As someone who used to volunteer at Tom House, and was specifically there to help take care of the art in the house and archive, im deeply concerned with all of the news coming out recently. Why isn’t rent being paid for such an important historic and cultural site for LAs queer community? Where has the art been moved to and what conditions is it being cared under? Why has there been a mass firing with zero communication?
While I do recognize that the storage situation for the archive wasn’t ideal the sudden moving of the art with no prior communication coupled with the firings and lack of communication feels less like the art is being responsibly cared for and more like it’s being looted.
The rent for the house should be paid for, it should be preserved and made accessible for all of the LGBTQIA+ community in LA to enjoy. It’s loss would be tremendous, added to this is the amount of staffers many of them former friends and partners of Tom’s who effectively live there being rendered homeless. It would be beyond cruel to do this to them.
Sydney
Australia