In addition to the $260 million that the Diller - von Furstenberg Family Foundation has already donated to the project, it committed an additional $120 million to the park’s maintenance for the next 20 years. (New York City and New York state contributed a further $17 million and $4 million, respectively.)
The Diller - von Furstenberg Family Foundation’s pledged funds will go to pay for the Island’s 110 full-time and part time employees, and it will also help subsidize the park’s public programming in locations throughout the park.
The Island has four “artists in residence” who will take turns performing, directing events, and curating festivals in the park. They will also serve as panel reviewers for submissions to Perform in the Park; various artists can apply to do (paid) performances throughout the park.
The first season’s artists are actor, singer, and music director Michael McElroy; tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel; playwright and director Tina Landau; and the theatrical group PigPen Theatre Co.
The far West Side of Manhattan, where the Little Island is located, has already undergone a series of transformations over the last few years. The Whitney Museum, High Line, Hudson River Park, and tech giants including Google have moved in and wrought seismic demographic changes.
In the pre-AIDS era, the area’s derelict warehouses and piers were a gathering place for the gay community, notably captured in the photography of the late artist Alvin Baltrop. (A solo show of his work, the Life and Times of Alvin Baltrop, ran from 2019 to 2020 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.)
Various reminders, including the waterlogged piles from the old piers, remain. Nearby, the thin, steel frame of David Hammons’s permanent installation Day’s End follows the precise dimensions of the now-demolished Pier 52.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.