One Student's Senior Project Is AIDS Benefit

For one Harvard undergrad, six months of imagination and dedication to a dream have culminated in the Festival of Life--a seven-day extravaganza of visual, literary, and performing arts events later this month which will benefit AIDS research.

Dressed in a baseball jacket, cords, and high-tops, Stephen W. Gutwillig '86 sits on the floor and plays with a cat as he speaks of the festival's meaning. "It's about plucking hope out of the shadows of the AIDS crisis," he says. "That's why it's the festival of life and [the words on the poster] are green. We want to show that a positive response is more contagious than the disease itself."

Just six months ago Gutwillig, the chairman of the Harvard-Radcliffe Aids Benefit Committee, conceived of the festival. As he worked, the plans grew from a one-night event to a whole week's production--adding doctors, celebrities and Harvard administrators to what was originally an undergraduate effort.

The benefit opens on February 17, with a $25 show called "Ovations--Women United for AIDS Research and Care" in the Loeb Drama Center. Other events throughout the week include a poetry reading, film festival, dance and music concerts, educational discussions, and theater performances, Admission varies--some shows are free--and tickets are available at the door.

"I've spent the last six months of my life bringing pros together. And when you're not the Hasty Pudding and you're not the Institute of Politics, It's not very easy to get famous people on to this campus," says the red-haired English major.

The festival features appearances by Judy Collins, Joan Kennedy, Allen Ginsberg, and Colleen Dewhurst. Apparently Gutwillig snagged a few big names without the help of trademarks like the IOP or the Lampoon.

"The thing that has been so enriching about this is that the pros I have been working with are extremely generous people," he continues. "They are coming here because they care more about AIDS research than about appearing at Harvard."

Gutwillig says. "The artists we've invited have complete freedom to express themselves in any form they chose as long as it is with an awareness of the AIDS cause. We want to emphasize the themes of hope, cooperation, and support. There are patients to be treated and a cure to be found."

Among the projects are a series of student paintings in the Science Center, an exhibition and auction in Adams House of work by Boston area artists, and an environmental painting using muslin and the trees in Harvard Yard.

Myra Mayman, director of the Office of the Arts and master of South House, advises the AIDS Benefit Committee. "[Stephen]'s grounded conceptually and once you have definition, it's just a matter of logistics," Mayman says. "Working with him is great because he does everything."

"In August," recalls Gutwillig, "I decided that I was going to have a very simple and easy senior year. I was going to enjoy my last eight classes. Then I became very disturbed over the way [the AIDS] crisis was being handled and very excited about the potential of an AIDS benefit at Harvard."

Peter D. Gadol '86, president of the Harvard Advocate, has coordinated literary events for the festival. Gadol, one of 15 undergraduate organizers on the AIDS Benefit Committee, says Gutwillig has "been very inspirational in pulling together different people from different areas. It's required managerial finesse and the ability to let people go off in their own way and be as crazy and creative as they want."

Gutwillig, who lives off-campus, says, "I knew from the start that it was either going to be the biggest thing in my life or it was not going to exist at all."

"I take for granted my role in working with AIDS, but there are people out there who don't even realize that AIDS is an acronym. It'sfrightening that the word is so much in the publicthat it doesn't mean anything anymore. It's scarythat magazines are advertised with the idea thatthe crisis is more saleable than the solution.

AIDS is something we can conquer with time.Information is our greatest asset and ignorance isthe disease's best weapon against us. If wemaintain our fascination with celebrities who wethink have it and how they managed to get it, thenwe are truly missing the point."

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Born and raised in Manhattan, Gutwillig saysthe opportunity to be a part of the festival is agift that the University has given to him. "Thisis a part of my Harvard education; it's in placeof a thesis. I only wish I were getting credit forit."

"I've learned a lot," says Gutwillig. "I'velearned that people are deeply afraid of AIDS anddon't know what they can do. If shown how tochannel those anxieties, they will jump at thechance. I've learned how much people want togive."

"My next project will be planning my springbreak in the Caribbean," says Gutwillig. "I haveno idea what I'd like to do when I graduate and itdoesn't concern me that much... that's a lie. Itconcerns me a lot but I just don't know. I wouldonly continue to do benefits if I could learn totake it less personally.