Governors Island Arts Debuts Can’t Wait To See 2024 Fall Season

Governors Island Arts today announced a schedule of free programming and exhibitions for the Island’s fall season just 60 minutes from Harlem, NY.

Including the continuation of the INTERVENTIONS performance series with works by Inua Ellams and Lenio Kaklea along with new exhibitions from the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons, and other NYC-based nonprofit organizations. This fall also marks the last chance to visit Jenny Kendler’s Other of Pearl, presented by Governors Island Arts and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which is on view inside Fort Jay Friday-Sunday through November 3, 2024. 

“There is so much to discover on Governors Island, whether you’re coming to see—and even participate in—a performance that’s in direct conversation with our landscapes, to explore our historic houses and the incredible organizations within them, or to discover our collection of one-of-a-kind public artworks,” said Lauren Haynes, Head Curator, Governors Island Arts and Vice President at the Trust for Governors Island. “We are thrilled to continue to spotlight our amazing cultural community as the seasons change and can’t wait to welcome you to the Island this fall.”

INTERVENTIONS Performance Series

Through this site-responsive, multidisciplinary annual performance series, Governors Island Arts presents local, national, and international artists and invites audiences to experience work made and adapted for the outdoors. INTERVENTIONS continues this fall with Search Party, award-winning poet and internationally acclaimed playwright Inua Ellams’s spontaneous performance event, and Analphabètes, a dance piece by Lenio Kaklea and co-presented with L’Alliance New York. 

SEARCH PARTY Inua Ellams

September 20, 7:30pm

September 21, 2:15 pm & 7:30pm

Prompted by audience suggestion and open conversation, Inua Ellams searches through his archive, unearths refined or raw gold, and presents his treasure in this spontaneous performance—an act of call and response that hearkens back to the birth of storytelling. At this uniquely futuristic and especially chaotic interactive event—its first ever outdoor iteration—the artist couldn’t be more present. 

ANALPHABÈTES Lenio Kaklea

October 5, 12pm, 2pm & 4pm

Greek-born and Paris-based choreographer Lenio Kaklea designed this piece as a response to physical landscape. Consisting of three distinct levels of spectatorship—near, far, and very far away—the performance blends environment with choreographic image, creating a structure that organizes the audience’s visual experience. On Governors Island, the piece will be performed and reimagined by local dancers and built in direct response to its environment. Co-Presented with L’Alliance New York as part of Crossing the Line Festival

Previous performances presented as part of INTERVENTIONS include works by Modesto “Flako” Jimenez, Indigenous Enterprise, Dance Heginbotham, and Rena Anakwe. INTERVENTIONS is curated by Juan Pablo Siles, Associate Curator and Producer at the Trust for Governors Island. Tickets to all performances are free and available online at www.govisland.org. 

Organizations in Residence

Each year, two dozen arts, culture, educational, and environmental nonprofits utilize space inside the historic houses of Nolan Park and Colonels Row to present a robust calendar of free public programs, host artist residencies, and engage visitors in special activities for all ages throughout the summer months. Organizations in Residence are open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11am to 5pm through the end of October 2024. 

Organizations joining the current group of nonprofits in Nolan Park and Colonels Row for the fall season include New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) and Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons, along with several new exhibitions and events from the current Organizations in Residence. NADA will present the sixth edition of NADA House, bringing together 17 exhibitors from around the world presenting 21 artists, with participants engaging the unique character of the house’s historic space and exhibiting work in a diverse range of mediums. Escaping Time will exhibit and sell artworks created within prison walls nationwide, working to disrupt the stereotype society imagines when thinking about the incarcerated.

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The 2024 Organizations in Residence are: 

American Indian Community House Manhattan

AnkhLave Arts Alliance Manhattan*

ArtCrawl Harlem Manhattan

BronxArtSpace The Bronx

Bronx Council on the Arts The Bronx*

Billion Oyster Project Manhattan

caribBEING Brooklyn

Climate Imaginarium Manhattan*

DuYe Moves Brooklyn*

Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons Manhattan

Filmshop Manhattan*

Flux Factory Queens

Fountain House Gallery Manhattan

Harvestworks Manhattan

KODA Brooklyn

The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) Brooklyn

New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) Manhattan

New York Arts Program Manhattan*

New York Latin American Art Triennial Manhattan

NYC Bird Alliance Manhattan

Pratt Institute Center for Climate Adaptation Brooklyn

Red Hook Initiative and Red Hook Art Project Brooklyn*

Residency Unlimited (RU) Brooklyn

Staten Island Urban Center Staten Island

Swale Brooklyn

Taiwanese American Arts Council Queens

West Harlem Art Fund Manhattan

*Organizations with an asterisk represent first time Organizations in Residence participants.

Public Art Commissions

Jenny Kendler’s Other of Pearl, presented by Governors Island Arts and NRDC, will debut new fall hours beginning September 9, 2024—the piece will be open Friday-Sunday from 10am-5pm through November 3, 2024. Located in the historic Fort Jay, Other of Pearl features a series of seven intimate, delicate works that confront contemporary environmental issues—ocean noise, chemical pollution, climate change and sea level rise—while calling attention to the extractive histories that form the origin stories of our climate crisis. 

There are currently seven additional temporary and long-term public artworks on display throughout Governors Island’s park and historic landscapes, including Sheila Berger’s BIRD MMXXIII, Sam Van Aken’s The Open Orchard, Duke Riley’s Not for Nutten, Mark Dion’s The Field Station of the Melancholy Marine Biologist, Shantell Martin’s Church, Rachel Whiteread’s Cabin, and Mark Handforth’s Yankee Hanger. 

Governors Island Arts presents its programming with the visionary support of the Ford Foundation, as well the Mellon Foundation, the Charina Endowment Fund, Donald R. Mullen Family Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Gottesman Fund, Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Getting to Governors Island

During the fall and 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. For schedules and ticketing information, visit www.govisland.org/ferry. 

Visitors are encouraged to reserve ferry tickets on the Governors Island website in advance of their trip. Round-trip ferry tickets cost $5 for adults. Ferries operated by the Trust for Governors Island are always free for children 12 and under, older adults 65 and up, residents of NYCHA, IDNYC holders, current and former military service members, and Governors Island members. Ferries before 11am on Saturdays and Sundays are free for all. There is no surcharge for bicycles or strollers on Trust-operated ferries 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. 

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.govisland.org/giarts   

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.govisland.org