For its 40th anniversary in 2018, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus did more than plan a concert. As POZ reported, the chorus set out to build a permanent Artists Portal at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, honoring the nearly 300 chorus members lost to AIDS and artists of every discipline taken by the epidemic.
A chime you can ring
According to POZ, the centerpiece is an 8½-foot Emperor Chime cast in anodized aluminum. Visitors are invited to strike it with a mallet and speak the names of people they have lost. A broken-circle limestone bench carries engraved names arranged in concentric rings; the chorus aimed to engrave at least 80 individual names and 30 arts organizations before handing the site to the Grove, with more names to follow.
The project was led by longtime members who lived through the epidemic. POZ reported plans for a groundbreaking on October 27, 2018, and a public opening on World AIDS Day, December 1, and noted that the memorial would carry a lyric chosen by Artistic Director Tim Seelig: “Take each moment as a gift. Give it back again.”
First Look: The Monument
In July 2018, a few months before the dedication, the Chorus shared this rendering of the planned monument.
Watch: The Artists Portal
On October 27, 2018, during the Chorus’ 40th birthday weekend, SFGMC dedicated the Artists Portal at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park. The permanent memorial honors the roughly 300 singers the Chorus has lost. This video, released in 2021, tells the story of the memorial.
Sources
This post summarizes reporting by POZ. Details attributed to those outlets are their reporting; see the sources below.
- POZ, “National AIDS Memorial Grove to Get an “Artists Portal”—and a Giant Chime!”, October 2018. Read the original story
