With support from the California Arts Council, Uptown Tenderloin, Inc. (dba Tenderloin Museum) will produce a photography exhibition and book about the famous drag queen performers and colorful customers at Aunt Charlie’s, one of the oldest gay bars in San Francisco. Tentatively titled “Queens to the Front: The Living History of Aunt Charlie’s,” the project will consist of work by LGBTQ photographers and include artist-collected documentation of oral histories from the performers.
The Tenderloin Museum opened in 2015 with the intersecting goals of promoting a deeper understanding of the history of the Tenderloin neighborhood, re-imagining our collective future, and supporting our current community. To accomplish these goals, the museum enacts a three-pronged approach: a critically-acclaimed permanent history exhibition, community-driven programs and tours, and economic support in the form of local partnerships and hiring practices. To accomplish these goals, each year TLM produces 40-50 public programs, 5-7 special arts presentations (including aerial dance, theatre, and visual art exhibitions), and 50 walking tours, in addition to maintaining its critically-acclaimed permanent history exhibition. All told, these programs attract approximately 5,000 people each year. We invest in deeply collaborative relationships with organizations in the arts, humanities, and social sectors, and our success on a relatively small budget is directly linked to those efforts.

