| AIDS Quilt Coming to Mason to Commemorate World AIDS Day |
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Fairfax, Va., November 16, 2009 – More than 100 squares from the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus as part of a day-long World AIDS Day commemoration event. World AIDS Day is observed globally every year on December 1, to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. All students, faculty, staff and community representatives are invited to attend the exhibit which will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m on Tuesday, Dec. 1, in the Johnson Center's Dewberry Hall. The displaying of the Quilt is one of many activities taking place during Mason's HIV Awareness Week which runs from Monday, Nov. 30, through Friday, Dec. 4. The AIDS Memorial Quilt was founded in 1987 and is the largest ongoing community arts project in the world. Almost all of the 40,000 colorful panels that make up the Quilt memorialize the life of a person lost to AIDS. According to Gary Kreps, chair and professor in the Department of Communication and director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication, the goals of bringing the AIDS quilt to campus are to raise HIV and AIDS awareness among the Mason community and to demonstrate Mason's commitment to this worldwide health issue. “Because Mason is one of the most diverse universities in the country and because of our close proximity to Washington, D.C., which has one of the nation’s highest rates of HIV/AIDS incidence and mortality, this is an issue of particular importance to our university community," says Kreps. “We recognize the solemnity of this day and hope to educate people about the dangers of AIDS while also paying tribute to the millions who have died from the disease.” The event will feature renowned AIDS advocates, Hydeia Broadbent, who contracted HIV atbirth and now educates people across the country about the disease, and Darian "Big Tigger" Morgan, who founded the Street Corner Foundation and Big Tigger's Annual Celebrity Classic. Other invited speakers include AIDS scientists and researchers, public health experts and community representatives. Panel discussions, films, artworks and exhibits related to AIDS will be presented at the Johnson Center in conjunction with the quilt display. Free HIV testing will be available on campus throughout the day. Sponsors and partnering organizations include the Inova Juniper Program, the National Minority AIDS Council, the National Association for People Living with AIDS, the Metro D.C. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the National Institutes of Health and the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry. For a full schedule of events and more information about the AIDS Memorial Quilt, visit http://masonaidsquilt.com/. |
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