Did you know that The Arts Center at Governors Island is home to working artists all year round? Learn more about our current cohort of artists and The Arts Center Residency here.
Located in an idyllic setting only minutes away by ferry from Lower Manhattan, The Arts Center at Governors Island is the first permanent home for arts and culture at Governors Island, an incubator for creative experimentation, and a space for engagement and dialogue.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions at The Arts Center explore a range of ideas and media with an emphasis on site-specific projects that took the Art Center's unique location into consideration.
Public Programs
The Take Care Series offers audiences of all ages an opportunity to actively engage in performances, workshops, talks, and other interactive events that embrace ideas of caretaking. This series of free public programs aims to find artfulness in the everyday by exploring creative practices and community projects that emphasize care for ourselves, our communities, and our planet.
Arts Center Residency
Since 2010, The Arts Center at Governors Island has provided artists with residencies and work space all year round.
Visit
The Arts Center at Governors Island will reopen for exhibitions and installations in July 2024 with an exciting lineup of programs and exhibitions!
The Arts Center at Governors Island (map)
110 Andes Rd
New York, NY 10004
Open 12-6pm on Saturday & Sunday through November 10, 2024. Please check individual exhibition and event listings for additional open hours.
Transportation
The Arts Center is accessible by ferry, and is a one minute walk from Soissons Landing when arriving from Manhattan.
By ferry
The Arts Center is accessible by ferries to Governors Island departing to and from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. Our building is located to the right of Soissons Landing.
Ferries depart from Lower Manhattan at the Battery Maritime Building to Soissons Landing at Governors Island, and from Brooklyn at Brooklyn Bridge Park on a regular schedule throughout the public season.
For complete ferry schedules and directions to ferry terminals, visit the Governors Island website. All ferries are wheelchair-accessible.
Directions to the Battery Maritime Building
The Battery Maritime Building is located at 10 South Street, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan. The ferry terminal is accessible as follows:
By Subway
1 to South Ferry station
4, 5 to Bowling Green station
R to Whitehall St. station
By Bus
M9, M15, and M15-SBS
Facilities
Restrooms and water fountains are located on both floors of The Arts Center. All restrooms are accessible. Visitors may choose facilities consistent with their gender identity or expression.
At this time, LMCC spaces are mask-optional.
To request an accommodation based on a medical condition or disability, please email Kelsi Ford at kford@lmcc.net prior to your visit.
We want to acknowledge that the work we are doing to support artists and communities is happening on the traditional lands of the Lenape people. We are situated on the Lenape Island of Manahatta, today known as New York, and more broadly in Lenapehoking. We offer our respect to the Lenape and other Indigenous caretakers of these lands and waters; and to their elders who have lived here, who live here now, and who will live here in the future.
Part of the ongoing transformation of New York's Governors Island into a vibrant cultural destination, this adaptive reuse of an 1870s munitions storage warehouse supports local artists while providing generous space for public exhibition and events.
To accommodate LMCC's programs, the design called for opening up the interior of the long and narrow two-story building and exposing and restoring the original truss structure, creating 40,000 square foot of flexible, loft-like space. The Arts Center includes a luminous main gallery on the upper level. Smaller rooms for performance, rehearsal, and exhibition as well as art studios arrayed on both levels enjoy abundant natural light. A new stair and elevator allow for integrated, accessible programming, and a cafe framed by an exposed-brick wall offers views of Lower Manhattan and the harbor. In addition to retaining much of the brick, wood, and steel from the existing building, the renovation incorporates energy-efficient systems throughout.
Lead Design Firm
Pei Cobb Free & Partners
Executing Architect
Adamson Associates
Structural & MEP Engineer
Buro Happold Consulting Engineers PC
Recent Awards
AIANY Design Award - American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York, 2021
Winner, Cultural Projects, Global Design Awards - The Architecture Community
American Architecture Award - Society of American Registered Architects, New York Council 2020
American Architecture Award - Chicago Athenaeum, 2020
Award of Merit, Cultural/Worship - Engineering News Record New York, 2020
Interested in hosting a private event at The Arts Center at Governors Island? Complete the form here.
For more information about available spaces, download the PDF.