For the first time ever, panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display in Northeast Philadelphia, at the Tacony Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. With live music from local band SB Deluxe, this event features 14 blocks of Quilt panels, some with ties to the Philadelphia area. Another creative educational component will be the “1981–Until It’s Over…” AIDS Timeline, a large text and photographic timeline of 30 years of HIV/AIDS history. Guests will have the opportunity to visit the new library building before it opens to the public on November 20.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is a 54-ton, handmade tapestry in remembrance of more than 96,000 people lost to AIDS. The Quilt began as a single 3×6′ panel in 1987, and has grown to more than 49,000 individual panels from every state in the nation and across the world, under the custodianship of the NAMES Project Foundation. An important tool in the effort to educate against a disease that has no cure, the AIDS Memorial Quilt reveals the humanity behind the statistics.

This event is presented by AIDS Fund and Southeast Northeast Philadelphia Arts Collective. Additional support is provided by Tacony Community Development Corporation; Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Tacony LAB (a partnership with The Office of Councilman Bobby Henon); Tacony Library, Free Library of Philadelphia; and The Office of Councilman Bobby Henon.