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Professional Bio
Adrian Cardwell (he/him) founded Badge of Pride to bring LGBTQ+ history into civic life through community-powered exhibitions, programs, and public dialogue. As the creative lead behind Texas’s largest LGBTQ+ history exhibition, he works at the intersection of cultural memory, activism, and the collective imagination needed for inclusive public history—advancing models of shared authority, community trust, and public-facing Queer storytelling in politically volatile environments.
Cardwell is the founder and executive director of Badge Of Pride, a Dallas-based nonprofit dedicated to activating LGBTQ+ history through artifacts, interpretation, and creative practice. For more than 30 years, he has built a nationally significant archive of over 10,000 LGBTQ+ artifacts through sustained relationships with activists, artists, and community historians across the country. In 2022, after a 25-year career in corporate executive leadership—where he directed national sales and marketing for a global telecommunications firm and served on international committees expanding broadband access in underserved and conflict-affected regions—he launched Badge Of Pride as a full pivot into cultural work.
He is the curator of Badge Of Pride: From Silence…To Celebration!, the largest artifact-centered exhibition of LGBTQ+ history ever presented in Texas. The exhibition stands as a direct response to the current climate of censorship and cultural erasure, asserting LGBTQ+ history as essential public knowledge. Through exhibitions, performances, and public programs, Cardwell’s work centers history as a civic force—one that builds connection, shifts power, and insists on visibility where it has long been denied.
Cardwell is the founder and executive director of Badge Of Pride, a Dallas-based nonprofit dedicated to activating LGBTQ+ history through artifacts, interpretation, and creative practice. For more than 30 years, he has built a nationally significant archive of over 10,000 LGBTQ+ artifacts through sustained relationships with activists, artists, and community historians across the country. In 2022, after a 25-year career in corporate executive leadership—where he directed national sales and marketing for a global telecommunications firm and served on international committees expanding broadband access in underserved and conflict-affected regions—he launched Badge Of Pride as a full pivot into cultural work.
He is the curator of Badge Of Pride: From Silence…To Celebration!, the largest artifact-centered exhibition of LGBTQ+ history ever presented in Texas. The exhibition stands as a direct response to the current climate of censorship and cultural erasure, asserting LGBTQ+ history as essential public knowledge. Through exhibitions, performances, and public programs, Cardwell’s work centers history as a civic force—one that builds connection, shifts power, and insists on visibility where it has long been denied.