Randall's Island Sports Foundation, Inc.

Dedication of Baseball Field 48 for David Braun-Friedman

dmaher — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:30:20 +0000

Dedication of Baseball Field 48 for David Braun-Friedman

Saturday, May 19, 2012 at 1:00 PM

There will be several brief remarks by RISF and David’s family. Following the dedication Field 48, an inaugural baseball game will take place on the new field between David’s friends and his former Longhorn teammates.

FLOW.12: Art and Music at Randall’s Island

dmaher — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:20:40 +0000

The Randall’s Island Sports Foundation (RISF), The Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Made Event are pleased to present FLOW, a two-part environmental art exhibition on view during the summers of 2011 and 2012 along the shoreline at Randall’s Island Park. The project is aimed at fostering appreciation of the shoreline through artistic expression, while calling visitors to interact with and care for the Park’s island environment. FLOW features ten site specific art projects, five each summer, by participants in the Bronx Museum’s Artists in the Marketplace (AIM) program for emerging artists.

Randall’s Island Park is a unique and remarkable waterfront resource, located in the East River with views of the Queens, Bronx and Manhattan shorelines. New waterfront pathways run along the 4.5-mile shoreline, which includes almost 9 acres of restored salt marsh and freshwater wetlands. The Park also offers a track & field stadium, a golf center, a 20-court tennis center and dozens of new playing fields, as well as the Harlem River Event Site, home of Made Event’s Electric Zoo, a three-day Labor Day weekend concert event at Randall’s Island which draws local and international DJ artists and audience.

FLOW.11 was a great success, fostering a coalition of environmental, musical and artistic partners. Summer park visitors and concertgoers visited the artworks alongside the river, looking out across the city’s skyline.

FLOW.12 – this year’s exhibition – will be open to the public from June-September, and will feature five new site-specific installations, all reflecting and encouraging interaction with the Park’s history and environment.

FLOW has been made possible through a generous grant from the Rockefeller Foundation’s New York City Cultural Innovation Fund (CIF) and through support from Made Event, proud producers of The Electric Zoo Festival, NYC’s largest electronic dance music festival, held annually at Randall’s Island Park.

The FLOW exhibitions express the confluence of art, music and environment at Randall’s Island Park, in the midst of one of the world’s greatest cities.

Visit www.flow12.org for more information.

Fielding Dreams NYC

dmaher — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:50:45 +0000

Employment Opportunities with RISF

dsalerno — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:15:12 +0000

The Randall’s Island Sports Foundation, Inc. (RISF) is currently seeking candidates for the following positions:

Development Associate

Urban Farmer

Seasonal Gardner

Wetlands Crew Worker

For full job descriptions and more information click here.

NY Times – For the Big Apple, a Gift That Grows

dsalerno — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:20:07 +0000

December 7, 2011, 6:18 PM

By Matt Flegenheimer.

Read the full article here.

They plunged the roots beneath the surface of the city, the din of an elevated train drowning out the shovels smacking against the dirt.

Some gardeners traveled from East Harlem, where a group from the Renaissance Charter High School for Innovation boarded a yellow school bus to Randalls Island on Wednesday morning. One man arrived from Brooklyn, riding north with a wagon of cider and Newtown Pippins affixed to the back of his bicycle.

And another guest, now a New Yorker, traveled to the island to recall his youth in a city once called Alma-Ata — “the father of apples.”

“I was born in the Father of Apples,” the guest, Akan Rakhmetullin, a representative for Kazakhstan’s mission to the United Nations, told the students. “And this is the Apple City.”

And so it was, on the spongy turf beyond the outfield of a baseball diamond, that a touch of Kazakhstan began to grow atop the East River.

On Wednesday, about 50 trees from the country’s ancient apple forest were planted on Randalls Island.

“Americans tend to think of apples as an American food — as American as apple pie,” said Nick Barnett, a foreign services officer assigned to the United States mission to the United Nations. “This is a unique way to express the friendship.”

The planting was made possible after the United States Department of Agriculture acquired germplasm for the apple known as Malus sieversii during expeditions to Kazakhstan in the 1990s. In 1929, the Russian botanist Nikolai I. Vavilov identified the forests near what was then Alma-Ata (now Almaty) as the genesis of the wild apple. “All around the city one could see a vast expanse of wild apples covering the foothills,” he wrote. “One could see with his own eyes that this beautiful site was the origin of the cultivated apple.”

Erik Baard, the founder of a group that honors the Newtown Pippin as New York’s signature homegrown apple, said he organized the gathering Wednesday in an attempt to make apples ubiquitous on the island. “Kids are going to be able to just grab an apple when they’re playing,” he said, gesturing to a soccer field. “Kids love apples.”

Mr. Baard said the group has already planted hundreds of apple trees, spanning each borough, at schools, hospitals and botanical gardens throughout the city. While many of the trees have been Newtown Pippins, Mr. Baard has included some honeycrisps, as well. “That’s apple crack,” he said.

For Mr. Rakhmetullin, the partnership provided an opportunity to raise Kazakhstan’s profile with a local audience. “This project is one of the best ways to promote awareness,” he said. “First, of our existence.”

Mr. Rakhmetullin was asked what misconceptions New Yorkers might have about the country. “Have you seen the movie ‘Borat’?” he said. “This is one of the misconceptions.”

The students, meanwhile, seemed to enjoy a day out of the classroom. Plodding through the rain, the high schoolers dragged bags of soil back to their plots, helped one another spread mulch and only occasionally accosted each other with shovels.

Naquan Grant, 15, who wore plastic bags on his feet to protect his boots, marveled that the trees had come from a land he had never heard of 20 minutes earlier.

“Halfway across the world, to New York City,” Naquan said, splashing in a small puddle. “That’s pretty cool.”

Frieze Art Fair

dsalerno — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:17:23 +0000

Like its London sister fair, Frieze New York will be housed in a bespoke structure and located in a unique setting – Randall’s Island Park, Manhattan, overlooking the East River.

The fair will house approximately 170 galleries and will be designed by New York-based SO-IL architects. The exhibitors will comprise some of the most forward-thinking galleries from around the globe, bringing an international focus to the dynamic contemporary art scene in New York.

For more information on the Frieze Art Fair please visit http://friezenewyork.com/.

Frieze New York: Galleries Announced

dsalerno — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:26:00 +0000

November 18, 2011 – Frieze have announced today the participating galleries for the organization’s first New York fair, which is to take place 4–7 May 2012 in Randall’s Island Park, Manhattan. Sponsored by Deutsche Bank, Frieze New York is a carefully selected presentation of over 160 of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries.

A strong American and European contingent of galleries is joined by those from the rest of the world. Galleries that are regular exhibitors at Frieze Art Fair London are accompanied by those new to Frieze, in particular the young galleries included in Frame, a section dedicated to those established less than six years ago. The New York fair introduces Focus, a section for galleries opened in or after 2001 showing a presentation of up to three gallery artists.
For those looking to make new discoveries Frame is selected on the basis of a proposed solo presentation. Frame allows visitors and collectors to see work by artists who have not previously benefitted from an international platform to show their work. The Frame galleries’ selection has been advised by curators Cecilia Alemani and Rodrigo Moura.

Frieze New York will also benefit from a curatorial programme, Frieze Projects and Frieze Talks both of which will be curated by Cecilia Alemani and produced under the auspices of the non-profit arm, Frieze Art Inc.
Frieze New York will take a similar approach to the London fair, which brings an international focus to London every year. Designed by New York-based SO-IL Architects, Frieze New York will be housed in a bespoke structure and located in a unique setting overlooking the East River.

Co-directors Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover commented, ‘We are delighted by the strength and depth of the Frieze New York gallery list. The number and quality of applications to our first American fair matched our ambition in ensuring this was a leading international fair from the beginning. New York promises to show the most interesting contemporary art being produced right now. We’re looking forward to an exciting year ahead celebrating the 10th anniversary of Frieze Art Fair, London, and the launches of both Frieze New York and Frieze Masters.

To see the full list of participating galleries click here.

NY Daily News – Harry Potter fans bring wizard world to life in Quidditch match

dsalerno — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:35:41 +0000

Fans turned out in droves dressed in their wizarding best

BY Nicole Lyn Pesce
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

While most Americans were centered on football this weekend, Harry Potter fanatics are crazy about Quidditch.

Ichan Stadium on Randalls Island was transformed into tournament headququarters Saturday, with tents hawking everything from roast turkey legs to magic wands. Fans turned out in droves dressed in their wizarding best.

“It’s awesome. It gives people an excuse to keep the world of Harry Potter alive,” said Chelsea McQuaid, 18, representing U-Mass muggles in a long black wizarding robe with a remote-controlled dragon named Koschei perched on her shoulder.

Click here to read the full article.

103rd Street Pedestrian Bridge Closed Starting Oct. 31, 2011

dmaher — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:37:56 +0000

NYC Dept. of Transportation has informed us that the 103rd Street Pedestrian Bridge shall be closed starting Oct. 31, 2011 due to construction. The bridge is scheduled to re-open early summer 2012. An update on this rehabilitation project will be given in early 2012. See the attached announcement for more information or for specific questions email wardsislandpedestrianbridge@gmail.com.

Please note the date the closure starts got moved up to Octobe 31, 2011, not November 1, 2011 as per below.

Living Shoreline

dsalerno — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 20:50:25 +0000

Living Shoreline Recreational Area

On Tuesday, September 15, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and RISF joined Fred Landa from the New York State Department of State (NYS DOS) Division of Coastal Resources and members of Manhattan Community Board 11 and the Harlem River Park Task Force for a scoping meeting for the upcoming Randall’s Island Living Shoreline Recreational Area. This exciting new project comprises a 2.2 acre waterfront site south of the Manhattan span of the RFK Bridge and includes nearly 600 linear feet of shoreline, much of which is now collapsing stone seawall. Thanks to an Environmental Protection Fund Local Waterfront Revitalization Program grant from NYS DOS, the waterfront will be reconfigured to enhance water quality, foster estuarine life, adapt to coastal forces including wave/wake energy and create conditions more proximate to natural shoreline. Following studies of existing conditions this fall, DPR and RISF will invite broad community input in re-imagining a multiple-purposed waterfront which is alive with plants and animals. A community workshop in early spring 2012 will explore alternatives for the Living Shore including amenities such as pathways, seating, a picnic area, plantings and access for water-based recreation such as fishing and boating.