Figment Festival: Governor’s Island, New York

In this clip from the Evolver NYC “Give It Up” Spore, festival producer ‘Not That Dave’ speaks about the ethos behind the recent ‘Figment’ festival on Governor’s Island, New York.

… and it just so happened that we stumbled on this incredible resource in New York City of Governor’s Island, that had been closed to the public for 200 years.  …  When the federal government turned over this island they put all these restrictions on it that meant that it couldn’t just be more condos, it couldn’t be just more casinos.  It couldn’t be an enclave for people with wealth or money.  It had to be something that was really held in the public benefit.  …  and nobody knew what to do with it all of a sudden … we have no model for how to develop something that doesn’t have..  you can’t put condos on!  That’s what all developers want to do – you put condos there, you open stores that’s the way it works.  So we jumped on this very early on … to work with Governor’s island to do an arts event there that was very much influenced by Burning Man.

If I have an hour, what am I gonna do with it?  …. what am I going to do that fulfils some kind of objective for me personally that satisfies something I can’t satisfy by watching more television or buying more cr@p.  What is that?  And so you can give somebody a gift or make something for someone, or do that.  You sort of unlocking a little piece of yourself as you do that.