Sculpture Honoring Harvey Milk in San Francisco City Hall is One Step Closer!

One of the first openly gay elected officials in the world, Harvey Milk and supporters walk to City Hall from the Castro neighborhood for an Inauguration on the steps of City Hall
January 9, 1978

Photo by Daniel Nicoletta

At their regularly scheduled September meeting, the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), took the next step towards the realization of the dreams of many. They approved the three finalist in the competition to create a bronze memorial bust of the late, Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the world and after his death by assassination in 1978, he became a hero to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender civil rights movement.

“ This tribute to Harvey Milk is long overdue… It is indeed time for his legacy to be commemorated with a place of honor and distinction in San Francisco’s City Hall.” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

The finalist , were arrived at through a nationwide competition that was announced in early July. The announcement if the competition was distributed to over 6,000 artists throughout the US using the Arts Commission's electronic mailing list. In addition, additional artists were contacted based upon suggestions of the Commission and the Harvey Milk Memorial Committee, and research conducted by staff.

The three finalists, Bruce Wolfe, Cedric Wentworth, and the firm of Eugene Daub, Jonah Hendrikson and Robert Firmin each will create a small scale clay maquette of their proposals for a commemorative bust. The total combined size of the commissioned sculpture and pedestal will be 75 inches high. The maquettes will be displayed in City Hall for public viewing sometime in early 2007 after which the selection panel will reconvene to review the public’s written commentary and then select the winning proposal. The three finalists will be awarded $2,500 each for the production of the clay maquettes and the winner will be awarded $57,500 to produce the finished sculpture. The winner will be given approximately a year to produce the sculpture. A free public unveiling event in City Hall is being planned with a targeted date of Milk’s birthday May 22, 2008. Harvey Milk was born in 1930; he would have been 76 this year.

The Harvey Milk commemorative sculpture is intended to be similar in scale and likeness to the bronze sculptures of past Mayors and other significant individuals from our City’s history. The proposed location for the sculpture is in the proximity to the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room on the second floor of City Hall.

Coincidentally, all of the artists selected as finalists are from the San Francisco/Bay Area, although, applications were submitted by candidates from across the country. In all there were 42 artists who submitted applications.

The applications were reviewed and the recommendation, to the SFAC were made by a selection panel comprised of five voting members. They included Jewelle Gomez: Poet, Library Commissioner and, the Horizon's Foundation Program Officer; Gary Nathan, Spectrum Publisher and Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee member; Dan Nicoletta: Photographer, Co-chair of the Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee, and Milk’s friend; Jeannene Przyblyski: Artist, Art Historian, and Arts Commissioner; and Dugald Stermer: Artist and Urban Strategist and SF Arts Commissioner.

“Since Harvey’s death many of us have worked on a myriad of great projects memorializing him, but none have meant more to us than the creation of this place of pilgrimage inside City Hall where he served all San Franciscans as well as all lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender citizens and their supporters world-wide.” said Dan Nicoletta, photographer and former employee in Milk’s Castro Street Camera store.

The sculpture competition was launched in May 2006 after a three year fundraising drive by the non profit Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee. The competition is being co-produced by the Milk City Hall Memorial Committee and The San Francisco Arts Commission and was made possible through funding provided by the Bob Ross Foundation as well as by donations by hundreds of individuals and organizations from around the world.

The late Bob Ross was one of the first people in San Francisco to give Milk a platform for his political aspirations in Ross’s then nascent SF LGBT newspaper Bay Area Reporter and the two men remained close friends until Milk’s death. The gift from the Bob Ross Foundation is especially poignant because Ross was one of four people Milk named as preferred successors in the event of his assassination.

For more information or to support us in an ongoing effort to continue to preserve and educate about Harvey Milk’s Legacy or for unveiling event sponsorship opportunities in 2008, we can be reached c/o Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee, 1800 Market Street, Box 42, San Francisco CA 94102 or www.milkmemorial.org . Harvey Milk City Hall Memorial Committee is a 501©3 non profit organization sponsored by The San Francisco Lesbian and Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration Committee. All donations are tax deductible and can be made online as well as in check form.