MVCC seeks stories about AIDS Memorial Quilt for World AIDS Day event

For the past several years in honor of World AIDS Day (Dec. 1), Mohawk Valley Community College has displayed panels from the National AIDS Memorial Quilt to honor and remember the thousands of lives lost to the disease. This year, for health and safety reasons, this is not possible due to COVID-19, and all exhibitions of The Quilt will be online.

MVCC will host a virtual World AIDS Day event at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, featuring local people sharing their thoughts on the importance of The Quilt or stories about specific panels for their loved ones. The event will be held online, and information on how to join will be shared through the MVCC Cultural Series. The event is still accepting speakers, and there are several ways to take part:

  • Tell your story live during the event
  • Submit your story in writing to be read aloud during the event
  • Submit a video to be played during the event

Stories must be submitted by Tuesday, Nov. 24. Submissions and questions can be directed to MVCC Associate Professor Melissa Barlett at mbarlett@mvcc.edu or 315-792-5471.

Established in 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation is the international organization that is the custodian of The AIDS Memorial Quilt. The Quilt began with a single 3 x 6 foot panel created in San Francisco in 1987. Today, The Quilt is composed of more than 49,000 individual 3 x 6 foot panels, each one commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS. These panels come from every state in the nation, every corner of the globe, and have been sewn by hundreds of thousands of friends, lovers, and family members into this epic memorial, the largest piece of ongoing community art in the world.

In a war against a disease that has no cure, The Quilt has evolved as our most potent tool in the effort to educate against the lethal threat of AIDS. By revealing the humanity behind the statistics, The Quilt helps teach compassion, triumphs over taboo, stigma and phobia; and inspires individuals to take direct responsibility for their own well-being and that of their family, friends, and community.