National AIDS Memorial

National AIDS Memorial advances remembrance, education, and activism around HIV/AIDS through a set of connected memorial, storytelling, and community programs. Its work spans the AIDS Memorial Grove, the AIDS Quilt, scholarship opportunities, oral history and film initiatives, World AIDS Day observances, and programs that confront racism, bigotry, stigma, and isolation in the context of the epidemic. The organization also invites direct public participation through volunteering, community workdays, hosting events in the Grove, creating Quilt panels, and memorialization activities such as engraved names and other tribute features. A clear example of its program model is the Mary Bowman Arts in Activism Award, created in partnership with ViiV Healthcare to honor Mary Bowman’s legacy and invest in young and emerging art activists. The award offers $5,000 grants each year to applicants age 27 and younger who study or reside in the United States, including both students and non-students. It supports artivists whose work uses creative expression to address HIV/AIDS, health equity, social justice, bigotry, and stigma. Recipients are asked to share the art funded by the award within one year of receiving funds, while the National AIDS Memorial retains no ownership of that work. The organization places strong emphasis on culture as a force in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In recounting Mary Bowman’s life and influence, it highlights her experience as a poet, advocate, author, singer, and young person born with HIV who used art to speak about living with HIV, losing her mother to AIDS, mental health, and the needs of other young people with HIV. That framing shows how National AIDS Memorial connects remembrance with leadership development, artistic expression, and community engagement for the next generation.