri­sis with a for­ward-look­ing vision. Thank you to the con­gres­sion­al del­e­ga­tion, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, and all those who helped deliv­er this impor­tant funding.”

“As the region’s pre­mier advo­cate for water­borne trans­porta­tion, we are thrilled with the city’s abil­i­ty to lever­age fed­er­al fund­ing for our fer­ry oper­a­tions,” said Cort­ney Koenig Wor­rall, pres­i­dent and CEO, Water­front Alliance. ​“The fund­ing award­ed today high­lights two inte­gral com­po­nents of Water­front Alliance’s advo­ca­cy on water­front trans­porta­tion: inno­va­tion and main­te­nance. In a stride toward inno­va­tion, new fund­ing will sup­port shore­side rapid charg­ing infra­struc­ture for the city’s first elec­tric fer­ry. Addi­tion­al­ly, in a wise effort to address water­front main­te­nance, new fund­ing is also being ded­i­cat­ed to the reha­bil­i­ta­tion of Build­ing 45, a key stor­age facil­i­ty sup­port­ing the ²⁴⁄₇ oper­a­tions of the Stat­en Island Fer­ry. We applaud DOT and May­or Adams for demon­strat­ing the abil­i­ty to invest in the future, while also meet­ing oper­a­tions and main­te­nance needs of our crit­i­cal infrastructure.”

“We’re proud to hear that inno­va­tion in our own back­yard will raise the bar for sus­tain­able trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture in New York City. A 100 per­cent elec­tric fer­ry means the future has arrived in New York Har­bor,” said Jes­si­ca Lap­pin, pres­i­dent, Alliance for Down­town New York. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is one of the city’s gems, and we enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly wel­come news that trav­el­ing to this unique des­ti­na­tion from Low­er Man­hat­tan will soon be clean­er and more efficient.”

“The Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School com­mu­ni­ty is excit­ed to wel­come New York Harbor’s first 100 per­cent elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry to Gov­er­nors Island,” said Aneal Helms, prin­ci­pal, New York Urban Assem­bly Har­bor School. ​“Our New York City pub­lic high school stu­dents embrace their roles as stew­ards of their envi­ron­ment every day, as they par­tic­i­pate in career and tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion path­ways rang­ing from marine sci­ence to marine affairs to marine tech­nol­o­gy. We applaud this grant from the Fed­er­al Tran­sit Admin­is­tra­tion that will allow our stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, and staff to tru­ly man­i­fest the mis­sion of our school while com­mut­ing to and from school every day.”

“The team here at Bil­lion Oys­ter Project is excit­ed to be part of a decar­bonized New York City and is look­ing for­ward to a more sus­tain­able com­mute to Gov­er­nors Island,” said Pete Mali­nows­ki, exec­u­tive direc­tor, Bil­lion Oys­ter Project. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is lead­ing the way with the city’s first fer­ry that will run with­out the use of fos­sil fuels.”

“We are thrilled to wit­ness Gov­er­nors Island’s evo­lu­tion into a hub for inno­v­a­tive, envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­scious ini­tia­tives, such as the devel­op­ment of the first 100 per­cent elec­tric pub­lic fer­ry in New York Har­bor,” said Craig T. Peter­son, pres­i­dent, Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC). ​“This invest­ment aligns with LMCC’s com­mit­ment to envi­ron­men­tal respon­si­bil­i­ty and with our exist­ing work at The Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island, a plat­form for envi­ron­men­tal research and prac­tice at the inter­sec­tion of cli­mate jus­tice and the arts. We are excit­ed to par­tic­i­pate in fur­ther ini­tia­tives that serve the broad­er pub­lic and lead to action, advo­ca­cy, and increased engage­ment with one of the most crit­i­cal issues of our time.”

Nov 16 9:46 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced today the return of win­ter pro­gram­ming and activ­i­ties start­ing Decem­ber 1, 2023. This win­ter, Gov­er­nors Island is a must-vis­it des­ti­na­tion for local New York­ers and tourists from all over the world with a pletho­ra of cold weath­er activ­i­ties includ­ing local food ven­dors, fire pits, hol­i­day lights, the third annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Ice Sculp­ture Show, and more spe­cial events to be announced through­out the season. 

New this sea­son is expand­ed access for four-legged New York­ers. Win­ter Dog Days will run Decem­ber 1 through April 30, 2024, with dogs wel­comed to vis­it Gov­er­nors Island every day with their human com­pan­ions begin­ning at 10am, not just on week­ends. Also new this win­ter is an expand­ed off-leash dog park open­ing Decem­ber 1 in Colonels Row with plen­ty of space for dogs to run and play outside. 

“We are proud to con­tin­ue our win­ter pro­gram­ming for our vis­i­tors and their fur­ry friends,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“The win­ter sea­son on the Island is a mag­i­cal time for vis­i­tors to expe­ri­ence all the fan­tas­tic year-round pro­gram­ming we have to offer, like our new­ly expand­ed Dog Days, and the vis­i­tor favorites of drink­ing hot cocoa, enjoy­ing deli­cious food from our food trucks, and even sled­ding in the Hills — all while tak­ing in unpar­al­leled sky­line views. There is some­thing for every­one in the fam­i­ly to enjoy all year round across the Island.”

“Woof, woof, woof, woof!” said Chip, Aspen, and Reed, the Gov­er­nors Island work­ing dogs, in a joint state­ment encour­ag­ing dogs to tell their own­ers to take them to Win­ter Dog Days. 

Anoth­er great rea­son to vis­it the Island in the win­ter is the food. Long­time Gov­er­nors Island ven­dor Mak­i­na Café is open dai­ly in Colonels Row, with an expand­ed menu includ­ing their pop­u­lar Ethiopi­an and Eritre­an dish­es along with loaded fries, chick­en fin­gers, break­fast sand­wich­es, tea, cof­fee, and more spe­cial items. Joe Cof­fee Com­pa­ny is also open dai­ly in the Bat­tery Mar­itime fer­ry wait­ing room in Low­er Man­hat­tan, and addi­tion­al food trucks and pop-up ven­dors will be fea­tured at spe­cial events through­out the winter.

Upcom­ing fall and win­ter events include open hours at the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture on Novem­ber 18, NYCRUNS ​“Go Nuts for Donuts” 5K and 10K on Novem­ber 18, and the Gov­er­nors Island Ice Sculp­ture Show on Feb­ru­ary 3, 2024. Pre­sent­ed by Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Times Square Arts with sup­port from the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island, the third annu­al show pro­vides New York­ers and vis­i­tors from around the world with the sin­gu­lar oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing. Ten artists will be cho­sen, and each select­ed final­ist will be paired with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er from Okamo­to Stu­dio for the pub­lic event. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to wit­ness this real-time ice carv­ing and vote on their favorite sculp­ture for the ​“People’s Choice Award” at the end of the event. A larg­er-scale ver­sion of the win­ning sculp­ture will then be carved and installed by Okamo­to Stu­dio in Times Square as a visu­al anchor for the district’s annu­al Valentine’s Day events. Artists, design­ers, and oth­er cul­tur­al prac­ti­tion­ers are invit­ed to sub­mit a pro­pos­al to par­tic­i­pate online at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​i​c​e​-show through Novem­ber 17, 2023.

Blaz­ing Sad­dles is open dai­ly in Colonels Row with bike and sled rentals, and QC NY Spa con­tin­ues to be open dai­ly on Gov­er­nors Island with heat­ed out­door pools along­side saunas, steam rooms, relax­ation treat­ments, mas­sages, and a bar and bistro.

Gov­er­nors Island’s award-win­ning park remains open to the pub­lic every day dur­ing the cold sea­son, along with recre­ation activ­i­ties like bike rentals, a climb­ing boul­der, Ham­mock Grove, the Hills, Pic­nic Point, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art com­mis­sions, includ­ing works from Sam Van Aken, Duke Riley, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, Sheila Berg­er, and Mark Hand­forth, are also cur­rent­ly on view through­out the Island.

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7am to 6pm. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. Dogs will require indi­vid­ual free fer­ry reser­va­tions, avail­able online. For sched­ules and tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org.

Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $4 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, seniors 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before noon on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time.

NYC Fer­ry also serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn route. For tick­et­ing infor­ma­tion and full sched­ules for NYC Fer­ry, vis­it www.ferry.nyc.

Nov 9 10:24 am

The New York Cli­mate Exchange, a first-of-its-kind orga­ni­za­tion work­ing to imple­ment inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions in New York City and across the globe, today announced Dr. Stephen Ham­mer as its found­ing chief exec­u­tive offi­cer. Ham­mer is a lead­ing glob­al cli­mate pol­i­cy expert who has served as top cli­mate advi­sor at the World Bank for the past decade. In his new role as CEO of The New York Cli­mate Exchange, Ham­mer will lead a first-ever con­sor­tium of over 45 part­ner orga­ni­za­tions com­mit­ted to solv­ing the most press­ing cli­mate chal­lenges of our time. 

New York City May­or Eric Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island select­ed the New York Cli­mate Exchange – known as The Exchange – in April 2023, fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process seek­ing an edu­ca­tion­al and research part­ner to anchor a cross-sec­tor cen­ter ded­i­cat­ed to devel­op­ing and scal­ing cli­mate solu­tions for New York City and beyond. The Exchange will even­tu­al­ly be housed in a $700 mil­lion state-of-the-art facil­i­ty on Gov­er­nors Island set to open in 2028. 

As a world-renowned leader with expe­ri­ence dri­ving cli­mate pol­i­cy in New York City and on the inter­na­tion­al stage, Dr. Ham­mer is unique­ly posi­tioned to con­vene part­ners across sec­tors to advance cli­mate solu­tions in New York City. Most recent­ly, Dr. Ham­mer spent a decade at the World Bank as senior pol­i­cy advi­sor on urban-scale cli­mate solu­tions, glob­al cli­mate pol­i­cy, and finance issues, where he spear­head­ed key cli­mate part­ner­ships with the Unit­ed Nations Frame­work Con­ven­tion on Cli­mate Change, the UN Sec­re­tary General’s team, and the G20, and sup­port­ed efforts to main­stream cli­mate change into all facets of the Bank’s lend­ing operations. 

He pre­vi­ous­ly held fac­ul­ty posts at MIT’s Depart­ment of Urban Stud­ies and Plan­ning (DUSP), Colum­bia University’s School of Inter­na­tion­al and Pub­lic Affairs (SIPA), and the Pratt Insti­tute, where he spe­cial­ized in urban ener­gy sys­tems and pol­i­cy, often with a spe­cif­ic focus on New York City. He also co-found­ed and co-direct­ed the Urban Cli­mate Change Research Net­work (UCCRN), an inter­na­tion­al con­sor­tium of researchers inter­est­ed in cli­mate change from an urban per­spec­tive, and served on May­or Bloomberg’s Ener­gy Pol­i­cy Task Force, advis­ing on PlaNYC, the City’s long-term growth and sus­tain­abil­i­ty ini­tia­tive. His full bio can be found here. 

“Under our admin­is­tra­tion, New York City is becom­ing the glob­al leader in devel­op­ing solu­tions for cli­mate change while cre­at­ing thou­sands of good-pay­ing green jobs for New York­ers,” said New York City May­or Eric Adams. ​“With the appoint­ment of Dr. Ham­mer as the CEO of the first-in-the-nation New York Cli­mate Exchange, our city takes one step clos­er to open­ing this hub of future inno­va­tion, bring­ing togeth­er our lead­ing research and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions, and cre­at­ing the eco­nom­ic and aca­d­e­m­ic oppor­tu­ni­ties New York­ers deserve. His aca­d­e­m­ic exper­tise and proven record of lead­er­ship in New York City and across the globe make Dr. Ham­mer unique­ly posi­tioned to serve as the Exchange’s first leader.” 

“New York City is lead­ing the charge in gen­er­at­ing real solu­tions to help cities adapt to the glob­al cli­mate cri­sis while ready­ing New York­ers for the cli­mate jobs of the future. We’re thrilled to have glob­al­ly renowned cli­mate expert Stephen Ham­mer lead­ing the New York Cli­mate Exchange, and are con­fi­dent he will help pro­pel our efforts to meet the chal­lenges the cli­mate cri­sis pos­es,” said Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer

“There is tru­ly no orga­ni­za­tion like this across the globe. World­wide, too many sec­tors – the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty, non-prof­its, gov­ern­ment, aca­d­e­mics, and more – are work­ing in silos. The Exchange is not just anoth­er insti­tute – it’s part think tank, part do-tank – serv­ing as a train­ing ground for the cli­mate lead­ers of tomor­row and an incu­ba­tor for tech­nol­o­gy and mar­ket entre­pre­neurs. It’s meant to inno­vate and have an impact, to defend sci­ence, and to make New York City a liv­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry for inter­na­tion­al solu­tions. Cli­mate change is going to rever­ber­ate across the world and every aspect of soci­ety, and work­ing with our world-class part­ners, we’re going to bring peo­ple togeth­er to deliv­er real impact on this col­lec­tive, exis­ten­tial chal­lenge,” said Dr. Stephen Ham­mer, found­ing CEO of The New York Cli­mate Exchange. 

“In Dr. Ham­mer, we have a true con­ven­er capa­ble of work­ing across sec­tors, nur­tur­ing mean­ing­ful solu­tions to the cli­mate cri­sis, and deliv­er­ing action. As com­mu­ni­ties across the world strug­gle to adapt to the effects of cli­mate change, we are putting a high­ly cre­den­tialed leader at the helm to expe­dite solu­tions scal­able for any com­mu­ni­ty. We look for­ward to work­ing with Dr. Ham­mer and our dozens of part­ners to cre­ate scal­able solu­tions,” said Mau­rie McIn­nis, chair of the board of direc­tors of The New York Cli­mate Exchange, and the pres­i­dent of Stony Brook University. 

“The Cli­mate Exchange will help New York remain a glob­al leader in devel­op­ing and spread­ing sus­tain­able solu­tions — a posi­tion that Dr. Ham­mer helped us estab­lish more than a decade ago,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN sec­re­tary-gen­er­al’s spe­cial envoy on Cli­mate Ambi­tion and Solu­tions, 108^th may­or of New York City and founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. ​“With the Exchange’s focus on pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ships, it can help cities be bold­er, con­nect to pri­vate finance, and move faster on cli­mate action. Our team at Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies is look­ing for­ward to work­ing with Dr. Ham­mer as he begins lead­ing this first-of-its kind organization.” 

Com­prised of world-class orga­ni­za­tions across acad­e­mia, busi­ness, and com­mu­ni­ty, The Exchange’s part­ner net­work fos­ters col­lab­o­ra­tion to dri­ve inno­va­tion and imple­ment impact­ful solu­tions. With 14 aca­d­e­m­ic and cor­po­rate orga­ni­za­tions and over 30 com­mu­ni­ty enti­ties from envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, research, and gov­ern­ment orga­ni­za­tions in New York City, part­ners have begun to work togeth­er to advance cli­mate edu­ca­tion, research, job train­ing, pub­lic pro­grams, and com­mer­cial­iza­tion to pre­pare com­mu­ni­ties to respond to cli­mate chal­lenges. These efforts are aid­ed by ini­tial invest­ments of a com­bined $100 mil­lion from the Simons Foun­da­tion and Simons Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tion­al, and $50 mil­lion from Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. Part­ners of The Exchange include: 

• Boston Con­sult­ing Group 
• Geor­gia Insti­tute of Technology 
• Good Old Low­er East Side 
• IBM
• Pace Uni­ver­si­ty
• Pratt Insti­tute
• Stony Brook University 
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington 
• Duke Uni­ver­si­ty
• Moody’s
• New York University 
• Rochester Insti­tute of Technology 
• SUNY Mar­itime College 
• The City Uni­ver­si­ty of New York 
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Oxford 

“The Simons Foun­da­tion is thrilled to wel­come Dr. Stephen Ham­mer as the found­ing CEO of The New York Cli­mate Exchange. The work starts with under­stand­ing the cli­mate sci­ence, mod­el­ing the risks, and esti­mat­ing its impacts on New York City, its infra­struc­ture, and its envi­ron­ment. New York can be a mod­el for the world’s cities. Dr. Ham­mer is poised to lead a trail­blaz­ing orga­ni­za­tion that brings togeth­er a broad and diverse set of tal­ents to address the great­est chal­lenge of our times, cli­mate change,” said David Spergel, pres­i­dent of the Simons Foundation. 

“With the New York Cli­mate Exchange as its anchor insti­tu­tion, the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions will posi­tion New York City as a leader in devel­op­ing equi­table solu­tions for cities around the world. We are thrilled to work hand in hand with Dr. Stephen Ham­mer to uti­lize Gov­er­nors Island as a hub for bring­ing inno­v­a­tive ideas to life for com­mu­ni­ties on a local and glob­al scale,” said Clare New­man, pres­i­dent & CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. 

“With its focus on research, edu­ca­tion, and work­force devel­op­ment, the New York Cli­mate Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty with the sup­port of sev­er­al part­ners includ­ing SUNY Mar­itime, will pio­neer ground-break­ing solu­tions to reduce our car­bon foot­print, com­bat cli­mate change, and advance cli­mate resilience, while grow­ing green jobs. Dr. Hammer’s track record of dri­ving inno­v­a­tive cli­mate pol­i­cy in New York City makes him the ide­al found­ing leader for the Exchange. With his deep-root­ed expe­ri­ence and con­nec­tions, Dr. Ham­mer is unique­ly posi­tioned to dri­ve the changes required to ush­er in a sus­tain­able, green future for all of New York,” said SUNY Chan­cel­lor John B. King Jr.

“We could not be more pleased to wel­come Dr. Stephen Ham­mer, who embod­ies The Exchange’s mis­sion. He has an inter­na­tion­al net­work and unri­valed New York City expe­ri­ence, and he’s unique­ly qual­i­fied to be a ​‘Con­ven­er-in-Chief’ for experts every­where at a time when human­i­ty needs it most,” said Chaou­ki T. Abdal­lah, CEO search com­mit­tee co-chair, vice chair of the board of direc­tors of The Exchange, and exec­u­tive vice pres­i­dent for the research at the Geor­gia Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy, and Maya Tol­stoy, CEO search com­mit­tee co-chair and dean of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s Col­lege of the Environment. 

Nov 2 12:26 pm

Gov­er­nors Island Arts announced today the arrival of artist Sheila Berger’s Bird MMXXI­II sculp­ture to the Island. BIRD MMXXI­II is locat­ed at the south­ern edge of Ham­mock Grove and will be on dis­play dai­ly start­ing Thurs­day, Novem­ber 2, 2023. Berger’s sculp­ture joins a wide array of ongo­ing artis­tic dis­plays and pro­gram­ming on the Island, includ­ing the renowned Artists in Res­i­dence program. 

“We are excit­ed to wel­come Sheila Berger’s Bird MMXXI­II sculp­ture to live among our art-filled Island,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“As we con­tin­ue to expand our range of pub­lic art dis­plays on the Island, we are simul­ta­ne­ous­ly expand­ing pub­lic access to estab­lished and bur­geon­ing artists, cre­at­ing an artis­tic hub and plat­form for artists to widen their pub­lic reach and have an artis­tic safe space to cre­ate and exhibit.”

“My birds are not the rap­tors of the sky, but a com­bi­na­tion of the small and the ordi­nary. They remind us that we share this plan­et with oth­er crea­tures that are not less­er than us, just dif­fer­ent,” said artist Sheila Berg­er. ​“By tap­ping into that, we leave our self-cen­tered­ness and expe­ri­ence the won­der­ment of what it is to be alive.”

Bird MMXXI­II is a bird made of stain­less steel that is sit­u­at­ed on a plinth as an ode to hero­ic Roman sculp­ture. The bird has a mir­rored bel­ly and crown allow­ing it to reflect, lit­er­al­ly and sym­bol­i­cal­ly, the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty, a sculp­ture which has wel­comed and ele­vat­ed immi­grants since its instal­la­tion. The mir­rored sur­face of the sculp­ture allows vis­i­tors to view them­selves against the back­drop of the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment of the Island, encour­ag­ing reflec­tion and relaxation. 

The artist, Sheila Berg­er, is a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary artist (encaus­tic paint­ing, sculp­ture, ceram­ics, and artist books) whose works have been rep­re­sent­ed by Paul Kas­min Gallery, Nicole Klags­brun Gallery, and appear in muse­ums and col­lec­tions through­out the world. Her first works, ​“Avis Glo­ri­ae et Lavdis” and ​“Nature Eter­nal,” were dis­played on River­side Park South in Man­hat­tan. She now has works across the coun­try. A dri­ving force for her cre­ation of pub­lic art is being able to reach view­ers of all races, gen­ders, ages, and socio-eco­nom­ic back­grounds. Build­ing works out­side has made Berg­er acute­ly aware of her respon­si­bil­i­ty towards the plan­et, with a height­ened aware­ness of the impact of sculp­ture on nature, she strives to bring aware­ness and enhance her nat­ur­al sur­round­ings rather than dis­rupt them. 

Oct 26 5:11 pm

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced Gov­er­nors Island Nature, a new ini­tia­tive that will dra­mat­i­cal­ly expand vis­i­tor engage­ment with the Island’s 120 acres of nat­ur­al and built open spaces. Through learn­ing, pub­lic pro­grams, and com­mu­ni­ty sci­ence, Gov­er­nors Island Nature will edu­cate Island vis­i­tors and all New York­ers about hor­ti­cul­ture, bio­di­ver­si­ty, and the impacts of cli­mate change on our nat­ur­al surroundings. 

“Gov­er­nors Island pro­vides New York­ers with the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with the nat­ur­al world through a mix of his­toric and new­er green spaces,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent & CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Each year, near­ly one mil­lion New York­ers expe­ri­ence the Island’s incred­i­ble his­toric, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and recre­ation­al resources, and we are excit­ed for the oppor­tu­ni­ty to enhance the vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence through Gov­er­nors Island Nature.” 

“We are firm believ­ers that any­one can devel­op mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions to nature, even — or espe­cial­ly — in the heart of New York City,” said Logan Fish­er, Hor­ti­cul­ture Super­vi­sor at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Through Gov­er­nors Island Nature, we will all be able to come togeth­er to under­stand our shared eco­log­i­cal respon­si­bil­i­ty, inter­act with Island wildlife in a mean­ing­ful way, and par­tic­i­pate in native habi­tat cul­ti­va­tion through com­mu­ni­ty sci­ence and volunteering.” 

The pro­gram will launch with a free pub­lic kick­off event in Nolan Park on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­day, Novem­ber 4, 2023, from 12 to 3pm fea­tur­ing a lec­ture by Dr. Steven Han­del, pro­fes­sor Dis­tin­guished Pro­fes­sor of Ecol­o­gy and Evo­lu­tion Emer­i­tus at Rut­gers Uni­ver­si­ty, focused on the real­i­ties of habi­tat restora­tion in urban areas fol­lowed by a Q&A mod­er­at­ed by the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island hor­ti­cul­ture team along with an inter­ac­tive seed ball work­shop and arborist-led fall foliage tour of the Island’s vast tree canopy. 

Through Gov­er­nors Island Nature, the Trust will present reg­u­lar free events and activ­i­ties, includ­ing month­ly nature walks, insect ecol­o­gy class­es, com­mu­ni­ty sci­ence events, and vol­un­teer stew­ard­ship. These pro­grams are accom­pa­nied by a new suite of dig­i­tal con­tent at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​n​ature that fea­tures in-depth infor­ma­tion on the Island’s diverse nat­ur­al areas and the eco­log­i­cal hor­ti­cul­ture prac­tices employed, an inter­ac­tive map of the Island’s 3,500+ trees that allows vis­i­tors to explore species infor­ma­tion and ecosys­tem ben­e­fits, and a ​“Plant Watch” page that high­lights sea­son­al plants through­out the Island. 

Oct 26 4:13 pm

Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Times Square Arts are pleased to announce a new part­ner­ship and open call for Gov­er­nors Island’s third annu­al Ice Sculp­ture Show, tak­ing place on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 3^rd. The fes­tive win­ter event will coin­cide with the annu­al Love in Times Square fête on Feb­ru­ary 14, 2024, which cel­e­brates Valentine’s Day with wed­dings, sur­prise pro­pos­als, and vow renewals in the square’s plazas.

The Ice Sculp­ture Show pro­vides New York­ers and vis­i­tors from around the world with the sin­gu­lar oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing, along­side all the open space, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and his­toric resources and attrac­tions that the Island offers year-round. Artists of all dis­ci­plines are invit­ed to sub­mit their pro­posed art­work online at gov​is​land​.org/​i​c​e​-show through Novem­ber 17, 2023.

Ten artists will be cho­sen and each select­ed final­ist will be paired with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er from Okamo­to Stu­dio, where sculp­tures will be carved in a two-hour pub­lic event on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 3^rd, 2024. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to wit­ness this real-time ice carv­ing and vote on their favorite sculp­ture for the ​“People’s Choice Award” at the end of the event. A larg­er-scale ver­sion of the win­ning sculp­ture will then be carved and installed by Okamo­to Stu­dio in Times Square as a visu­al anchor for the district’s annu­al Valentine’s Day events, where New York­ers and vis­i­tors alike will cel­e­brate love through sur­prise pro­pos­als, wed­dings, and vow renew­al cer­e­monies on the Square’s icon­ic Red Steps.

“The annu­al ice sculp­ture show pro­vides direct sup­port for local artists and brings New York­ers an incred­i­ble ephemer­al pub­lic art expe­ri­ence on Gov­er­nors Island in the win­ter months,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“This unique event is one of many rea­sons to vis­it the Island dur­ing the win­ter sea­son, and we are thrilled to part­ner with Times Square Arts this year to pro­vide artists with a tru­ly one of a kind opportunity.”

The part­ner­ship between Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Times Square Arts under­scores both organization’s shared com­mit­ment to show­cas­ing cre­ative tal­ents and pro­vid­ing free, acces­si­ble pub­lic art expe­ri­ences. While ice sculp­ture com­pe­ti­tions and exhi­bi­tions have a rich glob­al his­to­ry, they are not typ­i­cal­ly show­cased on a grand scale in New York City — and are often lim­it­ed to artists who spe­cial­ize in ice carv­ing. The Ice Sculp­ture Show aims to democ­ra­tize this pop­u­lar activ­i­ty, mak­ing it acces­si­ble to artists of vary­ing expe­ri­ence and disciplines. 

“We are so excit­ed to bring the annu­al Ice Sculpt­ing Show from Gov­er­nors Island to the Island of Man­hat­tan, and have the win­ning design melt the hearts of the hun­dreds of thou­sands of vis­i­tors in Times Square this Feb­ru­ary,” said Times Square Arts Direc­tor Jean Cooney. 

Artists will be noti­fied by Decem­ber 22, 2023 and sub­mis­sions will be pub­lished online. An artist recep­tion will fol­low the show on Feb­ru­ary 3^rd and sculp­tures will remain on view on Gov­er­nors Island until they melt. A large-scale ver­sion of the win­ning art­work will be installed in Times Square on Feb­ru­ary 14^th. 

About Times Square Arts

Times Square Arts, the pub­lic art pro­gram of the Times Square Alliance, col­lab­o­rates with con­tem­po­rary artists and cul­tur­al insti­tu­tions to exper­i­ment and engage with one of the world’s most icon­ic urban places. Through the Square’s elec­tron­ic bill­boards, pub­lic plazas, vacant areas and pop­u­lar venues, and the Alliance’s own online land­scape, Times Square Arts invites lead­ing con­tem­po­rary cre­ators, such as Charles Gaines, Joan Jonas, Jef­frey Gib­son, Pamela Coun­cil, Mel Chin and Kehinde Wiley, to help the pub­lic see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a cul­tur­al dis­trict and place of risk, inno­va­tion and cre­ativ­i­ty, and the arts pro­gram ensures these qual­i­ties remain cen­tral to the dis­tric­t’s unique identity.

About Gov­er­nors Island Arts

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. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​g​iarts

About the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island is the non­prof­it cor­po­ra­tion cre­at­ed by the City of New York that is respon­si­ble for the rede­vel­op­ment and oper­a­tion of 150 acres of Gov­er­nors Island. The Trust’s mis­sion is to real­ize the full poten­tial of Gov­er­nors Island for the inspi­ra­tion and enjoy­ment of all New York­ers, demon­strat­ing a bold vision for pub­lic space. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org