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 on Governors Island, an incubator for creative experimentation, and a space for engagement and dialogue. Curated and programmed by LMCC, work developed and presented at The Arts Center focuses on sustainability and equity.
From late May through October, The Arts Center is open for our public season, where visitors can experience special gallery exhibitions and monthly programs that provide access and connections to artists and their creative process. Our Take Care Series of public programs focuses on art, community, and ecology through hands-on workshops, talks, film screenings, and more. Open Studios take you behind the scenes with LMCC's artists-in-residence.
Programming and events are free and open to the public, and all are welcome.
The Arts Center is also home to working artists from diverse disciplines and practices who participate in our Artist Residency programs all year long. Learn more about our residency programs at Governors Island.
Exhibitions
The 2023 exhibition season takes inspiration from LMCC’s long history as a supporter of the arts through the theme of the passage of time. Each exhibition offers different perspectives on the ways in which artists respond to ideas about time such as personal history, the legacies of activism, objects we collect, intergenerational relationships, and more.
Featured artists include Daniel Shieh, Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky, Chia-Lun Chang, Arleene Corrrea Valencia, and a film and video exhibition curated by Allies in Arts.
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 opens on Saturday May 6, 2023!
The 2023 exhibition season takes inspiration from LMCC’s long history as a supporter of the arts through the theme of the passage of time. Each exhibition offers different perspectives on the ways in which artists respond to ideas about time such as personal history, the legacies of activism, objects we collect, intergenerational relationships, and more.
The Arts Center at Governors Island (map)
110 Andes Rd
New York, NY 10004
Fri-Sat-Sun, plus Memorial Day and Labor Day
12pm - 6pm
Special late hours:
Saturdays in July and August, galleries will stay open until 7pm
Exhibitions and events at The Arts Center are free and open to the public, and all are welcome.
The Café at The Arts Center is open on Friday–Sunday, from 11am–4pm.
Ticketing
Tickets are required to visit The Arts Center at Governors Island.
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
The Cafe at The Arts Center
The Cafe at The Arts Center is open Thursday - Sunday, 11am - 4pm.
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 Rosemary DeMarco at rdemarco@lmcc.net prior to your visit. LMCC will continue to closely monitor guidelines from Governor Hochul and the CDC as they are released. According to the CDC's Community Level Guidelines, New York is at a Community Level Low.
We look forward to welcoming you to The Arts Center at Governors Island!
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.
For any additional questions about rentals, contact Alice Bennahmias, Partnerships Liaison at alice@lmcc.net.
The 2022 season of programming at The Arts Center at Governors Island is made possible, in part, by the Charina Endowment Fund, Howard Gliman Foundation and Con Edison.
LMCC’s Arts Center Residency program is supported, in part, by Cowles Charitable Trust, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., The Norman & Bettina Roberts Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Teiger Foundation, Tiger Baron Foundation and YoungArts.
The Arts Center Residency is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
LMCC is also grateful to our many capital supporters. For a list of capital supporters, please visit lmcc.net.
LMCC additionally acknowledges our partnership with the Trust for Governors Island.