Timings
6.30pm - Welcome to ‘AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power’ (ACT UP) and the behind the scenes journey of creating the ‘ACT UP at 40 - Celebrating Resistance and Demanding Healthcare for All’ calendar at the start of the international tour with editor Dan Glass
6.35pm - Opening Performance - Viv (she/they/he) is a South London based artist, producer and community organiser! With theatre and production company Moi Ko, they create applied theatre projects that platform the struggles of Palestinians and Political Prisoners in the UK as well as organise and host monthly cabaret shows in Elephant and Castle. They produce tours of and perform in children's puppet shows that visit prison family visit days and children’s hospices for Little Angel Theatre and are a resident dancer at Kushty Klub. Viv is a proud member of Act Up London and This Is My Culture Party, designing social media content and merchandise for both in addition to bringing all the vibes as host of the yearly TIMC free party.
6.45pm - Designing ACT UP presentation - Matt Bonner is the designer of the ‘ACT UP at 40’ calendar, a graphic artist, designer, and social justice campaigner based in London. He works with campaigning groups, grassroots activists and young people to use subversive political art as a tool for direct action, protest, advocacy and solidarity in the fight for progressive social change. In 2018 Matt designed the world-famous Trump Baby blimp. His work has also included the design of the Legally Black subverted film posters, challenging the lack of black representation in the media, as well as contributions to the Brandalism mass ad space takeovers. His website is revoltdesign.uk his Instagram is mattbonner.uk.
7.00pm - Hosted by Alix Fox - An conversation with activists, photographers and filmmakers who documented and participated in the early years of ACT UP London and a new generation of organisers to ask: What can ACT UP teach us now?
Speakers - who will explore the ongoing legacy of ACT UP intergenerationally and transnationally
Documenting ACT UP - Gordon Rainsford was born in Kenya in 1960 but moved to London when he left school. Initially wanting to be an accountant, he soon changed his mind and took a degree in Sociology at the London School of Economics. Later, he worked in catering for a while before becoming a freelance photographer for twenty years. Gordon’s work as a freelance photographer has left an unparalleled document of LGBTQ+ Britain between 1985 and 2005, providing images for all of the major publications at the time including The Pink Paper, Capital Gay and many others. He was present at every Pride, photographed the protests of Outrage! and ACT UP London, as well as attending the vigils for those lost during the HIV/AIDS crisis. Gordon also photographed most of the nightclubs, pubs and social events attended by the community at this time, along with documenting organisations such as the Terrence Higgins Trust, Switchboard and Stonewall. He also took portraits of prominent figures in the community involved in arts, politics, culture and showbusiness.
Archiving ACT UP - Niamh Glanville-Frayne is an archivist, currently based at Bishopsgate Institute, who predominantly works with collections which represent people and communities typically excluded from traditional archives, one such collection being the ACT UP London archive. Niamh also works with individuals on their personal archives, ensuring people have agency over their collections.
Andria Mordaunt was an original member of ACT UP in the 1980s, and has been a long time political activist, both grassroots and at the UN, where she lobbied to decriminalise drug use, in order to prevent HIV spreading among injection drug users, and other vulnerable citizens. She continues her activism with Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.
Rob Archer a co-founder of London and Edinburgh Act Up. Formed in January 1989, by Rob Archer and Rae Trewartha, ACT UP [London] was the first ACT UP chapter in Europe. Its first action was at Wellcome's annual shareholder meeting, the parent company of Burroughs Wellcome, the makers of AZT, the first treatment that targeted HIV directly. This was quickly followed by a protest at Pentonville Prison, where condoms were floated over the walls. The next action was to highlight employment discrimination. It was at Texaco's UK headquarters. It was the first of a series of protests against Texaco. They later targeted YHA employment discrimination. Read more here ‘The British AIDS activists you might not know about.’
Diego Agurto Beroiza is a Chilean actor, director, playwright and researcher. He holds a Master’s degree in Applied Theatre and is currently pursuing a PhD in Performance and Theatre Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, funded by a CHASE studentship. His artistic and academic practice lies at the intersection of contemporary performance, activism and collective creation, with a particular focus on HIV, sexuality, gender and memory. He is the founder of La Comuna, a queer performing arts collective that develops projects combining theatre, performance, audiovisual media and documentary practices. His current artistic research explores the political and affective potential of collaborative and community-based performance practices to activate individual and collective memories, challenge dominant narratives surrounding HIV, and create spaces for care, resistance and collective knowledge production.
7.45pm - Hosted by Patrick Braithwaite - ‘Adopt an ACT UP Veteran’ - where a new generation of change-makers eager to change the world and committed to confront Gilead’s price blocking UK access to groundbreaking HIV prevention tool lenacapavir will be paired by ACT UP activist veterans to build friendships and create strategic protest plans to continue fighting for access to healthcare and medication for all.
8.00pm - 8.30pm - Buy your calendar and ACT UP t-shirts with Legendary ACT UP DJ Chano Gillett and nibbles to boot!
Your Hosts
Alix Fox is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster (BBC Radio 1, The Guardian, Audible, Netflix's Sex Education), Golden Lobe comedy podcast award winner and HIV prevention and care PhD researcher whose work focuses on sexual culture and wellbeing. A face of HIV Testing Week, she's an effervescent advocate for HIV rights, and is running the London Marathon 2027 to raise funds for Positive East.
Patrick Braithwaite is an aspiring barrister, activist and ACT UP campaigner with a special interest in mental health and addiction within marginalised communities. Patrick helped organise the first Queer Spirit festival and subsequently became a member of the Radical Faeries. Patrick is a founding member of FAENA, a sub group within the faeries dedicated to addiction.