Tompkins County Public Library

The National AIDS Memorial Quilt Volunteers: An AIDS Memorial Quilt Exhibition

Located at 101 E Green St, Ithaca, NY 14850. Use the side door by the Green Street Bus Stop to enter the library after hours. There will be directional signs. The library will only be open for the Exhibition and will not provide library services.

For more information please go to https://www.tcpl.org/events/upcoming

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is considered “the largest community arts project in history.” It honors more than 110,000 people across 50,000 panels who have died or have been affected by AIDS. With the first panel being created by activist Cleve Jones in 1985, we are now commemorating 41 years of the Quilt by having a virtual exhibition.

Come to the BorgWarner Community Room for an opening reception to The Gay Agenda at Tompkins County Public Library. There, we will project six panels from the AIDS Quilt, all with ties to Tompkins County. We will be connecting to LGBTQ+ history in Ithaca, as the panels have ties to the Common Ground Discoteque, honor students who learned in our local universities and colleges, and remember a local artist and mentor.

The Quilt panels will be projected rather than bringing the physical panels in, as the quilt now resides in San Francisco and is under the permanent stewardship of the National AIDS Memorial. Projecting the panels helps assist in preserving them for years to come and allows us to have a long-term exhibition after the opening reception.

There will be booklets with information on the organizations and people honored in the panels. There will also be a laptop available for people to search the AIDS Quilt themselves.