Governors Island Arts To Launch Three-Day ‘House Fest,’ Celebrating ArtCrawl Harlem And Others In Residence

Governors Island Arts announced today the launch of ‘House Fest,’ a three-day festival celebrating the incredible range of works presented by the seasonal arts, cultural, educational, and environmental Organizations in Residence on Governors Island.

From August 5 to 7, 2022, Governors Island Arts will bring together more than 15 cultural partners for a weekend-long creative celebration in the historic Nolan Park and Colonels Row areas on the Island, featuring free dance and music performances, outdoor installations, interactive workshops, open studios, panel discussions, and more.

“Governors Island attracts New Yorkers and international visitors alike with its wide-ranging Organizations in Residence highlighting the arts, culture, and the environment,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria-Torres Springer. “This weekend’s celebration of these unique organizations will bring even more attention to the educational and cultural gems in the heart of New York Harbor.”

“Through Governors Island Arts, we are thrilled to bring together a unique group of organizations that fully embodies the diverse cultural community here in New York City,” said Clare Newman, President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island. “The singular environment of Governors Island fosters a cultural experience like no other, and I encourage all New Yorkers to come out and celebrate with Governors Island Arts at House Fest this August.” 

“Each year, the Organizations in Residence activate Nolan Park and Colonels Row with evocative arts experiences, and we are so excited to celebrate this cultural community with the inaugural House Fest,” said Juan Pablo Siles, Associate Curator and Producer at the Trust for Governors Island. “Governors Island Arts is privileged to have such a dedicated group of organizations here on the Island collaborating to help bring transformative, accessible programming to Island visitors and all New Yorkers.”

House Fest will invite collaboration between Governors Island Arts’ two dozen seasonal Organizations in Residence and a diverse roster of choreographers and performers from throughout New York City, building upon the cultural landscape the program fosters each year in the former military homes of Nolan Park and Colonels Row on Governors Island.

The three-day celebration will feature free performances from Pigeonwing Dance, Jerron Herman, and Dance to the People, along with free public programs and activations from Organizations in Residence that include the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), Harvestworks, The Climate Museum, ArtCrawl Harlem, 4heads, NYU Gallatin WetLab, Triangle Arts, and more to be announced. 

Central to the weekend’s festivities is ‘Dance Party NYC’ on Saturday, August 6, a city-wide dance party taking place on the same night across 80 locations throughout the five boroughs–including Nolan Park on Governors Island. Festival goers will dance their hearts out alongside their fellow New Yorkers, with soundtracks provided by Brooklyn United Marching Band, Brass Queens, DJ Aguapanela Mami, and DJ Yung Mayne. Dance Party NYC on Governors Island is presented by Governors Island Arts in collaboration with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

A full schedule of events and list of presenting organizations can be found at govisland.org/housefest, with more events to be announced in the coming weeks.

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. Since Governors Island opened to the public in 2005, the Trust has invited cultural, educational, and non-profit organizations to utilize its historic houses to present engaging public programs while providing workspace for artists and cultural practitioners.

Through this unique organization in Residence Program, Governors Island Arts provides a platform for non-profit groups to reach a diverse and growing audience of engaged visitors, where collaboration is encouraged between participating organizations and space is provided to presenters free of charge.

Investment in Governors Island Arts advances a key component of “Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent: A Blueprint for NYC’s Economic Recovery,” the mayor’s vision for the future of the city’s economy.

Over the next decade, the City and the Trust will invest in evolving this seasonal program into year-round permanent homes for cultural organizations on Governors Island.

Governors Island Arts 2022 Organizations in Residence include 4heads, American Indian Community House, ArtCrawl Harlem, Beam Center, Billion Oyster Project, BronxArtSpace, The Climate Museum, Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons, Flux Factory, Harvestworks, KODA, MoCADA, NARS Foundation, National Academy of Design, New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), New York Virtual Volcano Observatory, NYC Audubon, NYU Gallatin WetLab, Pratt School of Architecture, Swale, Syracuse University, Triangle Arts, and West Harlem Art Fund. 

House Fest 2022 is presented with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

House Fest 2022 Schedule of Events

Portal House

Presented by 4heads

On view August 5-7

Colonels Row Building 408A

Celebrating 15 years on the Island, 4heads presents an intensive summer-long residency, featuring eight dynamic emerging and mid-career women artists. Inspired by the historic, formerly domestic spaces on Governors Island, each artist was challenged to create immersive, site-specific environments that transform individual rooms as well as connective indoor and outdoor spaces.

The Carpet Series, Pigeonwing Dance

Friday, August 5, at 5pm & Saturday, August 6, at 2pm

Colonels Row, Governors Island

A pop-up performance that is rich in detail, complexity and virtuosity, all taking place on and around a 5×8 Persian carpet.

Emotional Baggage Cart in progress

Presented by ArtCrawl Harlem

Saturday, August 6, at 11am

Colonels Row Building 406B

Spend time with Theda Sandiford’s Emotional Baggage Carts–vessels for unresolved emotional baggage related to racial trauma. Each recovered shopping cart is woven with fabric, paracord, yarn, tulle, ribbon, fishing nets, pom poms, pony beads, zip ties, LED lights and more.

WRITE NYC: Street Lab

Saturday, August 6, at 12pm

Nolan Park, Governors Island

Street Lab’s public writing room comes to Governors Island for one day only. The porch of Nolan Park Building 6 will be stocked with supplies, typewriters, and other tools and materials for writing on the fly.

Dance Party NYC

Saturday, August 6, at 3pm

Nolan Park, Governors Island

Part of The New York Public Library’s summer program, Dance Party NYC is a joyous citywide festival that will take place at more than 80 venues across the city–including in Nolan Park on Governors Island, with performances from Brooklyn United Marching Band and Brass Queens, tunes from DJ Aguapanela Mami and DJ Yung Mayne, food trucks, and a beer garden from Threes Brewing.

Triangle Arts Open Studios

Saturday, August 6, at 5pm

Colonels Row Building 405A

An event featuring in progress from Triangle Arts artists in residence, including pieces by Slinko, Malado Francine, Sally Lelong, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Ariel Kleinberg, and Eric Ramos Guerrero.

Porch Life, Urban Bush Women

Presented by MoCADA

Saturday, August 6, at 6pm

Nolan Park Building 7A, Governors Island

A work-in-progress section of Haint Blu, an ensemble dance-theater work from Urban Bush Women that is seeped in memory and magic. Known as the color that Southern families paint their front porches to ward off bad spirits, Haint Blu uses performance as a center and source of healing, taking us through movement into stillness and rest: remembering, reclaiming, releasing, and restoring.

APOCALITZIN, dance to the people

Saturday, August 6, at 7pm & Sunday, August 7, at 2pm

Colonels Row, Governors Island

An epic dance theater piece set in a landscape of environmental crisis following the adventures of its eponymous heroine, a futuristic hybrid of human and plastic, descended from the Mexica (Mēxihcah) people. The piece tells a story of possibility and transformation, celebrating and exploring the people and values that can help to cease and repair the damage societies inflict on nature and those living at the margins of capitalism.

Electropixel 12 – Nature and Cities

Presented by Harvestworks

Saturday, August 6, at 7pm

Nolan Park Building 10A, Governors Island

An outdoor performance of sound art and live cinema that includes the sounds of nature and listening in different cities around the globe. Featuring performances by Ben Owen, Solar Return, Jenny Pickett, Julien Ottavi and the Horspiel Machine.

Changemaker Station

Presented by The Climate Museum

Sunday, August 7, 2:30-4:30 PM

Nolan Park Building 18, Governors Island

An interactive hub for civic climate action, where visitors can learn how to raise their voices and take tangible actions in their communities.

With the Sea: Climate Art, Science, and Human Connections to Sea Level Rise

Presented by The Climate Museum in partnership with NYU Gallatin WetLab

Sunday, August 7, 1pm

LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island

A panel discussion and live Q&A that will explore sea level rise, our embodied relationships with water, climate justice, and advocacy in NYC. Moderated by Anais Reyes, Senior Exhibitions Associate at the Climate Museum.

Silver Fleece, William Hooker

Presented by Harvestworks 

Sunday, August 7, 3pm

Nolan Park Building 10A, Governors Island

A suite for the outdoors in six parts. Featuring William Hooker, drums/composer, On Kaa Davis, guitar, Hans Tammen, guitar, Jair Rohm Wells, bass, David Soldier, violin, and Kevin Ramsey, electronics.

VITRUVIAN (excerpts), Jerron Herman

Sunday, August 7, at 4:30pm

Nolan Park, Governors Island

A solo performance from Jerron Herman. From being built from nothing to a brazen declaration of self, two solos operate to bless the earth with a Disabled Black body exploring the classical image of “The Vitruvian Man” by Da Vinci.

Getting to Governors Island

Governors Island is open to the public Sunday through Thursday from 7am to 6pm. From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, the Island is open to the public until 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

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.

Trust-operated ferries also serve two Brooklyn locations on weekends through September 25, 2022: Pier Six in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook. For schedules and ticketing information, visit www.govisland.org.

In addition, the Soissons Landing area immediately adjacent to the Manhattan ferry dock on Governors Island will remain open until 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 11pm Friday and Saturday as part of “Sunset at Soissons Landing,” a new initiative this summer that will expand evening access to Governors Island, allowing visitors to enjoy the food, drinks, and sunset views of the Soissons Landing area evenings through October 31.

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, with weekday service on the South Brooklyn route and via the summer weekend shuttle from Wall Street/Pier 11. 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 

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