Join The House Fest At Governors Island

Governors Island Arts (just 60 minutes from Harlem) announced today the third annual House Fest, a free festival celebrating the incredible range of works.

The House Fest is presented by the seasonal arts, cultural, educational, and environmental Organizations in Residence on Governors Island. From August 16-19, 2024, Governors Island Arts will bring together more than two dozen cultural partners for an annual creative celebration in and around the historic former military houses of Nolan Park and Colonels Row on the Island, featuring more than 50 free dance and music performances, outdoor installations, interactive workshops, open studios, and more.

“This year’s House Fest is our biggest yet, featuring organizations and artists from every single borough in what is truly a citywide celebration,” said Lauren Haynes, Head Curator, Governors Island Arts and Vice President at the Trust for Governors Island. “Governors Island Arts is privileged to work alongside our partners and collaborators to continue to bring transformative performances and programs to Island visitors and all New Yorkers.”

“Each year, Nolan Park and Colonels Row come alive with cultural offerings in our city’s most unique setting, and we are so excited to highlight this incredible artistic community at House Fest for the third year in a row,” said Juan Pablo Siles, Associate Curator and Producer at the Trust for Governors Island. “We’re grateful to everyone that makes this program such a success year after year, and invite all New Yorkers to hop on the ferry and make some lasting cultural  memories at this year’s House Fest.” 

House Fest will feature several new programs presented by Governors Island Arts, including a Projection Mapping Party curated by Sally Twin, a workshop with NYC-based drumline Fogo Azul, performances from Miriam Elhajli, Zoh Amba, and Eliana Glass and Eli Fola, and an intergenerational social dance party with Dance is Life NYC.

These events will take place alongside public programs and activations from the program’s two dozen seasonal Organizations in Residence that include American Indian Community House, Residency Unlimited, ArtCrawl Harlem, Flux Factory, Staten Island Urban Center, Swale, Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons, Bronx Council on the Arts, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), and many more. 

House Fest 2024 Schedule of Events 

Friday, August 16

• Billion Oyster Project Meet the Oysters Nolan Park Building 16, 10AM-4PM ^
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Exhibition Tours Nolan Park Building 7B, 11AM-12PM ^
• KODA Soul Culture: A Film by Renée Cox; Sari Carel: A More Perfect Circle; Outdoor installation by Mildred Beltré Colonels Row Building 407B, 11AM-5PM *
• Swale When Home Leaves You: Immersive Oral Histories of Climate Change and Adaptation Nolan Park Building 11, 12-6PM *
• Taiwanese American Arts Council 123 Pollution Solution with Chin-Chih Yang Nolan Park Building 7B, 12:30-1:30PM ^
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Secret Garden interactive performance by Tzu-an Ko and Yin-Chen Chen Nolan Park Building 7B, 2-2:30PM ~
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Membrane interactive dance performance with Yung-Chieh Kao Nolan Park Building 7B, 3-3:30PM ~
• Billion Oyster Project Walking tours Nolan Park Building 16, 3-4:15PM ^
• Governors Island ArtsOutdoor Concert in Colonels Row Colonels Row Lawn, 3-4:30PM ~
  • An outdoor set under the trees of Colonels Row featuring live hardware mixes by Jumplink, synth, guitar and vocals by Accessories, and four-piece jazz band Dage.
• Governors Island Arts Projection Mapping Party Parade Ground, 7:30PM ^
  • Curated by Sally Twin, this evening celebration features live music, projection mapping onto historic buildings, free food, and drinks. 

Saturday, August 17 

• Billion Oyster Project Meet the Oysters, Oyster Olympics Nolan Park Building 16, 11AM-4PM ^
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Exhibition Tours Nolan Park Building 7B, 11AM-12PM ^
• KODA Soul Culture: A Film by Renée Cox; Sari Carel: A More Perfect Circle; Outdoor installation by Mildred Beltré; Open Studios Colonels Row Building 407B, 11AM-5PM *
• Bronx Council on the Arts Open House Colonels Row Building 406B, 11AM-5PM *
• Residency Unlimited The House of Confluence: Bricolage Colonels Row Building 404B, 11AM-5PM *
• Governors Island Arts Open rehearsal and drumming workshop with Fogo Azul Nolan Park, 11AM-2PM *^
  • Fogo Azul’s, New York City’s premiere all-women, trans, and non-binary Brazilian Samba Reggae drumline, holds an electrifying open rehearsal and workshop open to all ages—no musical experience required. 
• MoCADA Intention Setting & Mixer Nolan Park Building 7A, 12-1PM ^
• West Harlem Art Fund Dreamscaping in a Fool’s Paradise Nolan Park Building 10B, 12-4PM *
• AnkhLave Arts Alliance Black Wellness Weekend Colonels Row Building 408B, 12-5PM ^
• Swale When Home Leaves You: Immersive Oral Histories of Climate Change and Adaptation Nolan Park Building 11, 12-6PM *
• Harvestworks Ai Onoda plays Satie’s “Vexation” Nolan Park Building 10A, 12-6:30PM~
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Moving Memorials with María Verónica San Martín Nolan Park Building 7A, 1-2PM ~
• Billion Oyster Project Walking tours Nolan Park Building 16, 1-2:15PM ^
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Outdoor concert with Rad Jet Nolan Park Building 7A, 1-2:30PM ~
• MoCADA Talk to Motha: Trans Elder Storytelling & Youth Discussion Nolan Park Building 7A, 1-2:30PM ^
• Climate Imaginarium Climate Café Colonels Row Building 406A, 1-3PM ^
• DuYe Moves The Heartbeat of Brazil: QiGong, Afro-Samba, and Batalá drumming Colonels Row Building 405A, 1:30-4:30PM ^
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Membrane interactive dance performance with Yung-Chieh Kao Nolan Park Building 7B, 3-3:30PM ~
• Governors Island Arts Island Show outdoor concert in Nolan Park with Miriam Elhajli, Zoh Amba, and Eliana Glass Nolan Park, 3-4:30PM ~
  • A series of solo performances from three emerging multi-instrumental singer-songwriters. 
• MoCADA Lunchroom Survival Guide Writing Workshop by Maleek Rae Nolan Park Building 7A, 3-5PM
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Exhibition Reception Nolan Park Building 7B, 3:30-5PM ^
• Harvestworks Amplified Solo Balloons with Judy Dunaway & Star Catcher performance Nolan Park Building 10A, 4:30-5:30PM ~

Sunday, August 18 

• Billion Oyster Project Meet the Oysters, Oyster Olympics Nolan Park Building 16, 11AM-4PM ^
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Exhibition Tours Nolan Park Building 7B, 11AM-12PM ^
• KODA Soul Culture: A Film by Renée Cox; Sari Carel: A More Perfect Circle; Outdoor installation by Mildred Beltré Colonels Row Building 407B, 11AM-5PM *
• DuYe Moves Choreography in Progress with Gaitrie Subryan Colonels Row Building 405A, 12-3PM ^
• West Harlem Art Fund Dreamscaping in a Fool’s Paradise Nolan Park Building 10B, 12-4PM *
• Swale When Home Leaves You: Immersive Oral Histories of Climate Change and Adaptation Nolan Park Building 11, 12-6PM *
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Parade on Your Rain workshop and performance led by Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky Nolan Park Building 7B, 1-3PM ^
• Taiwanese American Arts Council Membrane interactive dance performance with Yung-Chieh Kao Nolan Park Building 7B, 3-3:30PM ~
• Governors Island Arts Outdoor performance by Eli Fola Colonels Row, 3-4PM ~
  • Nigerian American multidisciplinary sound artist, saxophonist, DJ, and producer Eli Fola presents his hybrid set “Yoruba Tech Soul,” an innovative fusion of AfroHouse, techno, jazz, and classical music. 

Monday, August 19

• KODA Sari Carel: A More Perfect Circle; Outdoor installation by Mildred Beltré Colonels Row Building 407B, 11AM-5PM *
• Governors Island Arts Dance is Life social dance party Liggett Terrace, 5-9PM ^
  • Abdiel Jacobsen and Natasha Diggs bring their social dance party to Governors Island during House Fest. Created as a public community service to provide the vital force that dance and music ignites within humans, this event unites people of all walks of life through communal healing and celebration.

* Exhibition or open studios, ^ Participatory event, ~ Performance 

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

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, and the West Harlem Art Fund Manhattan. 

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, with works currently on view by Jenny Kendler, Sheila Berger, Sam Van Aken, Duke Riley, Shantell Martin, Rachel Whiteread, and Mark Handforth; the annual Organization in Residence program in the Island’s historic houses; and free public programs and events like the monthly INTERVENTIONS performance series, which has featured Modesto “Flako” Jimenez, Indigenous Enterprise, Dance Heginbotham, Rena Anakwe, and more to be announced. 

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

Governors Island is open to the public Sunday through Thursday from 7am to 10pm and Friday through Saturday from 7am to 11pm. The South Island Park, including The Hills, Hammock Grove, Picnic Point, and the ball fields, is open until 6pm daily. 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 during the summer months—Pier Six in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin in Red Hook. These routes run directly to Yankee Pier on Governors Island from each location every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday Monday through September 2, 2024. For schedules and ticketing information, visit www.govisland.org/ferry. 

Visitors are encouraged to reserve ferry tickets in advance of their trip on the Governors Island website. 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 weekdays on the South Brooklyn route and summer weekends via the seasonal Governors Island shuttle. For ticketing information and full schedules for NYC Ferry, visit www.ferry.nyc. 

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