“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."

Raju Mann

President & CEO
  • 06/21
  • Art & Culture
  • BPC People
  • Community

NEWSLETTER – JUNE 2017

PEOPLE OF BPC

Meg Reilly
Director of North Cove Sailing

Favorite Spot in BPC:
The entire waterfront
 

There’s an old saying that if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. For Meg Reilly, Director of North Cove Sailing, those are words to live by.

Meg Reilly hails from Scotch Plains, New Jersey and still calls the state – and the water just off it – home. After receiving her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing, International Business, and Japanese from Seton Hall University, Meg came to work in New York City as a phone clerk for the New York Mercantile Exchange at 300 Vesey Street. As fate would have it, this is the same building North Cove Sailing is now headquartered.

Five years ago, Meg, then working at Young & Rubicam, saw a feature on CNN about the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, featuring individuals who left their day jobs for a chance to sail around the world. Despite having no sailing experience she decided to apply for a spot in the race and was accepted into the program. She was then matched with a sponsor to cover the cost of her participation on the 2014 team. In a move that would alter her life and career for the better, Meg joined a crew of 20 people with whom she would spend the next year racing around the world. The race set out from England and sailed the French Riviera, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, and many more incredible locales. After eight legs, Meg’s team not only completed the race, but won it, and she returned home with her next course set: committing herself to providing others with the amazing opportunity she had.

With her business background, Meg set off to help expand and change the world of sailing. “Inclusion is my game here,” Meg says, “making sure it’s accessible as possible.” As Director of North Cove Sailing, she wants the program to leave a legacy and be a platform to get people interested in the amazing sport.

As she explains it, what’s so special about sailing is not only the act itself, but the fact that anyone at any age and any gender and any level can learn to sail. She is working on creating new programs and expanding the influence of the program membership, and is constantly looking for feedback and recommendations from the community on what they want to see.

Today Meg lives with her partner in a newly-purchased racing yacht docked off Jersey City’s Newport Marina, just north and across the river from Battery Park City. In her free time she enjoys sailing for fun and traveling to new places by boat. She explains that there is no better feeling than arriving to a new place by boat because of the entrance and vista when pulling up to a new place to dock. One experiences the culture immediately, something that cannot be experienced when arriving by plane.

Meg also enjoys racing in her free time and continues the racing that first called her to sailing. She recently completed a race in the Caribbean, and next month she’ll be participating in the 41st Annual Around Long Island Regatta, which sets sail from right here in North Cove Marina! But she won’t only be racing – just as she was given a start in sailing in a race five years ago, this time Meg will be taking some of her sailing students to gain the hands-on experience of being part of her crew. Indeed, the next generation of sailors are in good hands with Meg Reilly and North Cove Sailing.

Concludes Meg: “Everyone should please come out and sail with us! It’s an amazing way to see and experience New York, so please come down and try it out.”

More information about North Cove Sailing can be found here.

SWEDISH MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL
Friday, June 23
5pm – 8pm
Wagner Park
Enjoy this unique celebration of the summer solstice. Learn folk dances, make midsummer wreaths, and enjoy a parade, children’s games, and Swedish delicacies. Traditional music by Paul Dahlin and fiddlers from the American Swedish institute in Minneapolis.

For more information, click here.

BATTERY PARK CITY COMMUNITY FIELD DAY
Friday, June 30
10am – 1pm
Rockefeller Park
Learn to Double-Dutch, check out an illusionary street art project, dance to some tunes, and engage in classic field games like potato sack races, relays, and tug-of-war. Don’t miss the imaginative face-painters, giant yard games, and bubbles. Spin the BPC big wheel for prizes. Activities are geared toward the whole family at this community-wide event.

Free event. To register, click here.

RIVER & BLUES CONCERT SERIES: LOS LOBOS
Thursday, July 6
7pm – 9pm
Wagner Park
Enjoy summer evenings listening to blues music from around the world as the sun sets on the Hudson River in the River & Blues Concert series. This week, in the first installment of River & Blues, Grammy-winning and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-nominated artists Los Lobos perform their culturally-rich fusion of rock, blues, soul and Mexican folk music.

For more information about the River & Blues concert series, click here.

RIVER & BLUES CONCERT SERIES: REBIRTH BRASS BAND
Thursday, July 13
7pm—9pm
Wagner Park
This week, from the Big Easy to the Big Apple, Rebirth Brass Band shows why it’s considered a pillar of its native New Orleans music scene with its Grammy-winning, infectious, and groove-laden “heavy funk.”

For more information about the River & Blues concert series, click here.

RIVER & BLUES CONCERT SERIES: BETTYE LAVETTE
Thursday, July 20
7pm—9pm
Wagner Park
Regarded as one of the premier live vocalists performing today, Bettye LaVette brings her emotive soul and blues interpretations to Battery Park City. With her first record released at the age of sixteen, LaVette is an enduring icon of many musical styles who shouldn’t be missed.

For more information about the River & Blues concert series, click here.

RIVER & BLUES CONCERT SERIES: VIEUX FARKA TOURE
Thursday, July 27
7pm—9pm
Wagner Park
Son of Grammy winner Ali Farka Toure and often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara”, Vieux Farka Toure delivers emotionally chargedsongs and spectacular guitar work from his native Mali. With his unique and intricate fingerstyle playing, Farka Toure transports the beauty and culture of his homeland to NYC.

For more information about the River & Blues concert series, click here.

BROOKFIELD PLACE
APRES WEDNESDAYS
Wednesdays through August
5pm – 8pm
Brookfield Place Terrace
Kick back and relax on the Terrace every Wednesday all summer long! With outdoor games, live music, film screenings, and more, Brookfield Place is where you’ll want to unwind this season. Click here for more information about artists, activities, and more.
MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE
GALLERY TALK – THE BROTHER: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ROSENBERG CASE
Wednesday, June 21
2pm – 3:30pm
36 Battery Place
More than 50 years after her execution, the sons of convicted spy Ether Rosenberg made a last ditch appeal to President Obama before he left office to exonerate her posthumously amid new evidence. NY Times journalist and author Sam Roberts revisits his firsthand interviews with David Greenglass, whose testimony ultimately condemned his sister, Ethel, and brother-in-law, Julius, to the electric chair.

Free event—reservations recommended.

POETS HOUSE
25TH ANNUAL POETS HOUSE SHOWCASE OPENING RECEPTION & READING
Thursday, June 22
6pm – 8pm
10 River Terrace
Celebrate a quarter-century of the Poets House Showcase and surround yourself with poetry publishes in the last 18 months. Spend time with your favorite books and discover new favorites.

Free and open to the public. For more information, click here.

POETRY AND DIVINATION WITH TIMOTHY LIU AND HOA NGUYEN
Saturday, June 24
1pm – 5pm
10 River Terrace
To “divine” is to seek guidance and council from a god or an oracle. To “auger” is to be able to read the signs whether one is looking at the stars, throwing down coins, or drawing cards from the major and minor arcana. This workshop will explore how occult practices dovetail with your writing lives. Participants will first take a look at historical figures (Yeats, Robert Duncan, etc.) before delving into prompts and revisionary exercises that border on the uncanny.

$125. Click here to register.

SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM
SKYSCRAPER SEMINAR: SARAH WILLIAMS GOLDHAGEN
Tuesday, June 27
6:30 – 8pm
39 Battery Place
Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes our Lives. Drawing on new discoveries in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, in her new book Welcome to Your World, architecture critic and historian Sarah Williams Goldhagen probes how environments profoundly shape our feelings, memories and well-being. In this Skyscraper Seminar, Goldhagen will focus on issues of high-rise living and urban density. Drawing on the examples from her book, she’ll suggest how to bring new research and insights to construct a world better suited to human experience.

All book talks are free and open to the public. Reservations  are required.

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