For the June issue of The Art Newspaper, New York City AIDS Memorial executive director Dave Harper penned an op-ed on the importance of supporting LGBTQ+ communities and culture. He writes: “Pride means more than a party, parade or performative allyship; it means committing to community care and remembrance…Organisations that preserve LGBTQ+ history, memory and culture must take on a powerful role: not just to remember, but to resist.”

Congratulations to New York City AIDS Memorial Board Members Ethan Geto and Tucker Woods for their inclusion on the inaugural City & State 2025 Pride Trailblazers list, which highlights the LGBTQ+ advocates and executives who are fighting back.

The New York City AIDS Memorial and the National AIDS Memorial are presenting this free screening of Matt Nadel’s short documentary about “AIDS profiteering” during the early ’90s, when dying patients sold their life-insurance policies for money up front to speculators who’d cash them out for their full value after a death.

In his sound installation “The Gay Chorus: No Time at All,” the artist Matthew Leifheit gathered archival recordings of gay men’s choirs from around the country from the decade before effective H.I.V./AIDS treatments. The result, edited from footage on 53 VHS tapes, is an hourlong “recital” that will loop daily at the New York City AIDS Memorial in the West Village daily throughout June.

The NYC AIDS Memorial—a landmark stop on the NYC Pride March and a powerful site of remembrance—will host community programming throughout June. The memorial holds deep historical significance for the city’s LGBTQIA+ community, particularly for those still affected by the AIDS epidemic.

In this review of new exhibitions and publications of the artist Scott Burton, writer Jarrett Earnest writes about Burton’s radical artistic vision, and mentions that “the artist Oscar Tuazon, in collaboration with…the NYC AIDS Memorial, will unveil a revitalized version of Burton’s final public work, created for the fishing piers in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in 1994—a combination of perforated steel benches, wooden ottomans, light posts, and wind vanes…”

A message from the leaders of AIDS memorials and monuments in San Francisco, New York, and West Hollywood regarding the recent freeze on US foreign aid. We strongly urge the Administration to resume funding immediately and to allow this lifesaving medication to be delivered without delay and the Congress to take all action within its authority to ensure that funding already authorized by federal law continues to flow without interruption.

In this report from Sveriges Radio (Sweden), New York City AIDS Memorial Executive Director Dave Harper speaks about the various ways to keep the legacy of the AIDS epidemic alive.

New Yorkers joined memorials, marches, and readings at several gatherings around the city in commemoration of World AIDS Day, which is observed annually on Dec. 1 [and] continued on Dec. 2 with a reading of the names of people lost to AIDS.

NY1 spent some time at the New York City AIDS Memorial for our observance of World AIDS Day and reading of names on December 2, 2024.

Dave Harper, executive director of the New York City Aids Memorial, joined anchor Rocco Vertuccio "Weekends on 1" Saturday morning to discuss World AIDS Day events happening Sunday in the five boroughs.

Gay City News writes about activist and Out of the Darkness vigil organizer Brent Nicholson Earle. “Brent is an exemplary activist whose spirit of community and caring just warrants a celebration of his work,” Harper said. “I think it’s important that we gather each World AIDS Day to remember and reflect on what the community has been through.”

Events will be taking place in New York City to mark World AIDS Day, which is commemorated annually on Dec. 1 to bring awareness to HIV/AIDS internationally, acknowledge those living with HIV/AIDS, and pay tribute to the lives lost over the years. The New York City AIDS Memorial is leading a free public observance of World AIDS Day with two days of programming. 

Each year, on December 1, the world gathers to remember those lost to and impacted by HIV/AIDS and champion the ongoing fight against the epidemic. To commemorate World AIDS Day, the New York City AIDS Memorial will host its annual, free, and public observance featuring two days of programming in collaboration with organizations dedicated to bringing communities together in the fight to end HIV/AIDS.

This review of Scott Burton: Shape Shift at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis mentions Oscar Tuazon’s upcoming Scott Burton project to be installed at the New York City AIDS Memorial next autumn.

The Los Angeles-based artist Oscar Tuazon, together with the gallery Kasmin and the New York City AIDS Memorial, is breathing new life into one of Burton’s final public artworks: an array of lights, flag poles, weathervanes and ottomans on the fishing piers in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn…Tuazon plans to transform them into a new work, “Eternal Flame for Scott Burton,” which is expected to be installed at the NYC AIDS Memorial in fall 2025.

In this New York Times preview by Joshua Barone, a look is taken at Philip Glass’s Fourth String Quartet, written after the death of the artist Brian Buczak, which will be performed at the New York City AIDS Memorial on October 27, 2024.

This story about gay rights pioneer Arnie Kantrowitz's posthumously published new book, "Song of Myself: A Novel" interviews his partner Dr. Larry Mass at the New York City AIDS Memorial.

Though he died at the age of 37 due to AIDS complications, David Wojnarowicz left a powerful legacy of avant-garde artmaking, passionate LGBTQ+ and disability activism, and withstanding friendships — all of which will be commemorated at the New York City AIDS Memorial Park. To celebrate what would have been the trailblazing artist’s 70th birthday, the NYC AIDS Memorial has partnered with the David Wojnarowicz Foundation, Visual AIDS, and PPOW Gallery for an interdisciplinary remembrance event on Saturday night, September 14.

“I discovered that making an object, whether it was a drawing or a story, meant making something that spoke even if I was silent,” David Wojnarowicz wrote in his renowned 1991 memoir Close to the Knives. Throughout his life, the artist, writer, and activist used art to express himself amidst societal oppression. Today, Wojnarowicz’s voice remains––powerful and resonant––long after his death.