UM to host AIDS quilt Homecoming weekend

For the first time in 12 years, a sizeable section of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will travel back to the Treasure State for a display at The University of Montana Adams Center Sept. 18-21.

Seventy-five sections memorializing some 450 individuals who have died of AIDS-related illnesses will be showcased in the largest exhibit of the quilt ever in Montana. All known panels honoring those from Montana who have died of AIDS, as well as others from around the nation, will be on view.

Opening ceremonies will kick off the event at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18. The public display will continue through Homecoming weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-21.

“For the state of Montana it is truly such a gift to be able to see the quilt on such a large scale, especially living in a rural area where oftentimes we fail to grasp the effect or impact HIV or AIDS has on our community,” said Keri McWilliams, Missoula AIDS Council executive director. “It’s not until you’re able to see a display of this size and see all the lives that were lost that you begin to realize how large this epidemic is.”

UM has teamed with the Missoula AIDS Council to raise $30,000 to help people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as support prevention and educational efforts in the community.

“A quilt is a nonthreatening, effective way to educate and raise awareness about HIV and AIDS,” said Rita Munzenrider, director of University Relations and co-chair with McWilliams of the AIDS Quilt Committee.

“Not only do we have the opportunity to honor those lives that were lost, but we have the chance to educate the community on how far we have come in making progress,” McWilliams said. “The epidemic is very different than it was in the early ’80s when many lives were lost. It’s still a devastating disease, but we’ve made so much progress in the treatment that people are living longer. I think it’s important for the community to understand how far we’ve come and realize that it’s still an issue. There are 40,000 new infections every year in the United States.”

She continues, “We’ve been receiving phone calls from around the state from those in small communities and on reservations who are so excited to come and honor the memory and see the panel they made for those who have been lost. It means so much to us that the University is able to support us in this project.”

The University will host this event as a fundraiser for the Missoula AIDS Council and is seeking community financial sponsorship, Munzenrider said.

In addition to financial contributions, there is a need for many volunteers to contribute to the event by helping to unfold the quilt panels, read names and serve as quilt monitors. “Truly we need a community response to make this event,” McWilliams said. “It won’t be possible without the support of the community because there is such a need for volunteers.”
Individuals can sign up to volunteer at the event by e-mailing quilt.volunteers@yahoo.com.

Those with family members who have a quilt panel may contact the Missoula AIDS Council at 406-543-4770 to request that specific panel be displayed. The deadline is Aug. 1.

More than 23 years ago, San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones conceived the quilt. While planning a 1985 candlelight march to memorialize assassination victims San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, Jones learned that more than 1,000 San Francisco residents had lost their lives to the disease. He then asked each individual marching to write the names of friends and loved ones who had passed away from AIDS on placards. At the end of the march, the placards were attached to the walls of the San Francisco federal building, appearing like a patchwork quilt. Plans for a larger quilt memorial were made, and in 1987 the NAMES Project Foundation, which maintains and displays the quilt, was established.

In October of that year, the quilt was displayed for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. More than a half-million people came to view the 1,920-panel display. It was displayed four more times in its entirety on the Mall. The last time was in 1996.

Today more than 44,000 individual 3-by-6-foot panels commemorating the lives of individuals who died from AIDS-related illnesses have been sewn together by friends, lovers and family members of the victims. It is the largest community art project in the world.