Governors Island - A new start‚Ä®
Theo Heldens ‚Ä®

Governors Island is not only special for us but also for New York citizens. The island has only been open to the public this year and even now it’s only open a few hours every weekend.
The history of the island goes back to the Dutch who were the first that discovered the island, 400 years ago. When the English took over 'our' New Amsterdam they also took this island, for the Governors of the Queen. The island had a defensive function and later, when it became American, it kept this function. Around 1900 many nice military complexes, that still remain, were added to the island. In 1966 the army left and the Coastguard took over and stayed untill1996. Since then, the island has been waiting to be transformed into something new.
Now the Dutch West 8, Urban and Landscape Architects have made a very ambitious plan to transform the island into a second grand city park with a lot of nature and culture. With this festival we hope to give the cultural development a flourishing start.

Here are some pictures taken on the Island.