New Holland is open for visitors

30.08.2016 Opening of the park on New Holland Island

This year, the final days on summer were crowned with the opening of New Holland Island, which has completed the first phase of its restoration and regeneration. Over the course of two days, New Holland received 49,130 visitors.

August 27th marked the opening of the exhibition, Experiences of the Imaginary, which was organized by the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art as part of its grant program for emerging Russian artists. Throughout the day, guests to the island were treated to performances by the street brassband Mosbrass, while the evening centered around Symphonic Kino, a concert of songs by the legendary band Kino, performed by a symphony orchestra, together with former band member Yuri Kasparyan and conductor Igor Vdovin. Despite the high winds and severe thunderstorm warning, the evening capped off with a celebratory round of fireworks.

On Sunday, P.T.H. Creative Manufacture presented the theatrical performance, The Day of the Big Ship, on the children’s playground, while also overseeing a series of creative workshops throughout the island. The evening featured a concert by SBPCh, backed by a children’s orchestra.

All throughout the opening days, the Big Tent served up food and beverages from some of St Petersburg’s best restaurants, including Bekitzer, Jack’s Street, King-Pong and Fjord. The island also offered outposts from the Ferma Burger co-op and the famous Wolkonsky bakery.

The developments completed over the last three years as part of the first phase in the restoration and reorganization of the island included:

• The organization and landscaping of park areas in the interior of the island;
• The restoration and contemporary outfitting of the former blacksmith's building (The Foundry), the administrative building (The Commandant’s House), and the old naval prison (nicknamed The Bottle);
• The restoration and landscaping of the embankment of the Admiralteisky Canal and the island’s inner basin;
• The installation of infrastructure for the engineering and technical support of the island;
• The installation of lighting architecture for the park areas and the restored buildings;
• A playground modeled after the historical frigate ship Petr and Pavel;
• The planting of a herb garden outside the Foundry building;
• The placement of temporary pavilions for hosting cultural events as well as facilities necessary for the administration of the park (kiosks, info-centers, a stage, restrooms, and entrance).

New Holland Island will now be open to the public year-round, while construction continues. As with any project of this scale, the projected completion dates of various structures is subject to revision. For this reason, the New Holland development team would like to apologize if any of the facilities or services originally planned for the opening were not completed or available in time. We have invested all of our energy into fulfilling these promises and anticipate that all of the island’s offerings will be operating as soon as possible.

For more information, as well as photos from the opening: http://www.newhollandsp.ru/media/Opening_Post_Release_2016_ENG.zip 

Press Contact:
For inquiries regarding the cultural program, the restoration or renovation of the island:
Adam Abdalla +1 917 453 7853, adam@culturalcounsel.com

For inquiries regarding the project's investors:
John Mann, +7 495 9611307, john.mann@millhouse.ru