Collective Stewardship: Visual AIDS

Join us for an in-person conversation featuring Kyle Croft (Executive Director, Visual AIDS) and Nicholas Martin (Curator for the Arts & Humanities, NYU Special Collections) to discuss the work of Visual AIDS—the only arts organization fully committed to raising AIDS awareness and creating dialogue around HIV issues today.

Founded in 1988, Visual AIDS preserves and honors the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement. The organization produces and presents visual art projects, exhibitions, public forums, and publications, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS. The Visual AIDS Artist Registry—open to all HIV+ artists—is the largest database of works by artists with HIV/AIDS, offering a unique resource to inspire and educate the public. Visual AIDS assists HIV+ artists while preserving a visual record of their work and helping them reach new audiences.

RESERVATIONS: Admission is free but reservations are required. The program will begin at 6:30 PM.

ACCESSIBILITY: This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs. To request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service, email your request at least three weeks in advance of the event to [email protected].

About the Speakers

Kyle Croft is the Executive Director of Visual AIDS. In his six years with the organization, he has worked to preserve the legacies of artists lost to AIDS and support a global community of artists living with HIV. He co-edited Visual AIDS’s recent monograph on the late artist Darrel Ellis, as well as volumes on Frederick Weston and the curator William Olander. He holds an MA in Art History from Hunter College.

Nicholas Martin is the Curator for the Arts & Humanities at NYU Special Collections, where he oversees the archives held in the Downtown Collection, the Riot Grrrl Collection, and the New York University Special Collections. He is a Past President of the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York. Recent publications include contributions to Christopher D'Arcangelo (Kunstverein / Artists Space, 2023) and Luxe, Calme, Volupté (SJ Weiler Press and Candice Madey, 2023).

is a non-profit organization that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.

Collective Stewardship is the National Academy of Design’s series of free, in-person and virtual, educational public programs that focus on artist and architect foundations and the different approaches and solutions for the planning and preservation of their legacies for the public good and future public accessibility. The ongoing series of talks, panels, and workshops features living legacy projects and foundations with public missions, coupling purposeful storytelling with specific information about the preparation and tools needed to build an accessible archive.

Image: Slides documenting artwork by Frederick Weston (1946–2020) in the Visual AIDS Archive. Photo: Giulia Armentano

Host or Publisher National Academy of Design