#ellen spiro

Ellen Spiro

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Lesbian

DOB: Born 1968   

Ethnicity: White - American

Five AIDS activists, employed as waiters and waitresses on the Gracie Mansion staff, zapped Mayor Koch Sunday, September 10 [1989] at a reception at the mayor's residence. They took the mayor and his staff by surprise, chanting "City AIDS care is a lie, Koch campaigns while people die." The protesters, Tom Blewitt, Heidi Dorow, Tom Keane, Frank Smithson and Ellen Spiro, are all members of ACT UP. Blewitt, Dorow and Keane had been previously employed by the Gracie Mansion catering staff.

The five worked preparing and serving lunch until the mayor began his speech, when they left their posts and went through the mansion to a porch directly behind the mayor, Blewitt with a sign he had carried through the mansion above his head disguised as a serving tray. Smithson, who was assigned to grilling hot dogs, reportedly left the wieners to burn.

According to Blewitt, after the group began holding up the signs behind the mayor and chanting, the mayor stopped his speech and turned around. "He turned beet red, and started shaking his head. Then he went green, still shaking his head. Then he turned white," Blewitt said. They were eventually ejected by the police.

Outside, the activists attempted to distribute fact sheets as the guests, who were workers in adult literacy programs, left the reception. Some expressed support for the action; comments included "God Bless You," "Right On," and the thumbs up.

However, Pat Del Bello, who oversees events at Gracie Mansion, refused to comment.

Join UMMA and the Student Engagement Council for Visual AIDS’ 28th Day With(out) Art, honoring World AIDS Day. This year’s screening features Alternate Endings, Radical Beginnings, a collection of short video works by contemporary artists exploring Black narratives within the HIV/AIDS epidemic, curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett. 

A paneled discussion will follow, led by Bré Campbell, founder of the Detroit-based Trans Sistas of Color Project; Leon Golson, director of Prevention Programs for Unified HIV Health and Beyond; and Demarion Longmire, a Health Corps Fellow at HIPS in Washington, D.C.

We hope you can join us for this special event.

This event is free and open to the public; for more details, see the flyer below or visit our Facebook page

Today, December 1st, is Day With(out) Art, a national day of action and mourning organized by Visual AIDS with arts organizations and institutions in response to the AIDS crisis. It is also World AIDS Day, an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the disease.

In 2014, on the 25th anniversary of Day With(out) Art, Visual AIDS commissioned seven artists/collaboratives to create short videos for a program titled ALTERNATE ENDINGS, which are now available to watch online.  This year Visual AIDS has created another video program –ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS, previewed above.

From their Vimeo channel–

Curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett for Visual AIDS, the video program prioritizes Black narratives within the ongoing AIDS epidemic, commissioning seven new and innovative short videos from artists Mykki Blanco, Cheryl Dunye & Ellen Spiro, Reina Gossett, Thomas Allen Harris, Kia LaBeija, Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Brontez Purnell.

In spite of the impact of HIV/AIDS within Black communities, these stories and experiences are constantly excluded from larger artistic and historical narratives. In 2016 African Americans represented 44% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States. Given this context, it is increasingly urgent to feature a myriad of stories that consider and represent the lives of those housed within this statistic. ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS seeks to highlight the voices of those that are marginalized within broader Black communities nationwide, including queer and trans people.

The commissioned projects include intimate meditations of young HIV positive protagonists; a consideration of community-based HIV/AIDS activism in the South; explorations of the legacies and contemporary resonances within AIDS archives; a poetic journey through New York exploring historical traces of queer and trans life, and more. Together, the videos provide a platform centering voices deeply impacted by the ongoing epidemic.

Next week on 12/7 (Thursday), MOCA Grand Avenue in Los Angeles will be screening this program followed by a performance by Kia LaBeija and a discussion featuring Reina Gossett and Kia LaBeija in conversation with Day With(out) Art curators Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett. (this event is free)

I'm working on a documentary with a close friend of mine about Sufism, which is the more artistic, "mystical dimension of Islam." Ellen Spiro, one of the coolest filmmakers I've ever met, is supervising our film. As an open-minded agnostic, I'm looking forward to learning more about it.

I'm currently in pre-production for a music video for a local Austin band, Fared Shafinury & Tehranosaurus. We're about to set up a Kickstarter to raise at least $1500, so I'll post that link soon, and if you'd be so kind as to spread it around, it would be much appreciated. :)

I'm seeing Bang On A Can All Stars feat. Wilco drummer, Glenn Kotche, tonight at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin with my good friend, Andrea.

I'll be seeing Yann Tiersen for the second time next week. Can't get enough of that little Frenchman's musical abilities.

I'm inspired again.