The Arts Center at Governors Island
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.
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.
Exhibitions & Performances
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. Check our Events Calendar for current exhibitions and upcoming events.
Public Programs
Our Public Programs offers audiences of all ages an opportunity to actively engage in performances, workshops, talks, and other interactive events.
Arts Center Residency
Since 2010, The Arts Center at Governors Island has provided artists with residencies and work space all year round.
Rentals
Whether presenting new work in one of our galleries or hosting your next cocktail hour in our cafe, the Arts Center is the perfect space to create a one-of-a-kind experience with breathtaking views of the harbor and the iconic NYC skyline.
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