Theatre N in Wilmington and AIDS Delaware are teaming up on an effort to teach people about the forgotten history of the AIDS pandemic in America.
Theatre N is offering a documentary screening ahead of next month’s Delaware AIDS Walk.
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waterstraces the history and legacy of one of the most important works of art to come out of the age of AIDS.
"This film is something that I’ve always wanted to show the world," said the executive director of Theatre N, Andrew Larason. "We’re always looking at Theatre N to find pieces of work that are hard to find out in the blockbuster universe. And we look for documentaries and art films - things like that.. And this is really one that we wanted to bring in.”
Larason says the documentary will be shown on Saturday and Sunday, August 21st and 22, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.
AIDS Delaware will be there both nights to provide education, resources and to promote the September 18, 2021 AIDS Walk.
AIDS Delaware’s development and marketing director John Beckley says they hope screening the film will help put a spotlight on the thousands of people living with HIV in Delaware.
"Currrently there are about 3,600 (3,630) people in Delaware living with HIV. The good news is - is that we’ve seen the infection rates each year going down; the past three years it’s averaged about 92 new cases of infections. But this year so far - at the end of June - we’ve had 41 new cases.”
AIDS Walk Delaware is the state’s largest and oldest HIV/AIDS fundraising and awareness event and has historically attracted over 800 participants and volunteers.
They hope to raise $90,000 in support of free HIV testing, education and prevention programs, case management services, HIV-specific mental health counseling, and housing services.
In addition to AIDS Delaware and Delaware HIV Consortium who coordinate the Walk, other HIV service organizations benefit financially, including Ministry of Caring, Beautiful Gate Outreach Center, Latin American Community Center, William J. Holloway Community Program and CAMP Rehoboth.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
