AFTA Journal

Governors Island's Role as a Cultural Destination

Culture Chronicle

Do Arts at Governors Island Need Governing?
The New York Times - August 16, 2010

"What kind of culture develops on an island?" asked Edward Rothstein in Friday's Weekend section. Eight hundred yards from Manhattan's shores, Governors Island has been shaping its own cultural identity, Mr. Rothstein wrote, which he characterized as eccentric, surprising and fanciful. On the ArtsBeat blog, New York Times critics from several disciplines discussed the island's role as a cultural destination: Mr. Rothstein, a cultural critic at large; Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic; Charles Isherwood, a theater critic; Alastair Macaulay, the chief dance critic; and Ken Johnson, an art critic. Here are excerpts from the conversation; the full text is at nytimes.com/artsbeat.


EDWARD ROTHSTEIN There are two phrases that Leslie Koch, the president of the Trust for Governors Island, has used to explain her vision of how culture can make this peculiar and beautiful place more integral to the lives of New Yorkers. She has spoken of the island as a "playground for the arts" and she has talked about its character as a "summer vacation with irony."

The playground and summer vacation aspects of the island are everywhere: swings, hammocks, bicycles built for two (or more). But Ms. Koch has something else in mind. Cultural events on the island are partly being designed to help draw visitors. And those visitors, Ms. Koch has also emphasized, must represent the diversity of the surrounding city. So culture here must be popular; it must be talked about; it must represent many different tastes. It must be, in other words, democratic and undemanding. Ms. Koch has also emphasized that she will not be the curator and programmer in this enterprise; she will simply welcome different kinds of experience.

This approach is a little bit like a cultural version of the World Wide Web. The irony comes because events never have to be taken too seriously.

But I have a few solemn questions that grow out of this.

First, is this what democratic culture must be or should be? Can it evolve in a different direction?

Second, is it possible to create an important cultural destination in the way Ms. Koch proposes, without imposing some governing set of standards and taste? And third, does it matter? Are such ponderous questions out of place in the summer months?

JON PARELES Ed, you're extrapolating way too far here: And those visitors, "must represent the diversity of the surrounding city. So culture here must be popular; it must be talked about; it must represent many different tastes. It must be, in other words, democratic and undemanding."

Whoa, slow down. "Must" be popular? "Must" be undemanding? That equates diversity with some kind of dumbed-down crowd-pleasing at all costs. That's not what I've seen on Governors Island.

Diversity is, instead, diverse. Rife with possibilities and variety. Especially in a city that has large enough audiences to support countless committed subcultures, and to respond to cultural offerings from all sorts of niches. Smart things. Fun things. Smart, fun things. Obvious things. Baffling things. Silly things. Intellectual things. Visceral things. Ambitious things. Euphoric things. Profound things. Traditional things. Avant-garde things. Things that could set off arguments. Things that could set off dancing. Things that, ideally, a visitor could discover as a happy accident.

Because if the Governors Island experiment works, people will start going there not only because a certain event caught their attention, but also because the place develops a reputation for interesting discoveries. It will have to, or people won't bother to make the trip.

A hodgepodge reflects and serves our city better than some "governing set of standards and taste," some attempt to make every event conform to an overarching mission statement. New York is gloriously disorganized, full of unlikely juxtapositions and collisions, a magnificently random idea factory. That's what Governors Island should celebrate, and it has room to do so. It isn't a performing arts center with a certain number of seats and stages; it's a landmass. I like the playground metaphor; you can get serious exercise, you can slide or swing, you're likely to interact with strangers. A playground can be an education in itself. For the full article, click here

Leslie Koch at Alliance for the Arts' Arts Forum at the New York Times





Leave a comment

Categories

Subscribe for E-mail Updates

Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*)

Information entered on this page will not be used to send unsolicited email, and will not be sold to a 3rd party. Read more in our Privacy Policy.

  •  Advocacy Newsletter
  • (Periodic newsletter with information about the cultural sector)
  •  NYCkidsARTS
  • (Weekly highlights of events listed on NYCkidsARTS.org)
  •  NYC ARTS
  • (Weekly highlights of events listed on NYC-ARTS.org)

-->

Also Visit

Ico160x48nyc Arts

Ico160x48nyc Kidsarts

Ico160x48nys Arts