ARTSCONNECTION IS IN RESIDENCE ON GOVERNORS ISLAND

Presented through Governors Island Arts, the seasonal Organizations in Residence initiative is an annual program that selects nonprofits from across the city to present public programs in an historic home on the Island. We will be open to the public every weekend from May 7th through November 5th and have special programming during our residency.

Visit us at at Colonels Row, House 408B.

Click here for Directions and other Governors Island Visitor Information.

(Be sure to bookmark this page as it is evolving and new events will be added soon.)

CURRENT & UPCOMING EVENTS

SEPTEMBER

TRUTH FUTURE BACHMAN

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

MUSIC – Governors Island is doing world class, ground-breaking horticultural work. They are eliminating all invasive species of plants and pests from the island, restoring the space to its natural habitat while setting an ecological example for New York City and the world at large.

In collaboration with Logan Fischer, the senior gardener on Governors Island, composer Truth Future Bachman will present a suite of songs that allows audiences to interact with the unique natural habitat on Governors Island through a sense of play, adventure, and connection to the land.

Public event: Saturday, September 30 | 1:30 pm

ONGOING

ANGEL THOMPSON

[EXHIBITION]

The meaning of an artwork is influenced by the viewer’s life experience. The same is true of our interactions with others; our life experiences color our perceptions of one another.

Curate Me is an interactive art installation meant to embody this premise; where the audience is invited to choose and arrange works on display exerting their influence on a rotating collection of my autobiographical works.

Come to the Pantry Room Gallery on Colonels Row, House 408B, and create a personalized dialogue between my works and you.

On display through November 5, 2023

ONGOING

GEURYUNG LEE

[SOLO EXHIBITION]

Sympathy: Works by Geuryung Lee — I express the mind and spirit influenced by eastern culture using marks, signs, symbols, gestures, texture, shape, and value to convey situations, context, and emotional states of being. I learned calligraphy when I was young and when I do calligraphy now, I reflect back to my childhood and release many emotions: happiness, sadness, depression, gratitude, passion, and energy as a form of spiritual practice. As an Asian female artist living in NYC – a uniquely diverse, ethnic, cultural, and international community – I think about my nostalgia for my home country and my identity as a stranger.  

During the pandemic, I have used my notes and words as motifs to explore the coexistence between diversity, nostalgia, immigration, social inequality, and culture. I have been asking myself: What is the life of an artist and art? In this reality, my dilemma has been what can I do best and how to do it now? The pandemic is not over yet, but people have returned to their daily lives. Through my work, I will memorize the sacrifice of people and comfort those who have suffered mental and emotional stress and congratulate people returning to daily life and deliver a message of hope. 

Instagram | Website 

On display through November 5, 2023

ONGOING

KERRY WARREN & SHERRY TAGOE

[INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION]

“What time is it?”

Kerry Warren in collaboration with Urban Resource Institute NYC’s RAPP (Relationship Abuse Prevention Program)

How would you describe a New York minute or what’s the essence of Island Time? This Time Table holds a few answers to these questions from teens in the RAPP program on a summer day in July. Teaching artist Kerry Warren and RAPP coordinator Sherry Tagoe led a one-day summer workshop about the social construct of time and exploring that through words and imagery. 

The center of the table holds a sand timer for one minute. As the sand falls, read the words of time and be inspired by a new answer to the question, what time is it? Use the magnetic label to write your word for time. 

RAPP is a middle and high school-based curriculum designed to end teen relationship abuse and empower young people. Because violent behavior typically begins between the ages of 12 and 18, RAPP was developed to deliver an array of services to help students recognize and change unhealthy patterns of behavior before transitioning into adult relationships.  

https://urinyc.org/program/relationship-abuse-prevention-program/ 

On display through November 5, 2023

OCTOBER

BRIDGET JOHNSON

[EVENT]

STOP MOTION ANIMATION — Bridget and Riana Johnson are a sister animating duo. In celebration of their roots, they created 6 short stop motion films that tell the story of their Mexican-American family working and living in the rural mining towns of Arizona. They will be screening their films alongside a small installation that puts the audience right in their grandma’s living room.

Screening event and installation: Saturday, October 7 @ 2:00 pm

OCTOBER

MANUEL ACEVEDO

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

VISUAL ARTS – Multidisciplinary artist Manuel Acevedo presents The Altered Sites series, a collection of original photographs of places and monuments that have been changed, removed, restored, etc. using a variety of interventions. Guests are to consider the imaginative possibilities of a given place through image or object, and transform it, if only superficially. During the open studio exhibition, participants are invited to alter a set of local photographs by drawing/collage on the surface and consider the current space, site, and status quo as it could be otherwise.

Public event: Saturday, October 14 | 1:00 pm

OCTOBER

KYLA MCKOLL

[WORKSHOP]

 Found object & Recyclables Puppet or Mask Making Workshop

PUPPETRY – Puppetry artist and Mask maker Kyla McKoll will lead participants through creating masks with upcycled materials – bring your cardboard (cereal boxes, toilet paper tubes etc) and scavenge for additions on Governor’s Island and transform them into fabulous creatures.

Public event: Saturday, October 28  | 1:00 – 4:00 pm

OCTOBER

CHIA-YING KAO

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

MULTIMEDIA DANCE – Multimedia dance artist Chia-ying Kao presents This is Cactus Land, inspired by their personal experiences suffering through postpartum depression, family illness, and financial struggles as a working immigrant artist. Through this performance the artist hopes to bring awareness to issues of mental health especially as they relate to the experiences of immigrants and women.

Public event: October 28 | 2:00 pm

OCTOBER

ANDREW STRANO

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

MUSICAL THEATER — Australian writer/performer Andrew Strano, in collaboration with Japanese composer Yuriko Shibata, present a reading of selections from their works in progress, including excerpts from Jason! (and the Argonauts) — a musical retelling of the ridiculously hyper-masculine Greek myth written for gender expansive performers; SKIN — a haunting examination of the need for connection adapted from the Celtic myth of the Selkie; Liddle Facts — a series of songs about luck, love and the universe, inspired by the facts underneath the lids of Snapple iced tea bottles… you know the ones; and an as yet untitled musical examination of, and response to, the life and work of Yayoi Kusama.

Yuriko Shibata is a pianist, orchestrator, musical director and composer for stage and screen, Andrew is a Fulbright scholar, performer, director and award winning playwright, lyricist and book writer. Both graduates of the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program and members of the NYFA New York City Artist Corps, their work has been featured by the Lincoln Centre’s Broadway’s Future Songbook Program, with original musical SKIN workshopped and presented Off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre.

Public event: October 29 | 3:00 pm

PAST EVENTS

JUNE / JULY

NAKED : TRUTH

[EXHIBIT]

Teens Curate Teens (TCT) presents the 2023 multimedia exhibition NAKED : TRUTH.

This marks the 12th year of TCT exhibitions, and features 25+ NYC teen artists in celebration of personal and universal narratives that investigate their raw authenticity during a time of major transition.

The TCT curators share “as teens we are coming into our own identity – changing physically and mentally. NAKED : TRUTH (although for everyone) is most importantly for and by us. We hope our peers experience a safe space to appreciate their unique truth at this important time.”

Opening May 20, 2023 | 1:00-4:00 pm
Open to the public through July 30, 2023.

For more information, visit the full announcement on our website.

JUNE

LORENA MARIN

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

DANCE – An interdisciplinary live performance based in structured dance improvisation in which artists produce several original works over the course of 90 minutes. The performance is divided into 3 sets, each with a 25-minute duration and 10-minute intermission.

Public event: Saturday, June 24th | 3:00 pm

JULY

RUBEN GONZALEZ

[EVENT]

MUSIC – HANDMADE FOR KIDS presents Music and Words for the Young in Everyone, a concert for children and adults of all ages featuring Ruben Gonzalez, Alda Reuter, and Benjamin Perez Hidalgo.

Public event: Saturday, July 1 | 3:00 pm

JULY

NICHOLAS LEICHTER

[EVENT]

MUSIC — THE CELESTIALS sing astral folk in a blues and gospel mixture of acoustic/electric instrumentation, spacious vocal harmonies, and incisive lyrics. A music collective from NY, CT, and VT with songwriting by Clare Byrne and Dan Strauss, and musicians Amy Larimer and Nicholas Leichter.

Public event: Saturday, July 8 | 3:00 pm

JULY

GEURYUNG LEE

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

In recent years the world has experienced unprecedented events that have threatened humanity. The Pandemic has affected many physically, mentally and emotionally. These issues call for avenues in which our shared human conditions can be embraced in a safe space. On July 15th artist Geuryung Lee will lead a workshop introducing beginners to the subtle yet powerful art of the brush stroke with an infusion of meditation and breathing practice. Combining the Sumi Ink drawing exercise and experiential writing, each participant will use meditation and art for the purpose of healing and expression of creativity.

Public event: Saturday, July 15, 2023 | 1:00 pm

JULY

TIFFANY BARRETT

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

DANCE & HEALTH/WELLNESS – Using the arts as a pathway and access point to a variety of wellness activities, multi-disciplinarian actress, dancer, choreographer, doula, and certified nutrition health coach Tiffany Barrett will host an arts wellness day divided into two sessions, one for younger participants and another for older participants including mindfulness exercises, movement exploration.

Public event: Saturday, July 22 | 1:00 – 5:00 pm

JULY

PETRA ZANKI

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

DANCE/LIVE MUSIC – “Loosely: Vivaldi’s Summer”

(Duration: 45-60 mins)

An island, white clouds, and blue waves: a boat away from New York concrete, an opportunity to reconnect and gather. With ourselves, and between ourselves. That’s it, it’s ok. I can breathe.

Blending different genres and styles, Zanki combines themes of art and healing with music and dance to explore the kinds of communities we want to envision in a post-Pandemic world.

Working in co-creation with three New York musicians and three dancers, Petra creates three choreographic solos using Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons violin concerti/ Summer, as an inspiration. each dancer together with one musician enters in dialogue with one part from Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, “Summer” (L’estate) Allegro non molto (in G minor), Adagio e piano – Presto e forte (in G minor), Presto (in G minor) as an inspiration for their own contemporary version of summer.

How do dance, ambient, Hip hop, rhythm & jazz, and sound healing connect to Vivaldi, and all of them to me and me to you? Expect soul healing, magic, and joy.

Public event: Saturday, July 29 | 3:00 pm | outdoors on grass

Rain date: July 30th at 3:00 pm

AUGUST

AMANDA ADAMS-LOUIS

[EVENT]

DANCE/DRAWING – Sketching with Street Dancers Volume 5 (Hip-Hop) is an interdisciplinary workshop that connects movement, mark making (drawing) and music. The event consists of a guided drawing session that features a b-boy (breakdancer) and a popper as drawing models. DJ KS-360 will deliver the soundtrack and Noelle Salaun will demonstrate drawing techniques to use to track, trace and transmit the dancers’ movement. The drawing session will be followed by a gallery walk for sketchers and dancers to see the results of their collaboration in real time. Sketching with Street Dancers was created by & is produced by Lafotographeuse and is documented by Bboy Static. Sound system provided by Karla Soundsystem.

Collaborators:
Drawing Instructor – Noelle Salaun
Bboy – Bboy Spydey
Popper – Mr. Ocean
DJ – DJ KS360
Producer – Lafotographeuse (Amanda Adams-Louis)
Timekeeper – Aurora Hidalgo
Promo & Design – Cara Tree
Videographer – Bboy Static
Sound – Karlala Soundsystem
Co-producer – Mugen

Public event: Saturday, August 12 | 2:00 – 4:30 pm

AUGUST

KERRY WARREN

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

THEATER & COMMUNITY — “Yes and Yoga” — Artist Kerry Warren leads a community yoga class and performs excerpts from the one person show Yes and Yoga which follows a yoga student who signs up for work study at a local Brooklyn yoga studio after the pandemic.

Public events:
Sunday, August 13 | 2:00 – 4:00 pm | open rehearsal with yoga
Wednesday, August 16 | 2:00 – 4:00 pm | open rehearsal with yoga
Sunday, August 20 | 2:00 – 4:00 pm | outdoor mindfulness/yoga

*Participants are encouraged to bring a yoga mat or blanket if they want to practice.

AUGUST

SINDY ISABEL CASTRO

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

THEATER – Sindy Isabel Castro presents un lugar imaginario as a part of New Victory LabWorks. This cross between art installation and performance piece/play explores the imaginary world a young girl constructs in memory of her father’s death and the processing of grief she and her mother experience in its aftermath.

Public event: Saturday, August 26 | Performance at 1:00 pm | Open Space: Noon – 3:00 pm

AUGUST

J HANN

[ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE]

PUPPETRY/FIBER ARTS — Join artist J Hann for fiber arts circle to conclude their month-long residency. You may bring whatever crochet, knitting, felting, sewing, etc. project you wish to work on, or free materials will be available to you. Guests will be invited to explore the artist’s development process from the residency (storyboards, puppets, etc.) and participate in a collaborative fiber arts piece.   

Public event: Sunday, August 27 | 1:00 – 3:00 pm

SEPTEMBER

KIM GRIER-MARTINEZ, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ROD RODGERS DANCE COMPANY

[EVENT]

DANCE – Healing in Motion — Kim Grier-Martinez with the Rod Rodgers Dance Company will present a live performance featuring works from their current repertoire along with an audience movement exploration piece. After the live performance audience members will have a chance to participate in a workshop alongside the company, which will take us through a collaborative experience of breath, imagery, and creativity. This will be a cross generational journey. We will play, use our imagination, and have fun together through healing in motion. 

No previous dance experience needed to participate in the workshop.

Public event: Friday, September 1 | 3:00 pm

SEPTEMBER

AISHWARYA MADHAV

[EVENT]

DANCE – Choreographer Aishwarya Madhav presents an Indian classical dance showcase. It would also be a soft premiere of a piece I have been working on which is based on nature.

This performance explores the relationship between man and nature and how the five elements, air, space, water, earth, and fire, are related to the five sensory organs of our body. The dance is choreographed with a specific rhythm akin to nature. The music utilizes melodies from the Indian classical tradition. There is a combination of five different melodies which have been chosen to evoke and highlight the respective element. The Indian classical art form Kuchipudi is used in pure dance sequences (nritta) to represent each element, and abhinaya (dramatic mime) is used to depict emotions. The body’s movements are choreographed using both earthy and aerial as a tribute to the rhythm of nature.

Public event: Saturday, September 2 | 4:00-5:00 pm

(Rain date: Saturday, September 9 | 3:30-4:30 pm)

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