AIDS memorial task force seeks community input at town-hall listening session

After a proposed AIDS Memorial sculpture for the Downtown Palm Springs park faced controversy in 2023, the memorial's task force is calling on the community for input.

On Wednesday night, they will open the floor to all, with no RSVP required, in a town-hall-style meeting.

Over several weeks, there have been multiple listening sessions during which the task force has noted feedback from the community.

The original design faced scrutiny for its perceived inappropriate connotations and abstract design.

The artist, Phillip K. Smith III, says the process of creating a new design has been eye-opening. "Those hiccups are an important part of reaching a final design that will be a beautiful, powerful, memorable memorial," said Smith. "We have shifted our focus to listening sessions and involving the community more directly in our process."

The artist says that he and the task force have gone back to the drawing board when it comes to the new design. "We are starting from square one with comments from both our supporters and those who had challenges," said Smith.

Through conversations, Smith feels that he has a better grasp of what the memorial means to those in the community. "There have been two strong opposite emotions: grief and loss, and hope and joy," said Smith. "These are two challenging opposite ends of the spectrum to evoke within a memorial, but that's part of my challenge as an artist going forward."

He says after tonight's meeting, the task force will review collected feedback and begin discussions about what the next design will look like. "We want to keep the pace going," said Smith. "Once we get through our approvals, we will get this thing done. No matter what, the community massively supports the idea of an AIDS memorial being here in the desert."

The town-hall listening session will take place at 6:00 PM Wednesday night at Temple Isaiah in Palm Springs.