Quilt

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Another way to help is to Donation levels supporter

donate money. include: friend $50+; $100+; benefactor $250; pace setter $500; and sponsor $1,000. All checks may be sent to the HIT office who is facilitating the collection. Send donations to The Names Project, c/o HIT, 2250 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115. Be sure to indicate on the check or money order that the money is for the Names Project. Call the HIT office or Melsness at 281-1610.

Jones

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on a "60 Minutes" telecast. Then, in October 1986, Jones visited his best friend who was dying of AIDS, bringing with him nothing but his own fears and feelings of depression and uselessness. Jones was struck by his friend's courage and ability to still give and receive love in the face of death.

In February 1987, Jones made a panel out of left-over canvas and spray paint for his friend. In doing so, he found a positive and healing way to remember and it spread to others nationwide who had lost someone too. In the short span of seven months, the quilt grew from 40 panels to over 2400. It now numbers over 4000 panels and organizers intend the Project to continue as long as there is an epidemic. Jones will take the quilt back to The Mall in Washington, D.C. on the weekend of Oct. 8, 1988 one year after its original showing at the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights, and three weeks before an election for a new President of the United States, Jones estimates the quilt will have 12,000 to 15,000 names.

While answering audience questions, Jones had more of a message for the lesbian and gay community of Cleveland. Calling us lucky to be experiencing the AIDS epidemic at a small percentage of the level seen in San Francisco, Jones cajoled the community to get involved. Identifying the quilt as a visible message that "each life has value without any conditions," Jones urged us to give to the cause in two ways: Look inward and take better care of ourselves, but back off drugs and alcohol, and practice safe sex; then get involved outwardly, because each of us has a talent the community needs. As Jones pointed out, the fact that he cannot sew did not prevent him from making a panel for the quilt.

The AIDS quilt will be available for public viewing at the Cleveland Convention Center, Jun. 3-5. Over the Christmas Holidays, it was displayed in San Francisco and viewed by 100,000 people most of whom were straight families according to Jones. Making the quilt accessible to all those people who previously saw AIDS as someone else's problem can be as powerful and educational tool in Cleveland as was in San Francisco.

THE

NAMES

PROJECT

AIDS FILM PROJECT

CHUCK SOLOMON

COMING AGE

East

Tuesday, May 31 at 7:30 p.m. The Cleve. Cinematheque at the Cleve. Institute of Art Blvd. at Bellflower, University Circle Free Parking 229-0982

$4 Members, $5 Non-members ($1 goes to support The Names Project Cleveland Chapter.)

LIVING THA

An intimate portmut of commun, his community

and their strength to live umb AIDS

AIDS

Holly

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with Belkin which included several cities, one of which was Cleveland. Rush did not know of Near's 13-year relationship with Oven and so agreed to the package without asking Oven if they wanted to produce a "mainstream" concert in Cleveland. Near admits that she does perform in mainstream venues with the specific intent of exposing more people to political music. Her opinion is that some people would not attend a concert produced by Oven simply because they think Oven "is just a bunch of raving dykes" but they would come to a familiar place like a straight nightclub to hear her. She also believes that feminist artists "cannot make a living in the women's music circuit" because the community is too small and limited and does not usually serve alcohol at its events (which brings in a bigger paycheck for Near). Near believes that people's lives are enhanced when they listen to political music and has no qualms about taking the risk of performing in a mainstream venue just to put a little level of consciousness into that many more people. She concedes that she probably will never be successful in the mainstream but keeps "pushing the limits because maybe a miracle would happen." Near said she mostly performs at grass roots events and does some shows in the mainstream.

WRAF

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interested parties together, and the need for ongoing fundraising became apparent.

Carey believes that AIDS confronts the entire community and he sees the Foundation as a broad-based organization responding to the funding needs of existing and future AIDSrelated services in Greater Cleveland. Furthermore, Dr. Carey assures the community that WRAF does not intend to provide any services and thus will

not compete with existing providers. Instead, the Foundation will raise funds and help create resources to meet community needs in three of research, education, and support of persons with AIDS (PWA's)

areas

Carey believes that the board is made up of community representatives who are "deeply concerned about the issue of how to cope with the AIDS crisis." He acknowledges that several of them are not as well-versed in the dynamics of AIDS as himself and others, but he added that "a plurality of communities requires a plurality of answers." Board trustees are being chosen for their financial, political, fundraising, and organizing community skills. When the board is complete, it should include representatives of the lesbian/gay, black, hispanic, political, business, religious, medical/science, PWA, and (hopefully) the IV drug user communities.

.

The Foundation's first priority last fall was to raise funds and most of its initial energies went into staging the Sondheim Benefit in early February which netted $116,000. Carey says that these funds will be funnelled back into the community as soon as possible. But he also admits that the Foundation "hit the ground running" and now must look inward and finish structuring itself. The board will have 15 to 18 members with each serving three year terms--one third up for replacement each year. An Advisory Board will be formed to offer suggestions and recommendations to the trustees, but it will have no fiduciary responsibilities.

GPC expressed a concern over Holly Near leaving the community entirely and were told emphatically that Near is only trying to reach new and different audiences for the purposes of raising the consciousness of more people and expanding her career. Near felt Oven over-reacted to the events which brought her to Cleveland and blamed that over-reaction on the current political climate in the country today. Near hoped to deflect some of this intense emotion by focusing us on the "bigger picture."

She asked us to compare the explosion in the seventies of the women's music culture with the reactionary, fascist state of the current administration where there is "terrible support of feminism, [where] some of the most homophobic stuff is going on" and where people are more afraid to come out and explore alternative thinking than they were fifteen years ago. Near perceives that women's production companies and alternative artists are suffering financially as a result of today's oppressive climate. Her point is that Oven's reaction was misdirected at her when it would more appropriately be directed at an administration which glorifies war, suppresses its opposition and insists on a belligerent nationalism, sexism and racism. Her point is well taken.

GPC also asked Near if she was still concerned that her concerts provide child care, hearing interpreters and are

In addition, Peter Beebe, an openly gay psychologist and trustee himself, has formed a Grants Advisory Committee on which he is the only board member. Other members of this committee are not WRAF board members but have previous grant and funding evaluation experience. This committee has developed a process by which requests for funding should be submitted and evaluated.

The

committee will screen and recommend requests for voting by the entire board. Finally, WRAF trustees will be seeking an Executive Director and some staff to attend to the daily business of the Foundation.

held in halls which are wheelchair accessible. Near explained that she no longer "dictates" that producers provide these things because she believes it is arrogant for an artist to impose her consciousness on a community that may not be ready for it. She encourages local producers to provide these items if there is community interest to support it. For example, when an organization of deaf people contacts her asking that an upcoming concert be interpreted, she tells them to contact the producer and do their own organizing around that issue. With child care, she found that she was spending hundreds of dollars on insurance, toys and salaries for child care workers only to have one or two children show up. Usually, these

children came from middle-income families who really didn't need to have child care provided for them. Near said she was better off having those people hire a babysitter for $15 instead of Near paying the several hundred to provide that service. As far as wheelchair accessibility, she no longer holds producers responsible if a building is not accessible. Again, she puts the ball in the hands of the community to take the issue up with their city council. Basically, Near found that when an "individual does something and it doesn't happen from the ground up, if that person fades away you have nothing left from the work." So Near quit demanding these things on a national level, but encourages them in her riders and

contracts.

Dr. Carey anticipates seeing more good and worthwhile proposals than the WRAF can fund. The Foundation does hope to raise a total of $500,000 from the February event, one in September, and another in spring of 1989. The Foundation will work with closely the AIDS Commission of Greater Cleveland, an umbrella group of all AIDS-related service providers in the city. The Commission should be most familiar with existing services and also aware of any gaps. As a group, the trustees wil! decide the most pressing current needs and the best possible use of monies.

TIME MARCHES ON...

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