Taconic Workshop: Sites of Queer Dying in NYC During the AIDS Epidemic

This one-day workshop explores what constitutes “queer memorialization,” drawing on the shared experiences of those who died during the AIDS crisis and those who lost loved ones, as well as the forms of community care that emerged in response. The workshop brings participants and invited speakers into a collective storytelling environment. Participants are invited to contribute to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, engage in other creative activities, and collectively imagine ways to commemorate sites of queer death, dying, and care in the context of renewed attacks on LGBTQ+ communities and histories.

This event is part of the ongoing project Sites of Queer Dying in NYC During the AIDS Epidemic, supported by the Taconic Fellowship program of the Pratt Center for Community Development. This event is co-designed and facilitated by Taconic fellows Caroline Hibbert, Fabio Lima, Teal Nottage, and Dr. Harriet Harriss, in partnership with the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project.

Schedule: 

MORNING SESSION / 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Event Introduction and Mending Circle Presentation
Brooke Garner, Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, Pratt Institute & Gianna Breinig, BFA Fashion Design ‘27

A Patchwork of Memory: AIDS, Activism, and Remembrance in New York City 
Joseph Golden, M.A. History, SUNY College at Brockport & Founder of A Patchwork of Memory

Queering Death
Cassandra Biron, LCSW (she/themme), Psychotherapist Witch, Death Doula

Quilting Activism and the New York City AIDS Memorial
A quilt-making workshop and discussion facilitated by Dave Harper, Executive Director, The New York City AIDS Memorial

AFTERNOON SESSION / 2:00 – 5:30 PM
Afternoon Welcome 
Poetry reading: excerpts from Every Where Alien (Amistad Poetry & Moore Black Press)
Brad Walrond, poet, author, activist and conceptual artist

Loneliness in a Beautiful Place: AIDS Burials on Hart Island
Melinda Hunt, Artist/Founder, The Hart Island Project

Envisioning the Future of Queer Memorialization
A public workshop led by T.L. “Teal” Nottage, Taconic Fellow, Pratt Center for Community Development

Toward a Queer History of Housing Activism in NYC
Maggie Schreiner, archivist and PhD candidate, CUNY Graduate Center

EVENING SESSION / 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Event introduction and Land Acknowledgement led by Jeffrey Hogrefe, Prof. Humanities and Media Studies, Pratt Institute

Panel: Queer Activism Across Generations
Ken Lustbader, co-founder, NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project
Perry Brass, author and activist, member of the Gay Liberation Front; president of the Gay Liberation Front Foundation; co-founder, Gay Men’s Health Project Clinic
Ron Goldberg, ACT UP activist and author of Boy with the Bullhorn