Alumni in the News
This link is to an interview on German Public Radio (primarily in German) with the class of 72's Yarrott Benz, about his involvement with the creation of the now ubiquitous red ribbon as a symbol of the fight against AIDS.
Yarrott was involved with the New York City organization Visual AIDS which came together to demonstrate the devastating impact of AIDS on those in the arts. They were first in the news in 1987 with their Day Without Art project, in which most of the major museums in the U.S. shrouded a piece of art for on December 1, World AIDS Day. Yarrott organized and chaired their project, Night Without Light in 1990, in which the skyline Manhattan was dimmed for fifteen minutes on that day. Afterwards, he and six others gathered in 1991 to “devise a symbol that people could wear to make AIDS undeniable-- in a country that was doing everything it could to avoid the subject-- and to make the person across from you instantly know that you stood in solidarity with people with AIDS." They came up with the now famous red ribbon, which was introduced to the public for the first time by actor Jeremy Irons hosting the Tony Awards that year. Within a year, an American stamp had been made of the symbol.
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Yarrott was involved with the New York City organization Visual AIDS which came together to demonstrate the devastating impact of AIDS on those in the arts. They were first in the news in 1987 with their Day Without Art project, in which most of the major museums in the U.S. shrouded a piece of art for on December 1, World AIDS Day. Yarrott organized and chaired their project, Night Without Light in 1990, in which the skyline Manhattan was dimmed for fifteen minutes on that day. Afterwards, he and six others gathered in 1991 to “devise a symbol that people could wear to make AIDS undeniable-- in a country that was doing everything it could to avoid the subject-- and to make the person across from you instantly know that you stood in solidarity with people with AIDS." They came up with the now famous red ribbon, which was introduced to the public for the first time by actor Jeremy Irons hosting the Tony Awards that year. Within a year, an American stamp had been made of the symbol.
