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by Gioia Fonda in 1993, while attending the California College of Arts and Crafts. Upon declaring she  was going to wear pink clothes all week and have a "pink week", her good friend Eric Wood (now husband and Official Pink Week Chief Consultant), printed a few posters advertising the event on campus. What began as a personal expression quickly became a group piece as other people asked if they could participate too. In an effort to help people participate, Gioia gave small bits of pink felt away. These little felt pieces became printed felt squares the next year and then printed paper tags each year after that. Now Pink Week is celebrated across the nation and overseas.
The main purpose of the holiday is to celebrate, observe and commemorate the color pink for pink's sake. Pink Week is essentially a non-profit art piece with absolutely no political, religious or social agenda other than pink. Please do not confuse pink week tags with pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness or pink triangles representing homosexual identity. During Pink Peek, pink just means pink.
Some find pink week a great excuse to be festive and neighborly without the fuss, stress and stigma attached to more traditional holidays. It can serve as a common ground, a way to reach out and participate. It can be a joyful reminder to live in the present.
Lastly, over the years, Pink Week has been, for many, an important educational opportunity. Pink week illustrates the endless possibility of forms "art" can take and that art is indeed accessible, affordable and needed by all in our contemporary culture.
If you'd like to send any comments, questions, requests, gifts or donations:
Pink Week
P.O. box 2329<
Sacramento, CA 95812-2329
email: contact@pinkweek.org
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In previous years, some folks have been reluctant to participate with good reason. Some people just don't feel comfortable wearing pink. Others, who shall remain nameless have more boldly declared that they simply don't like pink.
Hope is not lost for these would-be participants. One way they can celebrate is to select another color, more suitable to their taste, on which to ruminate upon for the week. Any color will do.
A person could celebrate yellow, brown or even something more challenging like aubergine.
The idea remains the same, to seek out that one particular color in as many ways as possible. Wear it, eat it, find it, touch it, feel it, sniff it, listen for it and think about it as much as you can for the week.
Yet another alternative method of celebration is abstinence. Avoid pink for a week. That means no lox on your bagel, no pink grapefruit juice, no steaks ordered rare. Don't wash with pink soap, don't look at flamingos, don't walk on pink carpet and don't enter pink buildings.
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