AIDS Memorial Quilt to Be Displayed in Field House
Published 02.13.2001
A portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the poignant, traveling tribute to the many lives lost to the disease, will be displayed March 2-3 at the Field House at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Twenty-two 12-foot-by-12-foot "building blocks" of the quilt − enough to fill the floor of the Field House − will be exhibited from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, March 2, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 3. Each block contains eight colorful panels from the same region.
Presentations on the history of the AIDS Memorial Quilt are scheduled for 2 and 7 p.m. Friday, March 2. The event is being sponsored by the Student Activities Office, the Residence Life Office and BGLAD (Bi, Gay, Lesbian, & Allies in Dialog) at Penn College.
Each of the more than 44,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt memorializes the life of a person lost to AIDS. The full quilt, which was last exhibited in its entirety on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1996, is the size of 16 football fields (26 football fields if the walkway around the quilt is included) and weighs in excess of 50 tons.
More than 83,000 names are included on the quilt, representing approximately 19 percent of all U.S. AIDS deaths. The project, which began in 1987 in San Francisco, has raised more than $3 million throughout North America for direct services to people with AIDS. The quilt was conceived in 1985 by gay-rights activist Cleve Jones.
More than 13 million people have viewed the quilt to date. The quilt was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and has been the subject of numerous articles, books, films and theatrical and musical performances.
For more information about the event, please call 326-3761, ext. 7874.