Over $ 45,000 Raised for Nonprofit Rainbow Honor Walk
media contact: David Perry (415) 676-7007/ news@davidperry.com
Over $ 45,000 Raised for Nonprofit Rainbow Honor Walk
Exhibit of works by late artist Beth Van Hoesen at Atlman Siegel Gallery Benefits LGBTQ Tribute on Streets of San Francisco
12 May 2023 —San Francisco CA: It was an artful experience for San Francisco’s Rainbow Honor Walk (www.rainbowhonorwalk.org) the nonprofit that highlights the contributions of LGBTQ pioneers with sidewalk plaques in the city’s Castro District when an exhibit of works by the late acclaimed artist Beth Van Hoesen raised over $ 45,000. The exhibit, “Beth Van Hoesen: Punks & Sisters” ran January 17 – February 25 of this year at the City’s Altman Siegel Gallery. When Hoesen, a longtime resident of San Francisco’s Castro District, died in 2010, her estate donated a significant number of her works to the Rainbow Honor Walk for sale to benefit its work.
“Thank you, Beth Van Hoesen. Thank you to Diane Roby who administered her artistic estate. Thank you, Altman Siegel Gallery and especially thank you Peter Goss, our longtime supporter and board member who helped to facilitate the sale of the Rainbow Honor Walk’s Beth Van Hoesen artworks,” says Donna Sachet, Rainbow Honor Walk Board President. “The work of the Rainbow Honor Walk, celebrating with members of our LGBTQ family who walked the walk before us has never been more important than now, in a time when, sadly, our values, and our lives, are under threat.”
To date, the Rainbow Honor Walk —working with the San Francisco Department of Public Works—has installed 44 plaques along Market Street, Castro St, 19th Street, and Collingwood Avenue.
When a volunteer committee of community members proposed the Rainbow Honor Walk, they received the unanimous support of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to create the sidewalk monument. Comprised of 3 foot x 3 foot bronze plaques embedded in the sidewalk, the Walk salutes the groundbreaking achievements of noted LGBT individuals throughout history. The first 20 honorees were announced in 2011. In 2012 the Rainbow Honor Walk board solicited design proposals from around the world. An independent jury of artists and cultural leaders selected the winning design by architect Carlos Casuso of Madrid, Spain. The plaques were manufactured by Mussi Artworks of Berkeley, California with creative oversight of the process spearheaded by Lawrence Noble, head of the sculpture department at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University. The first 20 plaques were installed in September 2014 with additional plaques added in 2017, 2019 and last year bringing the total of in-sidewalk plaques to 44. In February 2022, the next 24 honorees were announced with design of their honorary plaques commencing this year.
The Rainbow Honor Walk will eventually extend from the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy on 19th Street at Diamond down to Castro Street—the LGBT community’s “Main Street”—and will continue up Market Street with additional extensions on 18th Street. On Market Street, San Francisco’s main thoroughfare, the Walk will continue to the LGBT Center at Octavia Boulevard.
All funds for manufacture of the Rainbow Honor Walk are raised privately, with each plaque costing approximately $6000.
Individuals interested in contacting the Rainbow Honor Walk may do so by email at info@rainbowhonorwalk.org or by mail to Rainbow Honor Walk, 584 Castro Street, #113 San Francisco, California 94114. Contact can also be made via Facebook by searching “Rainbow Honor Walk”. Information can also be found online, and donations made, through the Rainbow Honor Walk website at www.rainbowhonorwalk.org.