"Town Meeting 1978-2028" is an exhibition and symposium inspired by “Town Meeting I,” a pivotal 1978 convening of 4,000 LGBTQIA+ Houstonians at the Astro Arena, which galvanized Houston’s emerging LGBTQIA+ rights movement and helped lead to the creation of major institutions like The Montrose Center and The Montrose Clinic. It marks the beginning of a three-year initiative by queer interdisciplinary artists Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin to inspire, facilitate, and develop programming in 2028 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “Town Meeting 1.”

The exhibition comprises a monumental “wind drawing” based on archival images of “Town Meeting I” created by stenciling unfixed charcoal powder on paper and blowing it away, leaving a ghost-image that highlights the ephemerality, beauty, and loss of queer histories. The “wind drawing” surrounds a series of custom modular conference tables modeled on the bar tops from Mary’s Naturally, the gay bar that served as a center of Houston’s queer community for decades.

The exhibition will remain on display through July 20.