Governors Island Alliance

Summer 2010: Like No Other

2010-03-04T19:56:10Z

The island is hibernating right now - peaceful, a little chilly, but lovely as ever. Plans are taking shape for a summer unlike any that have gone on before. Here is a snapshot of what the Alliance and participating partners are cooking up, with details yet to be settled: ]]>
GIA's Fifth Annual Opening Day Family Festival, June 5

Clowns! Magicians! Music and dance! Storytelling! Arts and crafts! All day for all ages. Learn about the great New York harbor from playful interactive and educational acts. Step inside historic brick houses where storytellers will hold forth. Come to the grand opening of the Alliance's Harbor Discovery Center for harbor history and ecology - and not least, why Governors Island has mattered for more than two centuries.

FIGMENT, June 11-13

Deadlines for submitting proposals are: February 23 for a City of Dreams Pavilion (register by February 16), and March 1 for the Minigolf Course and the Sculpture Garden. The Pavilion is intended to serve for the season as a central gathering place on the Island. Use of recycled and recyclable materials will be a plus. For the Sculpture Garden, old sculpture and new are welcome, but they must be interactive in some way.

Free Kite Days

The Alliance will distribute 500 free kites on a high-flying weekend yet to be designated. GIA volunteers will help youngsters assemble and fly them on the Parade Grounds... so long as the wind is blowing, which it does a lot.

Folks on the Island Concert

For the 4th year, GIA and Trinity Wall Street will co-sponsor an American folk concert in Colonels' Row. Stay tuned for info on this summer's headliner.

Cinema on the Shore

Building on the successful showing of "Zombie Honeymoon" at Water Taxi Beach last summer, the Alliance and Post Factory NY hope to present four more this year.

City of Water Day, July 24

The Alliance will again be part of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance's extraordinary all-day water-centric activities. The kayakers have to land somewhere, don't they?

Summer Jobs: Rewards and Credits

A solid cadre of volunteers is crucial to the Island's further development. Get in on the ground floor as a founding member of the new Governors Island Alliance volunteer program. Volunteers help staff the public programs, such as our concerts and the Added Value farm. GIA will again organize volunteer crews to plant, tend and harvest the farm's three acres. Volunteers do p.r., too, greeting and directing visitors as they arrive; finding out what they liked - or disliked - as they leave. GIA is open to proposals from volunteer groups large and small and will help cater to the needs of the group. The rewards of volunteering: Wholesome gratification. The credits: It makes a great line on your resumé.

Intern Program

Our summer-long intern program on the island is open to high school and college students. Internships range from a few weeks to all summer. We value building relationships with students from local institutions and welcome your resumés and internship requests. This year's program begins Tuesday, June 1.

New GIA Merchandise!

There will be newly designed caps, T-shirts, tote bags, water bottles and maybe even folding chairs for sale at the two GIA Welcome Stations - online, too - but a trip to the Island beats sitting home at your computer any day.

For more information about any of these programs or to send a resume for our internship program, contact Elizabeth at elizabeth@rpa.org or 917-546-4304.

Alliance Urges Caution in Considering Any Proposal to Hold 9/11 Terror Trials on Governors Island

2010-01-25T17:54:44Z

The Governors Island Alliance made a statement on Friday opposing any proposal to hold the 9/11 terror trials on Governors Island. Read the press release here.

Governors Island: It's My Island!

2009-12-10T14:40:26Z

Dear Friend of Governors Island,

It's no longer the Harbor's sleeping beauty: Governors Island has awakened. With over 275,000 visitors at the end of the summer, the Island has hit the tipping point as one of New York's newest and fastest-growing favorite public spaces. It's visible, it's popular, and, most importantly, it's yours!

So how did you enjoy your Island this year?

Did you ride your bike all the way around the waterfront promenade, or did you lounge in a hammock looking up at Lady Liberty? Maybe you and some friends saw Judy Collins sing on the lawn at Colonels' Row, or just grabbed a burger at Water Taxi Beach. Did you take your children to see the cannons at Fort Jay, play soccer, or challenge the mini golf course behind Liggett Hall?

Whatever your favorite part was, we are glad you were able to enjoy more of your Island than ever before, including the new round-Island esplanade, 8 more acres of park space at Picnic Point, and more creative, quality events.

But all this progress hasn't happened by accident. Support from our members this year has helped make great strides in the Island's progress. We write to you today to ask for your help. Please consider making a tax-deductible gift to Governors Island Alliance in support of our advocacy and public programs.

Since 1995, Governors Island Alliance has worked to ensure that New Yorkers and their friends and family have the opportunity to visit this unique and wonderful place. We sponsor public programs like the Folks on the Island concerts and our opening day Family Festival. We reach out to Island visitors and use their feedback to help improve your Island experience year after year. We work with students and volunteers to improve the Island and stretch public resources, and to create public programs. Most importantly, we let City, State, and federal officials know how special Governors Island is to people like you.

Last year at this time, it was uncertain whether Governors Island would open at all due to the tough economic climate. But thanks to the Alliance's "Keep the Island Afloat" advocacy campaign, public officials recognized the many people who cared about the Island and its historic buildings, and 2009 became our most successful season ever - with more than double the number of visitors of 2008. The Alliance also helped secure the funding needed to rehabilitate and open key Island resources: Yankee Pier, a new destination for historic and other ships; and Castle Williams, the 1811 fort at the heart of the Island's National Park. We also joined with the Harbor School to celebrate the rehabilitation of the historic hospital building for their public high school - the Island's first tenant.

But in order to sustain this exciting momentum, we need your support. We encourage you to consider becoming a member of the Governors Island Alliance.

Members of the Alliance are invited to private on-Island events and receive special briefings on recent Island developments. There are opportunities for special acknowledgment on our website, annual report and all our summer Island materials.

Being a member of Governors Island Alliance means you are playing a vital role in the ongoing preservation of the National Monument and other nationally significant historic buildings, the creation of over 110 acres of parkland, and the renewal of one of New York's greatest public resources.

Support from Island friends like you is more important than ever in difficult economic times like these, when parks and historic buildings are most often left out of City, State, and federal budgets. We need your help to keep our elected officials on track, to run our volunteer and intern programs, and to produce the free public programs that bring so many faces to Governors Island in the summer.

That's why we hope you'll lend your support by joining the Governors Island Alliance today. Simply mail or fax us our membership card or contribute online through our secure website.

One of things we enjoy most is taking first-time visitors out to the Island. The most jaded New Yorker is taken aback by the Island's beauty, history, and incredible potential. We know that you too appreciate Governors Island for all these qualities. Please take the time to make it truly yours by joining the Alliance as a contributing member. You will be a wonderful addition to our family at a time when we need your help most. We hope to hear from you soon.

See you on the Island,

Ken Fisher Robert Pirani
Chair Executive Director

Deer Stranded on GI!

2009-12-01T21:39:25Z

Check out the coverage from today's run-in (swim-in?) with a deer.

MyFoxNY.com

The Jersey Journal

New York Times

Successful Summer Comes to a Close

2009-10-13T20:18:17Z

Visitors said goodbye to Governors Island last Sunday, knowing the Island would be closed from Columbus Day until May 2010.

On Thursday, the Alliance and the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School celebrated the summer with our program partners at Water Taxi Beach. We want to thank all our supporters and sponsors, plus all the folks who came out to enjoy the Island and the Beach for one last hurrah.

With the help of our members, the Alliance has raised roughly $30,000 this summer - all of which will go towards our free programming events and our advocacy work.

Special VIP Tour Added for Thursday, Oct 8 Party

2009-10-05T20:07:23Z

To get you into the Swing of Fall, we've added a
special VIP tour of the Island. Come see the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School's brand new high school building with founder Murray Fisher. You'll also have a chance to check out the new eco-dock at Pier 101, the historic forts and beautiful fall-colored parks.

RSVP for the tour

Dance, drink and celebrate with us as we close out the summer season with a bang!

RSVP for the party

Get Into the Swing of Fall: The Details

2009-10-02T13:51:39Z

Thursday, October 8, 5:30 - 8 pm
Water Taxi Beach, Governors Island
$25 - Includes one free drink, transit, dancing and live music from the Stumblebum Brass Band

Boats depart the Battery Maritime Building at 5:15, 5:45 and 6:15 pm

RSVP to Elizabeth, call 917 546 4304, or RSVP online

Don't miss it! It's your last chance to party at the beach
with us until May 2010!

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!

2009-09-29T20:09:36Z

Governors Island has become New York's newest hot spot - at sea level, at least, so as not to ignore the High Line - and we'll all be sorry to see it close after Columbus Day. It's been a tremendous summer, with over 240,000 visitors, a new picnic grounds with stunning up-close views of Lady Liberty, a popular esplanade circling the perimeter and an infinite variety of free events within it.

The Alliance and the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School are throwing a beach party on Thursday, October 8, to celebrate the arts and educational groups that made the season such a success. Toast your favorites - artists, performers, teachers and waterfront volunteers - watch a sunset over the water one more time and enjoy live music by New York's own Stumblebum Brass Band on the new Water Taxi Beach.

RSVP here.

]]> All for $25. The funds we raise support our ability to provide free programs for all comers, young and old, and underwrite the Alliance's advocacy that has kept the Island open. We're counting on more than 500 guests for this end-of-season farewell, so invite your friends and bring your family. The Island deserves a big closing celebration! Ferries will run at 5:15, 5:45 and 6:15 from the regular ferry location in the Battery Maritime Building.

RSVP online here.

Thanks to our sponsors - the New York Observer, The Durst Organization, Water Taxi Beach and Electra Information Systems - and to those yet to sign on. Sponsorships are still available. To join, or just to find out about it, email Elizabeth or call 917-546-4304.

Get into the Swing of Fall - on Facebook!

2009-09-29T16:10:44Z

Planning on coming to our "Get Into the Swing of Fall" beach party October 8th? RSVP on Facebook! Invite your friends and family! Kids under 12 are free.

Click here to go to the Facebook group.

Closing Reception: 4heads Collective

2009-09-22T15:39:48Z

The Second Annual Governors Island Art Fair compiled by the 4heads Collective and sponsored by Gallery Bar will culminate with a closing reception on Sunday, September 27 from 3 - 6 pm. Visitors will be allowed one last chance to stroll through the abandoned army barracks of Governors Island while viewing a selection of work by 150 independent and international artists and performers as well as a selection of art galleries. All galleries will be open from 11 am - 6 pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

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About The 4heads Collective The 4heads Collective is a New York-based group dedicated to cultivating interest in the arts through community involvement and interaction. Antony Zito, Nicole Laemmle, Jack Robinson, Ernie Sandidge and Preet Srivastava formed the group in early 2008 with a mission of forging new opportunities for the growing community of artists in New York City. The 4heads Collective offers each selected artist a chance to exhibit in his or her own room in a historic building on Governors Island. For the public, it's an opportunity to see and buy artwork from some of the city's most sought-after independent artists in a beautiful, historic park setting. www.4heads.org

About GalleryBar Owned by Darin Rubell, Josh Boyd and Derrek Vernon, GalleryBar is one of the Lower East Side's most unique venues. Located at 120 Orchard Street, GalleryBar is a traditional art gallery space by day, exhibiting works from both emerging and established artists. In the evenings, GalleryBar transitions into a bi-level lounge, boasting two separate bars on each floor. GalleryBar offers the opportunity to socialize with friends while experiencing the newest offerings on the art scene, making it an ideal marriage of nightlife and culture. www.gallerybarnyc.com

National Parks Week on GI

2009-09-18T20:56:57Z

Join the National Parks Conservation Association in celebrating our nationals parks this upcoming week. There will be many events all over the city, two of which are on Governors Island - with the Children's Museum for the Arts and the National Park Service.

Check out the week-long schedule here.

Feel Free is an attitude, an ambition and an invitation. Feel Free is a belief that the National Parks should be well funded, broadly and enthusiastically visited, respectfully experienced and cherished for the national treasures they are. Feel Free is the momentum to restore the parks in time for their 100th anniversary, 7 years from now. Feel Free is impassioned advocacy and successive opportunity.

Feel Free is now: It's time to take in the scenery. www.feelfree.org

Countdown for Dutch Festival

2009-09-18T20:07:32Z

New Island Festival activities are endless, but the festival is not. It ends on Sunday, September 20. Direct from Holland, watch circus acts and daredevil stunts or comedy and improv, hear classical music in the park, take in dance performances by some of the Netherlands most prominent contemporary choreographers...or peer into the Island's past at the archeological dig. The festival is alive until midnight every night.

The full program is available here. The ferry schedule for each day is here.

Dan's Island, Since Age 7

2009-09-18T20:05:44Z

Dan Yawitz, a sophomore at Princeton University, worked on the Island this summer as an Alliance intern.

The first time I saw Governors Island I was seven years old, standing on the Staten Island ferry and staring at that cool brick fort. It looked like it was ready to fire its cannons at me from about thirty different angles. I remember thinking that, despite the fort, it looked like a quaint little town. I wondered if I'd ever be allowed to go. ]]> This summer, I went for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised to find what I thought I saw from the ferry that day, a tranquil green space that felt more like it belonged in rural Massachusetts than in the heart of New York City. It was like a private haven in the middle of the harbor, except it was open and I could come back whenever I wanted (on weekends from May to October).

I saw thousands of people come to the Island this summer, and I heard them call it things like "beautiful," "one of my favorite places in the city," or - my favorite - "my own personal catharsis." Many of them were New Yorkers like me. We've known about the Island for years but have never been out there. Nearly half of this summer's 200,000 visitors were from New York City alone! It's great to see people coming out and connecting with the Island on a personal level like this.

The park will matter most to the people who really enjoy and identify with it, and they will shape its future. The Alliance's motto is "It's Your Island. It's Your Park." I'm proud that helping connect with this amazing space has helped them make it their park, in the same way I made it mine.

Kites and Flights on Governors Island

2009-09-18T20:00:50Z

GIA distributed 100 mini Mighty Kites at a reading of Touching the Sky by co-authors Trish Marx and Louise Borden on Sunday, September 13.

St. Cornelius: Storied Chapel

2009-09-18T19:58:19Z

Swirling curtains of translucent silk smoke pour down in cones of light that break the darkness inside the 100-year-old St. Cornelius chapel at the end of Colonel's Row. Anthony McCall's light sculpture, Between You and I, is this summer's imaginative reuse of space where Island military families - and prisoners of war - once worshiped.

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Years ago prisoners of war who were held in Castle Williams were issued passes to attend Sunday services, but this liberty was abruptly curtailed when the Army discovered them using it to mingle with their sweethearts. Thereafter, according to the New York Times, they were marched to assigned pews and ordered to maintain "eyes front." One Sunday a prisoner, overcome with passion, stood and joined his wife, protesting his rights.

Love rang true for another couple ten years later when Lieutenant Lawrence Sperry, an Army aviator on overnight leave, flew his fiancée from an airfield on Long Island to a landing in front of the chapel. There they wed and flew off again, man and wife.

Today St. Cornelius, the only privately owned building on the island, has become a venue for all sorts of imaginative ideas.