Join three Quad Cities area nonprofits for a multi-faceted recognition of World AIDS Day that includes the premiere of an international video about living with HIV. The Project of the Quad Cities, DeLaCerda House, and the Figge Art Museum are joining together to present “Being & Belonging,” featuring an international collection of artists from many mediums sharing different aspects of living with HIV and AIDS. “Being & Belonging” features artists of color and from Columbia, Mexico, Korea and more. “From navigating sex and intimacy to confronting stigma and isolation, ‘Being & Belonging’ centers the emotional realities of living with HIV today,” writes New York’s Whitney Museum of Art, where the film has its worldwide debut this Wednesday. “How does living with HIV shift the ways that a person experiences, asks for, or provides love, support, and belonging? The seven videos are a call for belonging from those that have been stigmatized within their communities or left out of mainstream HIV/AIDS narratives.” ”Being & Belonging” is produced by Visual AIDS, a New York nonprofit organization and Whitney Museum partner that fights AIDS by turning to artwork. Visual AIDS offers the following summaries of the short videos, and their international creators, that are part of “Being & Belonging:” The Thursday evening event starts at 5:30 p.m. with a reception; continues with a viewing of “Being & Belonging” at 6:30; and ends with a vigil at 7:30 p.m. The Figge Art Museum is at 225 W. 2nd St. in Davenport. The Project of the Quad Cities provide mental and health support services in 40 counties along the Illinois/Iowa border. DeLaCerda House provides housing and advocacy/support services for people living with HIV or AIDS.
Read below for more information on World AIDS Day events happening in Des Moines and Sioux City in Iowa, and Chicago, Peoria, Springfield, and Urbana in Illinois: