Live Performance and Ongoing Entity

First performance:

The Elevator Stops Here: Installation Art at the Top

of City Hall

April 14 - 17, 2004

City Hall, Buffalo, NY

Second performance:

Peepshow at the Lenox

February 25, 2006

Hotel Lenox, Buffalo, NY

The Church of Julie is a response to the establishment of President George W. Bush's White House

Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and its potential to violate the United States' constitutional

and historical separation of church and state. The Church of Julie was established in the fall of 2003 with

the hope of fostering a spirit of revolution among the public that would lead to heightened senses of

personal empowerment, psychological liberation, and social freedom. The Reverend Julie Perini was also

ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church in the fall of 2003 and vowed to serve as the

spokesperson for the Church. Through a process of investigative research, the Reverend found that much of the

federal funding available through the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives promoted exclusionary

practices that were counter to the mission of the Church of Julie.

For the first event that took place at Buffalo's City Hall, the Church participated in the nation-wide movement in support

of same-sex partnerships by performing as many "Affirmation of Love" ceremonies as possible over a four day

period. The Reverend encouraged participants to "marry" whomever or whatever they chose. She provided participants

with Affirmation of Love certificates, commemorative photographs and a cupcake. In the temporary chapel set up in

Buffalo's City Hall, the Church of Julie affirmed the love of over 40 different people, objects and abstract ideas.

For the second enactment of this event, the Reverend again performed dozens of Affirmation of Love ceremonies in a

temporary Honeymoon Sweet at the historic Hotel Lenox as part of a benefit for Squeaky Wheel, Peepshow at the Lenox .