Announcing Launch of Remembrance: A Philadelphia Citywide HIV/AIDS Memorial
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 5, 2022
CONTACT: Kristofer Eisenla | LUNA+EISENLA media
kristofer@lunaeisenlamedia.com | 202-670-5747 mobile
Announcing Launch of Remembrance:
A Philadelphia Citywide HIV/AIDS Memorial
William Way LGBT Community Center Announces,
Remembrance: An Alternative Memorial Experience to Philadelphians Lost to HIV/AIDS
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The William Way LGBT Community Center’s John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives–the premier LGBT Center in Philadelphia and throughout the Delaware Valley region–today announced the launch of an HIV/AIDS memorial titled, Remembrance: an alternative memorial dedicated to Philadelphians and the HIV/AIDS crisis. While many HIV/AIDS memorials across the country are largely physical in structure and designed as monuments to visit, Remembrance is a memorial experience, with civic and theatrical performances and oral histories, designed in partnership with artists, activists, and community leaders to honor those we have lost to AIDS.
“It may be hard for some to remember, but there was a time in our city when a gay man who died of AIDS couldn’t even be put to rest with dignity. I’m honored that today we are launching Remembrance, an alternative memorial experience to provide the solemnity and reverence never afforded to those our community lost to HIV/AIDS,” said Chris Bartlett, Executive Director of the William Way LGBT Community Center. “Remembrance is inspired by the story of a South Philadelphia funeral homeowner, Ron Piselli. It was because of Ron’s bravery during the early days of the AIDS crisis that Philadelphians who died of AIDS could receive a loving and caring funeral at a time when the overwhelming majority of funeral homes rejected AIDS deaths. It is truly fitting we honor his courage, and their lives, by finally giving them the recognition on a citywide scale that they deserve.”
“It is more important than ever to remember those from our communities who have passed from AIDS and to care for those who are living with HIV," said Mayor Jim Kenney. "As we continue to work to bring the HIV epidemic to an end, the Remembrance project offers our city a unique and deeply meaningful opportunity to honor our loved ones who must not be forgotten.”
“AIDS is a very sorrowful disease, which is why I’ve always thought no one should be turned away,” said Ron Piselli, Director of The Funeral Chapel in Philadelphia. “People with AIDS, their deaths, their funerals, and the reactions of their family and friends, are an important part of our City’s history, and can lead us to learn from so much loss, and how to fight for no one to be forgotten.”
Remembrance seeks to retrieve what has already been lost. As the project's title declares, it is an intervention toward restorative memory, preservation of the nearly vanished, gathering of community context through oral history, and the recognition of those bereft of public mourning and communal honoring. Remembrance exists to restore what was taken or never offered. The project is generously supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and donors to William Way.
Remembrance’s public events will run through May and June 2022. It will celebrate the full diversity of stories throughout the Philadelphia area that were never told and share this history with not only the community, but the entire nation in profound, moving ways illustrating the era’s terror and bravery for current and future generations. For a more in-depth description of Remembrance, please visit the project overview, which includes information on its development, process and phases.
Remembrance Schedule of Events
For more details, please visit https://www.waygay.org/remembrance and view the press kit.
Community Listening Sessions
An oral history project, directed by community leader Waheedah Shabazz-El that collected over 40 stories of “community members who have passed unnoticed with or without the love and support of families.”
Conducted January 2020 - December 2021
These Don’t Easily Scatter
The world-premiere of These Don’t Easily Scatter, an original theatrical piece written and directed by three-time Obie Award winning playwright Ain Gordon.
These Don’t Easily Scatter will feature actors Kathleen Chalfant, Bill Kux, and Cherene Snow, and is produced in collaboration with Gordon’s production company, Pick Up Performance Co.
Performances: May 20-22, 2022, William Way LGBT Community Center
Gone and Forever
A public exhibit and “going home” ceremony, designed and directed by artist/entrepreneur Alex Stadler.
Exhibit: June 21-25, 2022, William Way LGBT Community Center June 21-25, 2022.
“Going home” ceremony and public procession: June 25, 2022 at 3PM, William Way LGBT Community Center to The Church of St. Luke & the Epiphany The ceremony–a memorialization ceremony followed by a public procession to The Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany.
Remembrance Digital Archive
A sustainable online portal, to serve as an archive of the memorial for future generations to interact with, and give lasting testament to the lives of those lost to HIV/AIDS and the communities most affected.
Expected launch: December 1, 2022 (World AIDS Day/Day Without Art)
"Because the 600,000 Americans who died of AIDS cannot speak, the primary evidence of the epi-center of the mass death experience is carried by witnesses and our remembrances. Gay men, poor women, their children, IV drug users, hemophiliacs, Hatians. These were the targeted communities of the AIDS crisis. Immediately the unseen consequences became apparent in the current pandemic: Viral cataclysms reveal the fissures of our society: prejudices, economic inequality, racial injustice."
- Sarah Schulman, author of LET THE RECORD SHOW: A Political History of ACT UP, New York 1987-1993
FOR MEDIA: View the press kit here for more materials, including renderings, drawings and additional information. For interviews, please contact Kristofer Eisenla, LUNA+EISENLA media at kristofer@lunaeisenlamedia.com
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About The William Way LGBT Center
The William Way LGBT Community Center (the Center) is a nonprofit organization located in Center City Philadelphia. Founded in 1974 as the hub of LGBT community in the Delaware Valley, the Center proudly serves the LGBTQIA+ population. The Center seeks to engage and support the diverse LGBTQIA+ communities in the greater Philadelphia area through arts & culture, empowerment, and community connections. William Way LGBT Community Center wants all LGBTQIA+ people to feel safe, connected, and empowered. The Center strives to be a community center whose staff, management, and board reflect the vibrant and richly diverse communities we serve. To learn more, visit www.waygay.org.
About the Remembrance Memorial
Remembrance: an experiential, alternative memorial to Philadelphians and the HIV/AIDS crisis is made possible through funding by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. While many HIV/AIDS memorials across the country are largely physical in structure and designed as monuments and places one can visit, Remembrance is a memorial experience with its civic and theatrical performances, oral histories, designed in partnership with artists, activists, and community leaders. To learn more, visit: www.waygay.org/remembrance.
About The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage (the Center) is a multidisciplinary grantmaker and hub for knowledge-sharing, dedicated to fostering a vibrant and diverse cultural community in Greater Philadelphia. The Center invests in ambitious, imaginative, and catalytic work that showcases the region’s cultural vitality and enhances public life, and we engage in an ongoing exchange of ideas concerning artistic and interpretive practice with a broad network of cultural practitioners and leaders. To learn more, visit: www.pewcenterarts.org.