World AIDS Day began on Dec. 1, 1988, and has been recognized by an growing number of countries, states, cities and organizations since then. It was conceived by Thomas Netter and James Bunn of the Global Program on AIDS at the World Health Organization .
Events taking place in Greater Los Angeles include the following:
Nov. 28
Lambda Lit Book Club. Lambda will host a discussion of “Hold Tight Gently: Michel Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS,” facilitated by Steven Reigns. The Lambda Lit Book Club meets on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room, 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard; visit www.lambdaliterary.org/book-clubs/lambda-lit-book-club/ for more information.
Nov. 30
UCLA World AIDS Day Event: The Los Angeles HIV Law & Policy Project, the LGBT Campus Resource Center, the Undocumented Student Program and the Public Policy Department are partnering with an event to observe World AIDS Day. The event runs from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the UCLA Public Affairs Building 2355, 337 Charles E. Young Drive, in East Los Angeles. The speakers, Hussain Turk and Ayako Miyashita, will discuss and explore research, policy and implementation affecting undocumented people living with HIV, including immigration enforcement in healthcare settings and a variety of other issues affecting those populations. Admission is free but guests must RSVP online. For more information about this event contact Kevin Medina at kmedina@lgbt.ucla.edu.
Dec. 1
AIDSWatch. On Friday, beginning at 12:01 a.m., the City of West Hollywood will continue its annual tradition of broadcasting AIDSWatch on WeHoTV. AIDSWatch is a 24-hour electronic art piece and memorial that takes place each year on World AIDS Day. It presents one name, one memory, one life at a time, appearing on a black screen in stark white letters. The AIDWatch roster of names also can be seen online from midnight Thursday to midnight Friday at www.aidswatch.org.
The AIDSWatch roster consists of approximately 25,000 names individually shown for about 3.5 seconds, the length it takes to take one breath. Residents and community members who have lost family or friends to AIDS are encouraged to include them in AIDSWatch; names may be added at www.aidswatch.org. WeHoTV is available to Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable) customers within the City of West Hollywood on channel 10. AT&T U-verse customers across Southern California can access WeHoTV on channel 99. Viewers at home can tune-in to WeHoTV online at www.weho.org/wehotv.
AIDSWatch also will be projected on the north-facing exterior wall of the West Hollywood Library.
Bienstar: Unidos 2017. Bienstar Human Services’ 25th annual event to commemorate World AIDS Day, will feature special guests from the Latino and LGBTQ communities such as Alicia Machado, Miss Universe 1996.
The event is free and open to all members of the community. Guests are asked to register online in advance. The event runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the L.A. Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St. in Los Angeles. There will be free refreshments, musical and dance performances and stories and words commemorating those who have died from HIV/AIDS.
The Broad. On World AIDS Day, The Broad and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) will co-present “Home Video: Media Art in Response to HIV/AIDS.” This one-night only screening of four videos reveals how activists and artists documented and reshaped everyday responses to HIV/AIDS from the 1980s to the present. Each video engages the concept of “home video” to create works that explores the intersections of art, caretaking, family and home.
In “The Thursday People,” film and videomaker George Kuchar elegizes his friend, lover, collaborator and fellow underground cinema legend, filmmaker Curt McDowell. Charlie Ahearn (brother of Broad collection artist John Ahearn) offers an intimate video portrait of artist Martin Wong in his Lower East Side apartment. An excerpt from “We Care,” collectively produced by the “video support group” WAVE, captures intimate conversations with caregivers and people living with AIDS. And “A Place in the City,” directed by Nate Lavey and Stephen Vider, follows three artists and activists to reveal the urgency of caretaking, housing and family in advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS today. A discussion with Stephen Vider will follow the screening.
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at The Broad, Oculus Hall, 221 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. At this point, the event is sold out.
Impulse LA at Bar 10. Impulse LA offers a hosted bar, snacks and games along with a few games to help everyone brush up on his knowledge about HIV and learn new ways to fight stigma against those with HIV/AIDS. The event is from 7 to 10 p.m. at Bar 10, 8933 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. The event is free but those attending must RSVP online.
Las Memorias. The 24th annual Noche de Las Memorias– a World AIDS Day event– commemorating who have died from HIV/AIDS. The ceremony will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Las Memorias AIDS Monument in Lincoln Park, 3600 N. Mission Rd., Los Angeles. In addition to speakers and a period of remembrance and prayers, new names will be unveiled at the AIDS Monument in a special candle-lighting ceremony. Those attending are asked to RSVP online.
NAMES Project Quilt. A panel of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display at West Hollywood City Hall, 8300 Santa Monica Blvd., from Monday through Friday. The Quilt, conceived in 1985 by activist Cleve Jones, is a memorial to and celebration of the lives of people lost to HIV/AIDS. First displayed on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on October 11, 1987, the quilt has since grown from 1,920 panels to more than 48,000, and has not been displayed in its entirety since October 1996.
West Hollywood Candlelight Vigil. The City of West Hollywood’s annual World AIDS Day Candlelight Vigil and March and Paul Starke Warrior Awards event will take place, with the candlelight vigil beginning at 6 p.m. at the Matthew Shepard Triangle, located at the corner of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights boulevards. Candles will be provided. The walk will pass by plaques on the West Hollywood Memorial Walk on Santa Monica Boulevard, which memorializes people who have been lost to HIV/AIDS. The candlelight march is presented in conjunction with the Alliance for Housing and Healing and several community organizations.
West Hollywood Paul Starke Awards. Participants in WeHo’s AIDS Candlelight Vigil will march to City Council Chambers at West Hollywood Library, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard, where, at 7 p.m., immediately following the march, the Paul Starke Warrior Awards program will take place. The awards recognize individuals who provide services to people living with HIV/AIDS. The event will feature guest speaker Laurie McBride, who is an LGBTQ activist and former California Assistant Secretary of State, and the Being Alive Musical Globe Display. The event is free and open to the public, and RSVPs are requested online www.whwad.eventbrite.com. Validated parking will be provided in the adjacent five-story parking structure.
Dec. 2
Beats Per Minute. Screening of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix-winning film, “BPM” (Beats Per Minute), about a young man who joins ACT UP Paris in the 1990s. The BPM (Beats Per Minute) screening takes place on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. in the City of West Hollywood’s City Council Chambers at 625 N. San Vicente Blvd. The event is free to attend, but RSVPs are required via www.whbpm.eventbrite.com. The film includes adult content. Refreshments will follow the screening.
Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness World AIDS Day. GLAD (Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness) is hosting a World AIDS Day event on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 4 to 8 p.m. The guest speaker at the event, which is free, will be Kevin DeWindt, an HIV/AIDS advocate and educator with more than 20 years of experience There will be HIV testing, informational booths, prizes and refreshments. The educational component is funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the County of Los Angeles, Department of Public Health, Division of HIV and STD Programs. GLAD is at 2222 Laverna Ave., Los Angeles. For more information, contact Christy Hediger via chediger@gladinc.org or at (323)892-2222 or (323)478-8000 TTY/V.
