Eight panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt are on display at Centre LGBT+ in State College through June 30 as part of a partnership with the National AIDS Memorial.
The display, which opened May 4, is free to the public and honors the more than 700,000 lives lost to AIDS in the United States.
The exhibit is part of the National AIDS Memorial’s Community Display Program, which brings sections of the Quilt to communities across the country for public viewing and education.
Local organizers from Centre LGBT+ worked with Rev. Dr. Tracy Sprowls of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County and the National AIDS Memorial to select panels for the exhibit. The panels include tributes connected to the region and memorialize individuals who died of AIDS.
“We are honored to work together with the National AIDS Memorial to bring the Quilt to our community and share its stories of hope, activism, healing and remembrance,” Cat Cook, executive director of Centre LGBT+, said. “The Quilt sections on display connect the story of AIDS directly to the work we do to provide services, educate and share the deep meaningful history that exists in our community.
“Bringing a piece of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to Centre LGBT+ is more than remembrance—it’s a powerful thread connecting our community to lives, stories, and a history that must never be forgotten, and a vital opportunity for people here to witness that history firsthand, to learn, reflect, and carry it forward.”
The AIDS Memorial Quilt was created by activist Cleve Jones in the 1980s during the height of the epidemic. The project began after a 1985 march in San Francisco, where participants wrote the names of loved ones lost to AIDS on placards and displayed them on a federal building. The display resembled a patchwork quilt, inspiring the creation of a larger memorial.
In 1987, volunteers began assembling panels in San Francisco to document lives lost to the disease and to raise awareness of its impact. That same year, nearly 2,000 panels were displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The Quilt has since grown into the largest community arts project in the world, with more than 50,000 panels and over 110,000 names, earning a Nobel Prize nomination. It spans more than 50 miles and weighs an estimated 54 tons. Each panel is the size of one grave site.
The National AIDS Memorial now oversees its preservation and organizes exhibits like the one in State College.
“The issues our nation faces today- social injustice, health inequity, stigma, bigotry, and fear – are the same issues faced throughout four decades of the AIDS pandemic,” John Cunningham, CEO of the National AIDS Memorial, said. “The Quilt is a powerful teaching tool that shares the story of HIV/AIDS, the lives lost, and the hope, healing, activism and remembrance that it inspires.”
Donations collected during the display will support the work of Centre LGBT+.
Centre LGBT+ is located 204 E. Calder Way, Suite 304, and is currently open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
