Adrian Apollo, Week 3 Exhibition Work Plan, Source #1


 


History of Quilt Article initial notes: 

  • https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history

  • November 1985, Cleve Jones (activist, author, lecturer)

  • Jones organized annual candlelight vigil and march honoring San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, write placards of friends names lost from AIDs, end of march Jones and others stood on ladders taping placards to walls of San Francisco Federal Building, wall of names looked like patchwork quilt, plans for larger memorial based off of this, memorial for those lost to AIDS, help people understand the devastating impact of the disease and the losses suffered 

  • 1985 March, over 1,000 San Francisco residents lost to AIDS 

  • NAMES Project AIDs memorial quilt made by friends and loved ones of those lost

  • Marvin Feldman first square, Jones friend, June 1987 Jones teamed up with Mike Smith, Gert McMullin and other to organize the NAMES project foundation

  • Immediate Public response to Quilt, those most affected sent panels to San Francisco workshop, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco 

  • Donated sewing supplies, materials, and labor

  • October 11, 1987, quilt displayed for first time on National Mall in Washington DC, during National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights

  • Larger than football field, 1,920 panels 

  • 6 teams of volunteers ceremonially folding and unfolding quilt sections at sunrise as celebrities, politicians, families, loved ones, and friends read aloud 1,920 names of people in quilt, reading of names is now a tradition followed at every quilt display

  • Half a million people visited the quilt that weekend 

  • 4 month 20 city national tour for quilt in spring and summer of 1988, tour raised nearly $500,000 for hundreds of AIDS service organizations 

  • More than 9,000 volunteers across country helping seven person traveling crew move and display the quilt 

  • Local panels added in each city, tripling quilt’s size to more than 6,000 panels by end of tour

  • Quilt returned to to Washington DC in October 1988, 8,288 panels displayed on Ellipse in front of White House

  • Grant from World Health Organization, quilt organizers traveled to 8 countries to mark first World AIDS day on December 1, 1988, simultaneous displays broadcasts from six continents  

  • 1989, more than 20 countries launched similar commemorative projects based on the quilt 

  • 1989 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of the global impact of the Quilt

  • 1989, second tour of North America, 19 additional cities in US and Canada, raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for AIDs service organizations 

  • October 1989, quilt more than 12,000 panels, dislplayed on Ellipse in Washington

  • HBO released documentary Common Threads, brought quilt’s message to millions of movie goers, film won Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1989

  • 1992, Quilt included panels from every state and 28 countries , October entire quilt returned to the National Mall 

  • January 1993, NAMES project invited to march in President Clinton’s inaugural parade , over 200 volunteers carried quilt panels down Pennsylvania Avenue 

  • Last display of quilt in entirety in October 1996, quilt covered entire National Mall, 1.2 million people in attendance, Clintons and Gores attended display, first viewing and visit by a sitting president of the United States 

  • 2000, Board of Directors of NAMES Project elected to move Foundation’s national headquarters from San Francisco to Atlanta, cross country move made to address changing face AIDs, grow foundation’s partnerships, programs, and financial resources

  • 2004, more than 8,000 of newest panels received at or since October 1996 display shown on Eclipse in Washington in observance of National HIV testing day

  • 2012: part of 25th anniversary of Foundation, quilt returned to washington as part of collaboration with Smithsonian Museum’s American Folklife Festival, quilt displayed on the National Mall over the course of a two week period with 1,500 blocks of panels displayed each day

  • Too large now to be displayed all at once at Mall

  • International AIDs conference held in DC following display, display in more than 60 locations

  • 2013: Call My Name, educational effort, draw attention to HIV/AIDS in the Black community, public health crisis today, program aims to create a greater number of Quilt panels that reflect the impact AIDS within the black community, effect stigma and prejudice have on increased infection rates

  • National tour followed including panel, workshops organized by Black churches and community groups to make panels, raise awareness of AIDS crisis in African American community 

  • Honoring Black lives lost to AIDS during Black History Month and in interactive quilt exhibit 

  • November 2019, National AIDS memorial became caretaker and steward of quilt, returned it to San Francisco 

  • Quilt’s archival collection of 200,000 objects, documents, cards, and letters chronicle lives remembered, transferred to American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, collection is available through the world’s largest public library 

  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, representatives John Lewis and Barbara Lee recognized quilt as a national treasure that must be preserved to teach future generations

  • Julie Rhoad, president and CEO of NAMES Project foundation 

  • 54 ton quilt, nearly 50,000 panels

  • National AIDS Memorial received a $2.4 million grant from Gilead Sciences to provide critical resources needed for relocation

  • 20 year partnership with AIDS Quilt Touch, Interactive AIDS quilt, show all squares, accessible for everyone to see

  • 2020: covid pandemic, National Aids Memorial 50 state virtual exhibition of quilt

  • National AIDS Memorial CEO John Cunningham

  • Additional Virtual Exhibitions in 2021, honor Black Lives lost to AIDS for Black History Month, Native Lives lost to AIDS for National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 

  • Share personal stories behind quilt

  • Forty years into the AIDS pandemic, more than 700,000 lives in the U.S. have been lost to AIDS and more than 1.1 million people live with HIV and an estimated 1 in 7 people do not know they have HIV. 

  •  2018, Black/African American gay and bisexual men account for the largest number of new HIV diagnoses. 

  • June 5, 2020, the National AIDS Memorial brought together the power of the Quilt and the beauty of the 10-acre National AIDS Memorial Grove together for a historic observance marking 40 years since the first cases of AIDS were first reported in the United States.  Forty blocks of the Quilt were on display and special guests and speakers and included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Dr. Anthony Fauci, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and many leaders from the AIDS movement.

  • Each year, the National AIDS Memorial works with hundreds of partners across the country to orchestrate more than 1,000 displays in schools, universities, places of worship, corporations and community centers. 

  • On World AIDS Day, December 1st, sections of the Quilt are displayed in communities across the country.  

  • New panels are still continuing to be made 

  • More than 110,000 individuals, largest community art project in history

Preserving the Quilt/Accessibility notes: 

It seems as if the original quilt was made with many in mind, but has a large amount of minority groups missing. It is refreshing to see that efforts have been made to change this. The inclusion of a section for black and native lives lost is really nice to see, as it brings in more people to be considered within the cause. Those who are normally overlooked are given their platform and recognition here. These groups were included in the United In Anger documentary relatively well, and it is nice to see them recognized here too. As well, it is nice to see such extensive work put into preserving the quilt and making it accessible. The Interactive Quilt Archive is extremely easy to use, and incredibly concise and detailed. It is a very useful and impressive tool that helps make the quilt an accessible and reliable resource.

Visual media to utilize: 

  • Images of recent quilt squares or recent quilt projects, how do the squares differ now that technology has improved?

  • Images of people working on quilt, videos of people working on quilts, quilting bee footage 

  • Image of Harvey Milk memorial that inspired quilt if I can find it, would be nice to see what inspired it 

  • Image of quilt crew, crew for the quilt tour, show community built for quilt and displaying it, greater purpose 

  • Images of displays now, preserving quilt 

How will this be displayed?/Key Points of Information for this Week: 

I would like to synthesize any additional key information here that I have not already gathered from previous sources. Along with this, it would be great if I could look into recent quilt squares, recent quilt displays for exhibitions, and any future plans for the quilt. This information helps us visualize the community built through the quilt, and the efforts that went into preserving it.  

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