Craig Walsh: Monuments

Thu, 11/07/2024 - 4:23pm

This short from filmmaker Fred Culpepper documents the creation of the Monuments public art installation from artist Craig Walsh.  Walsh was commissioned to create a set of his living sculptures in celebration of Ann Arbor's bicentennial.  Those chosen to be represented in the project were community leaders Bonnie Billups Jr., Joyce Hunter, and Martin Contreras & Keith Orr.  This video provides in introduction to these figures as it tracks Walsh in the capturing of source material and the installation of his large-scale, temporary public sculpture piece.  The installation was on view in Albert Wheeler Park September 4-8, 2024.

AADL Talks To: Steve Culver, Publisher of the LGBTQ+ focused Magazine Out Post

Sun, 08/04/2024 - 11:00am

In this episode, AADL Talks To Steve Culver. Steve first visited Ann Arbor in his early 20s, and soon began his publishing career in Ann Arbor at the Ann Arbor News. In 1990, he released the first issue of his LGBTQ-focused publication Ten Percent, which later became the Michigan Tribune and finally Out Post. Steve reflects on 34 ½ years of covering Ann Arbor & Southeast Michigan’s queer community, how his publication has changed over the years, and broader changes in Ann Arbor’s social scene.

LGBTQ+ Washtenaw Oral History Project - Lynden Kelly

Sun, 06/30/2024 - 3:25pm

Lynden Kelly, who goes by Kelly (she/her), was born in 1954 in suburban Detroit. In 1972, she moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan. She became involved in countercultural organizations and collectives such as the Ann Arbor Tenants Union and the People’s Wherehouse, a wholesale warehouse for the Michigan Federation of Food Co-ops. She recalls visiting LGBTQ+ spaces in Ann Arbor and beyond, including the U-M Gay Advocates’ Office (now called the Spectrum Center), Canterbury House, the Rubaiyat, and the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. From 1990 to 2003, she and business partner Kate Burkhardt ran Common Language Bookstore, which catered to feminist and LGBTQ+ readers, on Fourth Avenue. Kelly also discusses gender roles, coming out to her parents, marriage equality, and co-founding Ann Arbor Queer Aquatics (A2QUA), a queer swimming group.

View historical materials.

Keith & Martin/Martin & Keith: Elegy for the \aut\BAR

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:52am

“From 1995 to 2020, Ann Arbor’s Aut/Bar was the mecca for the LGBTQ+ community. Its founders, Martin Contreras and Keith Orr, created a cultural and political hub that bridged the AIDS era with assimilation of the queer community and urban gentrification. This film is both tribute and elegy to a moment of significant hope when Ann Arbor lived up to its reputation for harboring a tolerant and liberal-minded population. It is dedicated to the two men who were at its heart and whose proud determination to make it happen was both fierce and tender.” - Peter Sparling