From: KarenRouse@aol.com Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 16:56:19 -0400 Subject: S.F. Display of AIDS Memorial Quilt PRESS RELEASE * * * * PRESS RELEASE * * * * PRESS RELEASE ***************************************************************** THE NAMES PROJECT FOUNDATION Sponsor of the AIDS Memorial Quilt CONTACT: Greg Lugliani, Director of Communications The NAMES Project Foundation (415) 882-5500 (415) 403-3711 (voicemail) 310 Townsend Street, Suite 310 San Francisco, CA 94107 WE CANNOT RESPOND TO E-MAIL. **************************************************************** For Immediate Release April 6, 1995 30 COUNTRIES CONTRIBUTE TO SPECIAL DISPLAY OF INTERNATIONAL AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT IN SAN FRANCISCO, JUNE 23-25, AS PART OF UN50 EVENTS First Ever Outdoor Display in San Francisco Will Be Preceded by Transit Ad Campaign Created By Ad Week's "Agency of the Year," Goodby, Silverstein and Partners San Francisco. - The NAMES Project Foundation will mount a special display of the International AIDS Memorial Quilt on the Esplanade at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens as part of the activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. The event, which takes place from June 23 through June 25, will be the first time the AIDS Memorial Quilt has been displayed outdoors in San Francisco. The display is also unique in that it is being created specifically in the spirit of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. An equal number of 3-foot by 6-foot panels from 30 different countries - 720 individual memorials in all - are expected to comprise the display. Quilt panels are made in memory of men, women and children who have died of AIDS. The display is one of more than 70 cultural and community events taking place in San Francisco from April to June that mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the U.N.'s charter. As it did for an indoor exhibition last year, Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens is generously hosting the UN50 display of the Quilt. A grant from the people at Chevron is also supporting the display. "I welcome and support the UN50 display of the International AIDS Memorial Quilt to be held in San Francisco," stated Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS. "By presenting memorial panels from each of the 30 countries working with the Quilt, the UN50 display will impress on people the truly global dimensions of the pandemic. And through the Quilt panels, each one made in proud and loving memory of a son or daughter, friend, lover, or child, the display will remind viewers that AIDS is not a statistical but a human tragedy." "As the only AIDS awareness group participating in the official commemoration of the world peace organization, it is our role to remind the world that it cannot afford to be at peace with a disease that has claimed as many as four million lives," said Anthony Turney, Executive Director of the NAMES Project Foundation. "As world leaders and city residents alike celebrate the founding of the U.N., we ask that they remember a world without AIDS. In the same breath, we ask them to work to make that world exist again." In addition to the display itself, the NAMES Project Foundation will articulate this message through a two-month-long transit and print advertising campaign, created pro bono by the advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. Goodby, Silverstein and Partners was named "Agency of the Year" by Adweek magazine in its March 20, 1995 issue. The advertising campaign will appear in San Francisco's BART and MUNI trains and stations, as well as in buses, starting May 1. The Quilt display will begin with a special opening ceremony on June 23 in which panels will be unfolded and the names of those who have died of AIDS will be read. A number of Consuls General are expected to participate in the opening ceremony, among them the Consuls General of France, Switzerland, Israel and South Africa. A skills-building conference focused on using the Quilt as a tool for HIV prevention education, open to representatives from the NAMES Project's 30 international affiliates and 38 national chapters, will take place June 20 to June 22. These training sessions are being made possible through the support of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Conceived by longtime gay rights activist Cleve Jones in November 1985, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was first displayed in Washington, D.C. in October 1987. At that time, it had 1,920 panels. Today, the Quilt contains some 29,000 panels, representing 12 percent of all U.S. AIDS deaths. When the entire Quilt is next displayed in Washington, D.C., in October 1996, it will comprise some 45,000 panels and cover approximately 32 acres. There are 1,600 Quilt displays of various sizes annually. To date, more than five million people have visited the AIDS Memorial Quilt. # # #